Based on the context of this excerpt from w. w. jacobs's "the monkey's paw," what does the word placidly mean?

without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of laburnam villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.

completing a task in a frantic manner

having a particular motive for an action

appearing to be calm and relaxed

acting harshly or stubbornly

Ead the passage from "marriage is a private affair” by chinua achebe. "i shall never see her,” was the reply. from that night the father scarcely spoke to his son. he did not, however, cease hoping that he would realize how serious was the danger he was heading for. day and night he put him in his prayers. nnaemeka, for his own part, was very deeply affected by his father’s grief. but he kept hoping that it would pass away. if it had occurred to him that never in the history of his people had a man married a woman who spoke a different tongue, he might have been less optimistic. "it has never been heard,” was the verdict of an old man speaking a few weeks later. in that short sentence he spoke for all of his people. this man had come with others to commiserate with okeke when news went round about his son’s behaviour. by that time the son had gone back to lagos. "it has never been heard,” said the old man again with a sad shake of his head. "what did our lord say? ” asked another gentleman. "sons shall rise against their fathers; it is there in the holy book.” "it is the beginning of the end,” said another. how does this passage reinforce the traditional social hierarchy? the older men in the village tell okeke that he should respect nnaemeka’s decision. the older men in the village console nnaemeka about okeke’s attitude toward his choices. the older men in the village commiserate with okeke regarding nnaemeka’s decision to disobey him. the older men in the village think that nnaemeka should be optimistic that okeke will accept his decision.

Ineed advice. i have a lot of friends at school but recently my best friend for some reason didn’t like our friend group. she wanted to switch to a new table during lunch. she said she found a new table where we would be welcomed if i wanted to come. i agreed because i knew i would continue to talk to them outside of lunch. after a month or two, my best friend got mad at our new lunch table group. so she left for a day or two, but i stayed because i actually kinda liked it there, even if it was kinda crazy. then she came back to the table. eventually i started to miss my old friends at my old lunch table. so i went over there for one lunch. then after lunch i sat at my new lunch spot before the bell rang. they all called me a traitor. so now i sit with my old lunch group, which is fine because i missed them, but i also miss my new, now old, lunch table. what should i do? p. s. sorry if you loose your last brain cells trying to understand this.

Which statement correctly describes the verb function in this sentence? the word “dancing” is a verb that functions as a noun. the word “dancing” is a verb that functions as an adjective. the word “becoming” is a verb that functions as a noun. the word “becoming” is a verb that functions as an adjective.