Which English phrase best expresses making someone decide to take action?

• A. To persuade someone to act
• B. To prompt someone to do something
• C. To urge someone to act
• D. To coerce someone to act

Answer: (D)

The key idea here is the level of influence over a person’s decision. Coercion conveys forcing someone to act through pressure or threats, which effectively pushes them to make a decision they might not have made willingly. That strong pressure is what makes the action feel like a decided outcome caused by compelling force.

By contrast, persuade, urge, and prompt all imply some influence, but they leave room for voluntary choice: persuade uses argument to shape beliefs, urge is a strong recommendation, and prompt is simply a nudge or cue to act. None of those force the decision in the way coercion does, so they don’t best express “making someone decide to take action.”