Choose the best pair to fill the blanks: “One of the TV cameramen was ______ in the leg by a bullet when he was ______ in the middle of a gun fight between two gangs.”

Correct answer: shot, caught. “Shot in the leg by a bullet” and “caught in the middle of a gun fight” are the natural collocations.

Background: “Shot in the leg” and “caught in the middle” are the natural collocations for this news-style sentence.

• hurt, entered: “Hurt … entered” does not fit the meaning.
• injured, came: “Injured … came” does not fit the meaning.
• stabbed, trapped: “Stabbed” does not fit with “by a bullet”.

Did you know? “Caught in the crossfire” is a related idiom for being stuck between two fighting sides.

Memory trick: Shot in the leg; caught in the middle.