Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: impending
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This question continues the narrative about Lycurgus from Greek mythology. The sentence refers to a promise that would last until he returned from an blank journey. The adjective must fit naturally with journey in formal narrative style and convey the idea of a journey that is about to happen in the near future. Such questions often test your understanding of subtle differences in meaning and collocation among similar sounding adjectives.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
Impending is commonly used to describe events that are about to happen soon and are expected or known to be coming, often with a serious tone. An impending journey therefore means a journey that is soon to take place. Brewing is usually used with trouble, storm, or conflict, suggesting something negative that is developing. Approaching is often used for times, deadlines, or physical objects that come nearer, such as an approaching train or the approaching year, but it is less idiomatic before journey in this structure. Looming is used for threats or dangers that appear large and frightening on the horizon, like a looming crisis. Among these, impending fits best with journey in a formal, narrative context, and matches the idea that the journey is expected and soon to begin.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Focus on the idea that the journey has not yet taken place but is planned, so the adjective must indicate future nearness.
Step 2: Recall that impending describes events that are about to occur and is frequently used in formal or serious contexts.
Step 3: Evaluate brewing and note that it collocates best with words like storm, conflict, or trouble, and not with journey in historical narrative.
Step 4: Consider approaching journey and see that while understandable, it is not as idiomatic or formal sounding as impending journey.
Step 5: Recognise that looming journey feels odd, as looming is tied to threats or fears, not neutral travels, and therefore select impending.
Verification / Alternative check:
Insert each option into the sentence. Till he returned from an impending journey fits smoothly, suggesting that he was about to depart and the promise would stay in force until he came back. Till he returned from a brewing journey sounds strange because brewing implies something negative that is developing, not a journey itself. Till he returned from an approaching journey is less natural, since the usual pattern is an approaching storm or approaching exam. Till he returned from a looming journey again sounds awkward and suggests a threatening journey rather than a simple mythological narrative. Reading the entire passage with impending restores a dignified and coherent tone consistent with historical and legal discussion.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option B brewing is normally combined with words that represent trouble or conflict and does not fit comfortably with journey in this formal sentence.
Option C approaching could be used in some contexts but is not the strongest collocation here and lacks the formal tone of impending in this mythological and constitutional comparison.
Option D looming stresses threat and fear and usually modifies problem, disaster, or crisis, not a neutral or honoured journey.
Common Pitfalls:
Students may select adjectives based on their general sense of future direction without considering typical word partners. Approaching and looming sound dramatic and may attract attention, but they do not collocate naturally with journey in this context. Another pitfall is guessing based on partial familiarity with idioms like brewing storm and looming crisis, then incorrectly extending these adjectives to other nouns. To avoid such errors, always test each adjective in the full phrase and ask whether you have seen that combination in real texts, especially in formal or literary writing similar to the passage style.
Final Answer:
impending
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