blunder vs. stumble

[Olesya]

Synonyms Lesson, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #106 "Synonyms for stagger and walk", question 6

The lights went out and Jane ......... about the room looking for a candle to burn.

(a) lurched
(b) blundered
(c) stumbled
(d) stalked

Synonyms Lesson, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #106 "Synonyms for stagger and walk", answer 6

The lights went out and Jane blundered about the room looking for a candle to burn.

Correct answer: (b) blundered

Your answer was: incorrect
The lights went out and Jane stumbled about the room looking for a candle to burn.
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Jane will stumble after dashing against the furniture in the dark...

Olesya

[Alan]

Hi,

You raise an interesting point. Stumble is often used with over to suggest that you almost fall over. It can be used literally as: She stumbled over the pieces of rock on the beach but managed to stop herself from falling over. It can also be used figuratively as: He started his speech badly and stumbled over the first few sentences mainly because he couldn't see clearly.

Blunder about is probably best used in the test sentence to indicate that Jane was not really going in a straight line but moving this way and that.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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