Jack walked through the grocery store looking at various items he did not plan on buying. He was not there out of necessity—he did not need anything—but rather, he was there out of boredom. He needed to get out of the house. He had spent the afternoon staring at a blank canvas on which he was supposed to paint his final project for his art class. He was out of ideas. Then, as he stared at pork chops, he suddenly had an idea! He rushed over to the butcher and asked him for some butcher paper and a pen. Upon receiving the paper and pen, Jack began furiously scratching a picture on the paper. It was not a fully developed idea, but it was a start.

Question

Jack walked through the grocery store looking at various items he did not plan on buying. He was not there out of necessity—he did not need anything—but rather, he was there out of boredom. He needed to get out of the house. He had spent the afternoon staring at a blank canvas on which he was supposed to paint his final project for his art class. He was out of ideas. Then, as he stared at pork chops, he suddenly had an idea! He rushed over to the butcher and asked him for some butcher paper and a pen. Upon receiving the paper and pen, Jack began furiously scratching a picture on the paper. It was not a fully developed idea, but it was a start.
1
Based on its context in this passage, what does the writer mean by "scratching a picture"?
 A. 
to draw hurriedly or haphazardly
 B. 
to make shallow cuts with a sharp tool
 C. 
to etch a design with nails or claws
 D. 
to make a stencil with an X-ACTO knife

GPT-4o mini · Answer

Based on its context in the passage, the writer means "scratching a picture" to refer to:

A. to draw hurriedly or haphazardly

This choice fits the scenario, as Jack is quickly creating a sketch or drawing on the butcher paper to capture the idea that came to him.