To answer this question, let's analyze the given COBOL instruction:
IF A=B THEN instruction-1 ELSE instruction-2. instruction-3.
The IF statement is a conditional statement in COBOL. It checks whether the condition "A=B" is true or false. If the condition is true, the code block "instruction-1" will be executed. If the condition is false, the code block "instruction-2" will be executed.
After the IF statement, regardless of whether "instruction-1" or "instruction-2" is executed, "instruction-3" will always be executed. This is because "instruction-3" is not a part of the IF-ELSE construct and is placed outside the conditional statement.
Therefore, the correct answer is D) always. "instruction-3" will always be executed, regardless of the outcome of the IF statement.