A.
unfortunate and miserable
The best response is the first reply because downtrodden
means trampled upon, crushed, depressed.
One way you can help yourself in the future when looking to determine the
meaning of a word is to try to replace it with synonyms. That said, if you replace “downtrodden” with “depressed”
or “sad,” the sentence still makes perfect sense. However, what if you don’t know
synonyms? In that case, try to look at
the parts of the word. For instance, the
prefix of “downtrodden” is “down.” That
said, “down” is typically a word associated with “sad.” Thus, one could make the connection that “downtrodden”
is synonymous with “unfortunate” and/or “miserable.”
