Question

Read the excerpt from Through the Looking Glass.

Alice stood looking after it, almost ready to cry with vexation at having lost her dear little fellow-traveller so suddenly.

What option accurately defines the noun vexation as it is used in the excerpt?

a state of reduced circumstances
a state of extreme anger
a state of joy
a state of aggravation

Answer 1

A state of aggravation

Step-by-step explanation:

Looking at the surrounding information of the word "vexation", or context clues, we can infer that "vexation" has a very negative connotation: Alice was about to cry at having lost a person she appreaciated! so we can discard option 1 and 3.

And since the clues in the text are not enough, our best option is to look the word in the dictionary. Vexation refers to a state of being worried, frustrated, annoyed or troubled, similar to the noun "aggravation" which refers to a state of annoyance, exasperation or exacerbation or the process of making a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling worse, such as the bad circumstance of the "dear little fellow-traveler" leaving.

Answer 2

a state of reduced circumstances

Step-by-step explanation:

vexation means the state of being annoyed, frustrated, or worried. In this case she felt frustrated that´s mean with reduced circumstances to avoid her dear little fellow-traveller