Stricken vs. struck

[Rich7]

Test No. incompl/inter-19 "A Collision - Finish this Story", question 9

Now I can see quite clearly that the big red car has ..........

(a) stricken the little blue one
(b) struck the little blue one
(c) stroked the little blue one
(d) stuck the little blue

Test No. incompl/inter-19 "A Collision - Finish this Story", answer 9

Now I can see quite clearly that the big red car has struck the little blue one.

Correct answer: (b) struck the little blue one

Your answer was: incorrect
Now I can see quite clearly that the big red car has stricken the little blue one.
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why not stricken?

rich7

[Yo]

stricken...hmm well it seems past tense to me and it doesnt even make any sense. I cant belive its actually a word unless this dictionary is lying haha.

[Torsten]

Stricken and struck are both past participles of the verb to strike.
We use stricken if we want to describe some sort of disease or malady:

She was stricken by cancer.

Otherwise we use struck.

TOEIC short conversations: Two co-workers meet after one of them has been away on a training program.

[Lost_Soul]

BTW, stricken is the past participle of strike (along with struck). (take a look at this to make sure http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stricken)
although it seems that noone uses it this way nowadays:)

[English Teacher]

Hi Torsten
Thanks a lot for this excellent information.
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