This question tests your understanding of participles and adjective forms used to describe nouns.

The sentence is: "The woman _____ in the _____ house was screaming hysterically."

Let's break it down step-by-step:

Step 1: Analyzing the first blank
The first blank describes the state of "the woman". We need a word that explains *why* she was screaming. She was screaming because she was unable to get out of the house. The correct grammatical form to show a state or condition is the past participle. "Trapped" is the past participle of the verb "to trap". It functions as an adjective meaning "caught and unable to escape".

• "trapping" is a present participle/gerund and would imply she is the one doing the trapping, which doesn't make sense.
• "to be trapped" is an infinitive phrase and is not used to directly modify a noun in this way.

Therefore, trapped is correct for the first blank.

Step 2: Analyzing the second blank
The second blank describes the "house". We need a word that tells us what was happening *to* the house. The house was on fire. The correct grammatical form to show an ongoing action that describes a noun is the present participle. "Blazing" is the present participle of the verb "to blaze". It functions as an adjective meaning "burning fiercely".

• "blazed" is the simple past tense verb. It describes an action that was completed. We need a word that describes the house's state (it was actively burning), not just that it burned at some point.

Therefore, blazing is correct for the second blank.

Final Answer: The correct choice is trapped / blazing.
The complete sentence is: "The woman trapped in the blazing house was screaming hysterically."

Related Concepts & Formulae

Participles as Adjectives:

• Present Participle (-ing form): Used to describe what something *is doing* or what its *current state is*. It has an active meaning. $\text{E.g., a}\mathit{\text{blazing}}\text{fire, a}\mathit{\text{boring}}\text{lecture}$
• Past Participle (-ed form for regular verbs): Used to describe how something *is affected*. It has a passive meaning. $\text{E.g., a}\mathit{\text{trapped}}\text{animal, a}\mathit{\text{broken}}\text{window}$