Keep down the weeds?

[Dotti]

Test No. incompl/advan-6 "Phrasal Verbs", question 5

I need to find some kind of chemical that will ......... the weeds in the garden.

(a) keep off
(b) keep out
(c) keep down
(d) keep on

Test No. incompl/advan-6 "Phrasal Verbs", answer 5

I need to find some kind of chemical that will keep down the weeks in the garden.

Correct answer: (c) keep down

Your answer was: correct
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In the answer key you've got a mistake;
I'm sure it should be weeds

Nice little tests by the way

[Torsten]

Hi Dotti,

Many thanks for pointing out the blunder - it'll be fixed soon.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[flashjet]

I very much believe that the correct response should be "keep out". I mean it seems only logical that one would be looking for a chemical that could “keep” the weeds “out” of the garden.

Don't you think so?

[Alan]

Sorry Flashjet but the right answer should be keep down because here it means control or suppress. Actually keep out sounds quite funny here because it would suggest that the weeds were trying to come into the garden rather like cats and dogs.
Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a policeman

[flashjet]

I think I get your point. Thank you for the help.