Words in Context

SAT Reading and Writing· difficulty 3/5

The director's instructions to her actors were spare but illuminating. With a phrase or a gesture she could check a performance veering toward melodrama and pull it back to something truer.

As used in the text, what does the word "check" most nearly mean?

  • A

    examine

  • B

    pay for

  • C

    mark with a tick

  • D

    restrain

    check_circle

Explanation

She arrests a performance that is veering off course and "pulls it back," so "check" means to restrain or hold back, not to inspect, pay, or mark.

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