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Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by low pressure.

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So, really, there’s nothing to worry about here.

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How would you correct this underlined segment from the passage, if at all?

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from overhead?

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And here are the potential answers...

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This question requires us to know the location from which this spinning column of low-pressure

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air is stirring up the water. Don’t worry; we don’t have to be Bill Nye the Science

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guy to figure it out.

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All we have to do is take a good look at the context in which the underlined portion appears.

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For instance, choice (B) is ridiculous and insults our intelligence.

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If the phrase “from above you” replaced the underlined portion, it would imply that

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tornadic waterspouts tend to form directly over people.

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Thankfully for swimming enthusiasts across the globe, this isn’t true.

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Otherwise, there’d probably be legends of raining humans, instead of fish and frogs.

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Choice (D) kinda gets across the right idea. Air pressure does come from above, because

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it’s...like...air. However, there’s no need to qualify the statement with the fact

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that it doesn’t come from below.

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Even if we didn’t pay attention in Earth Science, most of us are pretty clear on the

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fact that the sky is above the ocean.

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Ultimately, (D) is too wordy, and there's no time for excess verbiage when it's raining frogs.

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This narrows down the options to (A) and (C), which offer “overhead” and “up above,” respectively.

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Out of the two, “overhead” is the best choice because it’s more specific.

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“Up above” could mean anywhere higher in the sky,

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while "overhead" indicates that the air is stirring directly above the water.

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If it can rain fish and frogs, can it rain stinging jellyfish?

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Let’s hope not.

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