Multiple choice

Directions: The following question presents a sentence, part of which or all of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

As sales of cars and light trucks made in North America were declining 13.6 percent in late February, many analysts conclude that evidence of a recovering automotive market remains slight.

  1. As sales of cars and light trucks made in North America were declining 13.6 percent in late February, many analysts conclude

  2. Since sales of cars and light trucks made in North America declined 13.6 percent in late February, and many analysts conclude

  3. With sales of cars and light trucks made in North America declining 13.6 percent in late February, with many analysts concluding

  4. Because sales of cars and light trucks made in North America declined 13.6 percent in late February, many analysts concluded

  5. Because of sales of cars and light trucks made in North America declining 13.6 percent in late February, therefore, many analysts concluded
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The sentence explains why analysts concluded something about the automotive market based on declining sales data. 'Because' correctly introduces the reason/evidence behind their conclusion. The sentence needs simple past 'concluded' to match 'declined,' creating proper cause-effect structure. Option A's 'As...were declining...conclude' has tense mismatch. Option B's 'Since...and many analysts conclude' is grammatically incomplete. Option C's 'With...with many analysts concluding' is awkward and repetitive. Option E's 'Because of...therefore, many analysts concluded' is redundant - 'because of' and 'therefore' shouldn't be used together.

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