Questions 32-33 are based on the following passage:
Why 'Run' Is The Most Complex Word in the English Language
BY EMILY PETSKO
English can be hard for other language speakers to learn. To
use just one example, there are at least eight different ways of
expressing events in the future, and conditional tenses are another
matter entirely. For evidence of the many nuances and inconsistencies
of the English tongue, look no further than this tricky poem penned in
1920. (For a sample: “Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to
give up!”)
As author Simon Winchester wrote for The New York Times,
there’s one English word in particular that’s deceptively simple: run. As
a verb, it boasts a record-setting 645 definitions. Peter Gilliver, a
lexicographer and associate editor of the Oxford English Dictionary,
spent nine months sussing out its many shades of meaning.
“You might think this word simply means ‘to go with quick
steps on alternate feet, never having both or (in the case of many
animals) all feet on the ground at the same time,’” Winchester writes.
“But no such luck: that is merely sense, and there are miles to go before
the reader of this particular entry may sleep.”
This wasn’t always the case, though. When the first edition of
the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1928, the word with the
most definitions was set. However, the word put later outpaced it, and
run eventually overtook them both as the English language's most
complex word. Winchester thinks this evolution is partly due to
advancements in technology (for instance, “a train runs on tracks” and
“an iPad runs apps”).
He believes the widespread use of run—and its intricate web
of meanings—is also a reflection of our times. “It is a feature of our more
sort of energetic and frantic times that set and put seem, in a peculiar
way, sort of rather stodgy, rather conservative,” Gilliver told NPR in an
interview.
So the next time you tell your boss you "want to run an idea"
by them, know that you’re unconsciously expressing your enthusiasm—
as well as all the other subtleties wrapped up in run that previous words
like set failed to capture.
(Available in: http://mentalfloss.com/article/582820/run-most-complex-word-inenglish-
language. Accessed on May 17th, 2019. Adapted.)
What can be stated about the passage?