Question

Scattered across the room was a downpour of paper that seemed to grow larger every day. Stella couldn't take it any longer. She was drowning in homework and projects. Life as a student at Englewood Middle School definitely required willpower that she seemed to no longer have. Stella stared at the papers until they blurred together to make a larger mound; she gasped in fear. After a while, with trembling hands, she lifted a sheet from the very top of the stack. The entire heap of papers collapsed on top of her.

In the context of the story, what does the word drowning connote?
A.
emotionally sad
B.
drenched in sweat
C.
completely overrun
D.
poorly organized

Answer 1

C. completely overrun

"Drowning in homework" is an idiom meaning overwhelmed by the amount of work, not literally wet or sad.