Question

The CEO ___the poor performance.

Played down
Play down
Playing up
Played across

Answer 1

A) played down

To "play down" something means to minimize its importance or significance. In this context, the CEO is minimizing the poor performance of something or someone. The correct phrasing is "played down" because this sentence is written in the past tense. "Playing up" means to exaggerate or emphasize something, while "played across" does not make sense in this context.

Answer 2

Played down

Step-by-step explanation:

Try to sound it out. Read the sentence (and either say out loud or in your head, whichever is possible) and put in each choice. Whichever one sounds more natural is the answer.