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 measured by the Commerce Department, corporate profits peaked in the fourth quarter of 1988 and have slipped since then, as many companies have been unable to pass on higher costs.