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.

Many economists predict that the next recession, when it comes, will be caused by Federal Reserve action taken to prevent an inflationary upsurge that would result if the economy were to expand at an annual rate of three percent or more.

  1. taken to prevent an inflationary upsurge that would result

  2. they took for preventing an inflationary upsurge that would result

  3. taken to prevent an inflationary upsurge resulting

  4. they took to prevent an inflationary upsurge resulting

  5. taken for preventing an inflationary upsurge that will result

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The original sentence correctly uses the past participle "taken" as a modifier for "Federal Reserve action" and maintains proper tense sequence. The phrase "that would result if the economy were to expand" correctly uses the conditional structure to describe a hypothetical future situation in the past.

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