Question

Crestfallen by having done poorly on the training, Susan began to question her abilities. Her self-confidence was .......... appeased destroyed sustained fumbled

Answer 1

Her self-confidence was destroyed.

• As given in the sentence, a negative instance has been given wherein Susan fails and begins to doubt herself. Therefore, the word that needs to be used in the blank has to be negative.
• The meanings of the words are given below-

1. appeased- to pacify someone by agreeing to their demands
2. destroyed- to shatter or demolish
3. sustained- to continue for a long time without being interrupted
4. fumbled- handle something in a clumsy manner

Therefore, we can say that 'destroyed' being a negative word is the most suitable one grammatically and contextually.