Question

Read the following passage:

Sari couldn't believe her bad luck. She had locked her keys in the car. To add fuel to the fire, her cell phone was in the locked car, and she was late for a very important meeting. She knocked on her neighbor's door so that she could ask to use his phone, but he was not not home. What was she to do?

What role does the idiom in the passage serve?

A. It shows that Sari has incredibly bad luck when it comes to work.
B. It shows that Sari's neighbor was not home either.
C. It shows that Sari locked her keys in the car.
D. It shows that Sari's situation was worse than it seemed at first. ​

Answer 1

D. It emphasizes the horrible turn her day has taken

Answer 2

Answer: The right answer is the D. It shows that Sari's situation was worse than it seemed at first. ​

Explanation: Just to elaborate a little on the answer, it can be added that the idiom "add fuel to the fire" has been used to indicate that a situation that was already bad (Sari had locked her keys in the car) got even worse (her cell phone was in the car, she had a meeting that day, and she could not use her neighbor's phone since he was not at home). Adding fuel to a fire literally makes the fire more intense, so by using this idiom figuratively here the author has tried to suggest that Sari's difficult situation only got worse by the subsequent challenges that she had to face that day.