Just the thought of eating fish made her flesh crawl.

[Vladimir13]

English Language Proficiency Tests, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #541 "English Slang Idioms (127)", question 2

She knew that her fear of contracting a disease from eating fish bordered on the pathological. She felt bad whenever she went to someone's house for dinner and the dinner turned out to be fish. She felt bad because she knew she would reject eating the meal and would, therefore, insult her hosts. Just the thought of eating fish made her ......... crawl.

(a) bugs
(b) flesh
(c) thoughts
(d) mind

English Language Proficiency Tests, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #541 "English Slang Idioms (127)", answer 2

She knew that her fear of contracting a disease from eating fish bordered on the pathological. She felt bad whenever she went to someone's house for dinner and the dinner turned out to be fish. She felt bad because she knew she would reject eating the meal and would, therefore, insult her hosts. Just the thought of eating fish made her flesh crawl.

Correct answer: (b) flesh

Your answer was: incorrect
She knew that her fear of contracting a disease from eating fish bordered on the pathological. She felt bad whenever she went to someone's house for dinner and the dinner turned out to be fish. She felt bad because she knew she would reject eating the meal and would, therefore, insult her hosts. Just the thought of eating fish made her mind crawl.
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Hi Teachers,

I wonder, does the expression "border on the pathological" grammatically correct? I mean, the word "pathological" is an adjective, so the article "the" needn't before it, am I right?

Thank you,
Vladimir.
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My little horse must think it queer...

[Beeesneees]

'bordered on the pathological' is correct.
Similar examples:
bordered on the extreme
bordered on the ridiculous

The word 'type' is assumed:
bordered on the pathological type of behaviour, bordered on the extreme type of attitude, bordered on the ridiculous type of behaviour, etc.
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"Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened."
Terry Pratchett