[Vocabulary] what verb is missing?

dilodi83 · Jul 17, 2013

What verb do you think is missing in the gap?

- What made Wayne so angry? He................... with a face as black as thunder!

I've been trying to work it out but I haven't managed so far to find out the solution.

tzfujimino · Jul 17, 2013

Hello, dilodi83.:-D

Any action verb in the past form will do, in my opinion.
What do you think?

(Edit) Well, "He smiled/laughed with his face as black as thunder.:shock:" is nonsense.

dilodi83 · Jul 17, 2013

tzfujimino said:
Hello, dilodi883.:-D

Any action verb in the past form will do, in my opinion.
What do you think?

Well, actually, I should pick out one among these: rained off, stormed out, snowed under, iced over. I have already checked their uses in a good dictionary but it hasn't been of help so far...What do you think about them?

SoothingDave · Jul 17, 2013

Where did you find this sentence? Peoples' faces don't turn black when they are angry. And thunder is a sound, not a thing that can be black. Storm clouds are black. Black as coal is an expression. Black as pitch. Darker than a black steer's tookus on a moonless prairie night.

tzfujimino · Jul 17, 2013

Hello, again.:-D
I'd choose 'stormed out' from those options.
Well, actually, I was thinking of 'stormed out/off'.
storm - Definition and pronunciation | Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

(Edit) dilodi83, you know we can't help people with their homework, don't you?

Barb_D · Jul 17, 2013

Only one of those has a meaning that isn't related to actual weather. If you really looked them all up, it should be immediately clear which one it is.

tzfujimino · Jul 17, 2013

SoothingDave said:
Where did you find this sentence? Peoples' faces don't turn black when they are angry. And thunder is a sound, not a thing that can be black. Storm clouds are black. Black as coal is an expression. Black as pitch. Darker than a black steer's tookus on a moonless prairie night.

Hello, SoothingDave.:-D

I imagine the expression 'as black as thunder' comes from the mixture of "Somebody has a face like thunder./ Somebody's face is like thunder." and the adjective "black" that means 'full of anger or hatred'.

SoothingDave · Jul 17, 2013

tzfujimino said:
Hello, SoothingDave.:-D

I imagine the expression 'as black as thunder' comes from the mixture of "Somebody has a face like thunder./ Somebody's face is like thunder." and the adjective "black" that means 'full of anger or hatred'.

I have never heard either of those expressions. And someone may be in a black mood, but you wouldn't say his face was black.

Someone's face would turn red with rage.

[Vocabulary] what verb is missing?

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