Question

The teacher nags students to turn in their homework.

Which word could be substituted for “nags,” if the speaker wanted to express a neutral viewpoint?

tells

bothers

hassles

pressures

Answer 1

The teacher nags students to turn in their homework. ⇒ The teacher tells students to turn in their homework.

"tells" expresses a neutral viewpoint; the other options show that the teacher is getting frustrated and wants the students to turn in their homework quickly.

Answer 2

The answer is A: tells

In the sentence The teacher nags students to turn in their homework, the verb nag conveys a negative attitude, in annoying way, almost complaining. The other verbs: bothers (upsets, harasses etc), hassles (worries, troubles etc) and pressures (compels, coerces etc) also manifest sort of an approach frustrated with other previous requests. The verb tell is an adequate substitute for 'nags'.