The junior BOY cleaned the floor.

Analyze the question

This is an emphatic stress question. The word in capitals, BOY, carries the stress. The stressed word is the new or corrected information, and it answers a question that got that particular detail wrong.

Explain the concept

Emphatic stress is used to correct or contrast. The stressed word in the answer replaces a different word in the question. Everything else in the answer is already known, so the question must have had the same words except for the one being corrected.

For example: "The junior BOY cleaned the floor" suggests that someone asked about a different kind of person (a girl) who cleaned the floor, and the speaker is correcting it: "No, the junior BOY did."

Step-by-step solution

Sentence: The junior BOY cleaned the floor.

Compare each option and see which word it changes:

• A. "…junior boy sweep the floor?" The wrong detail is the action (sweep). The answer would stress CLEANED.
• B. "…junior girl clean the floor?" The wrong detail is the person (girl). The answer would stress BOY. ✔
• C. "…senior boy clean the floor?" The wrong detail is the rank (senior). The answer would stress JUNIOR.
• D. "…junior boy clean the compound?" The wrong detail is the place (compound). The answer would stress FLOOR.

Only option B has a mistake at the word "boy" (girl instead of boy), so the stress on BOY corrects it.

Answer: B

Tip: Find the capitalized word in the sentence, then look for the option where that exact word is the only thing that differs. The stressed word is the correction, and the question holds the error.