Question

PART A: What impact does the phrase “horribly good” in paragraph 30 have in the text? A “Horribly” emphasizes the girl’s goodness, but it is normally a negative definition that implies that the others in the story disliked her and were jealous of her. B “Horribly” means that the girl was shockingly good, and this surprising meaning catches the children’s attention. C “Horribly” emphasizes the girl’s goodness, but it is normally a negative definition that implies that there is something awful about being so good. D “Horribly” means poorly done, which implies that the girl is not good at anything besides earning medals. About Blog Careers Contact Donate FAQ

Answer 1

Answer: I believe it's C

Explanation: Horribly is a negative adverb, but added to modify the adjective, good, it creates a sense of negativity and positivity.

Answer 2

Answer:

I believe the answer is indeed letter C) “Horribly” emphasizes the girl’s goodness, but it is normally a negative definition that implies that there is something awful about being so good.

Explanation:

This question is about the short story called "The Story-Teller", by Saki. Three children who are traveling by train with their aunt and misbehaving are forced to listen to their aunt's boring story. She is trying to teach them a moral lesson, but they are not interested. The children wished to be entertained.

A bachelor who is in the same wagon as the aunt and the children begins to tell a story as well. Unlike the aunt, he does wish to entertain the kids and keep them quiet, instead of forcing goodness and morals onto them. So he begins to tell the story of a girl who is "horribly good". The children are very much surprised at this term. They are used to being told stories about good characters, but not about horribly good ones. That is enough to catch their attention. They somehow pick up the underlying meaning that the girl in the story is good to the point of being awful. Being good is not her quality, but her flaw. Therefore, we can safely choose letter C as our answer - C) “Horribly” emphasizes the girl’s goodness, but it is normally a negative definition that implies that there is something awful about being so good.