Based on its use in this sentence, what is the connotative meaning of the word stagnant?

john, an aspiring actor, was criticized at his last audition for being stagnant and uninteresting.
still
quiet
standoffish
lifeless

The correct answer is D. Lifeless

Explanation:

The connotative meaning of a word refers to the associations or connections a word has in a context, in this way, the connotative meaning is not about the definition in dictionaries or the definition people agree on, but the associations the word has depending on how people understand it or the context in which it appears. In the case of "John, an aspiring actor, was criticized at his last audition for being stagnant and uninteresting" the context in which it appears  that is an audition suggest the word stagnant refers to the inability of John to express emotions or communicate with the audience, as this is something common in this context, because of this the most appropriate connotative meaning of this is lifeless as this word expresses John's lack of expressions, movement or the like, that made him look similar to someone or something inanimated or without life, not because he is dead, but because he was unable to display certain emotions or movements during the audition, which makes people compare him to something that lacks life.

remember, the goal of an adjective clause is to add more information to a noun or a pronoun. as you can see from the examples above, you can add information by including a longer adjective clause or tighten up a sentence by turning the adjective clause into an adjective phrase.