Am I the only one who found this exercise super-chiant?

Question

Is it arreter (not s'arreter) because "ce que je faisais" is the object and s'arreter as a reflexive can't have an object??

And unlike 'the rest of the day' (journee), I felt better 'in the evening' is not obviously 'duration' so why soiree not soir, especially when this morning is matin?

Why faire (bien) DE venir when faire doesn't have to take a preposition and A is the normal connector in those circumstances?

Is there any rule at all to determine relaxer vs se relaxer vs detendre vs se detendre?

And on and on it goes ...

Accepted Answer

Also, I think that you have nailed the answer for your first query about arrêter/s'arrêter with the object being the key. "I stopped" vs "I stopped the car". And I think "faire venir" without a preposition would be to make something come (or cause something to come) as opposed to "faire bien DE venir" meaning to do well to come. And finally you would have the choice of "se relaxer LES muscles" or "relaxer SES muscles" in this case for relaxing one's muscles i.e. I think that you can use some of these verbs reflexively or not as the whim takes you. Better luck next time. Don't stress too much, you were probably just having a bad day.

Answer

And replying to William, I don't think "terminer" works as well here. She stopped what she was doing (arrêter). It's more precise than if she said she finished what she was doing (terminer) as that might have taken a little while. Also the doctor could have said she was right to come and see him or that it was the right thing to do, or variations on that theme but he actually said she had done well to come. Not much difference in meaning really, but they are asking for a translation of the passage so that's why it was "vous avez bien fait".

Answer

Bonjour Phillip !
First of all, I'm sure you didn't fully realise how rude the term "chiant" actually is in a written, not "matey" context, but I thought it would useful to point it out for future reference :) As for your questions, Paul kindly and rightly answered some of them, and here are my answers:
- s'arrêter literally means "to stop oneself", and just like with other reflexives se détendre and se relaxer, the action has for object the subject speaking, whereas the non-reflexive forms arrêter, détendre, relaxer invites a different object:
i.e. Je m'arrête - J'arrête la machine.Je me relaxe - Je relaxe ma jambe
Here the colloquial option in French "Je me relaxe la jambe" literally means "I relax myself the leg", and though sounding very odd in English, is actually a perfectly correct (and most common) way to express this in French. 
- "I was feeling better in the evening"Here I would agree with the ambiguity, if we'd used "I felt better" -> it then could have been either "I felt better at that moment in the day (as opposed to the afternoon for example)" or "I (gradually) felt better in the evening (but can't pinpoint the exact moment)". However, "I was feeling" refers to an action that progressed and extended in time, therefore here only the second option is correct, i.e. "dans la soirée" in French.
In contrast, the next sentence says "but when I tried to get up this morning", it refers to that specific moment of the day when he acted, emphasised by "this", therefore requiring "ce matin". 
I hope that's helpful! 
Bonne journée !

Answer

Bonjour William !
- "terminer" and "arrêter" are not equivalent, and in this context, she stopped her activity because of the pain, implying that she probably didn't finish what she was doing. At least, without extra context, we can'tjustify using "finir" or "terminer" here.
- "Faire bien de [infinitif]" - Here it's a colloquial expression and use of "faire", to specifically express the idea to "do well to [do something]". As Paul pointed out, the meaning here is indeed close to "being right to [do]", but just like these 2 English sentences are different, so are the French ones :)
I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !

Answer

LOL, j’ai utilisé ’terminer’ et je me demande si cela peut aussi servir ?  En plus, j’ai écrit ’Vous avez raison’ pour ’You did well’ parce que sur RFI le modérateur dit souvent ”Vous écoutez RFI et vous avez raison” ce que j’interprète toujours comme ”You are listening to RFI and you’ve done well” vs. ”...and you are right.”  Mais détendez-vous un peu Philip, c’est vendredi soir ! (ou soirée peut-être, je ne suis point sûr.) :)

Answer

I think when he felt better in the evening, it was all evening so it actually it is a duration (dans la soirée), but when he hurt himself in the morning, and also when he got up the next morning, they were both specific events (so matin, not matinée)

Answer

I didn’t like it either .and found it very frustrating ,would actually not have expressed it the same way as you did though !!!!