As we walked upstairs to her studio, we slipped into our familiar habits, talking about the people in our lives and our work.
A. NO CHANGE
B. fell upon
C. dropped by
D. returned with
Why is the answer A and the other choices wrong?
If you look at the other three answer choices, they just aren’t logical. Would anyone ever say they “fell upon” their familiar habits? Maybe, if “upon” was replaced with “into” but it’s not, so that one is out. “Dropped by” doesn’t work with context. The narrator is saying they were getting into the usual routine, not doing something briefly. “Returned with” doesn’t have the same flow and tone that “slipped into” gives to the sentence. With these type of questions you always trust what is the most concise, precise, and just overall sounds the best.
To be honest, it might just be an idiom thing that comes with practice and reading. The explanation above is only going to make sense to someone who is experienced enough with English to have an intuitive feel for what sounds right and what doesn’t. Who knows if that applies to the OP.
To “slip into” a habit means to do it by accident or without thinking about it.
Yeah, when you think about it, “slipped into” sounds funny! But native speakers just recognize the idiom. Does the ACT put many idioms on the test?
OP, where did you get that question from? That doesn’t look like something ACT would give on a test. One could argue that “slipped” is colloquial (or slang), which is generally wrong.
If it’s an official ACT question, then the others are right: it’s probably an idiom.
“returned to” might have worked but not “returned with” and the other two changes are even worse, so A owuld be the best answer even if you didn’t know the idiomatic phrase.
@mmk2015 I got it from CrackACT, 67C 2009
@MaineLonghorn I wouldn’t say a lot but they may be sprinkled around in different tests, usually being fairly easy
Thanks for the answers everyone! Reading through it again answer A does seem like the obvious choice
@chelsalina Thanks for pointing out the test. It’s an official question indeed. The other posters are right: the incorrect answers are really awkward. Thus wrong.
That’s an awful question, but of course it’s “no change.”