Multiple choice

Directions: For the following question, select the option that best replaces the parenthesis in the given paragraph.

Outsourcing is the present participle of a verb – ending in ing – that is used as a noun. (…) For a generation, as globalisation generated twice as many jobs in the United States as it shipped abroad, the issue was relatively quiescent. Even more disconcerting to anti-protectionists was another attack gerund, emphasising the shipment of jobs not just to outside suppliers, but also to those in foreign lands: Offshoring.

  1. Outsourcing has been a major source of mutual recrimination among politicians of different hues.

  2. The term outsourcing seemed quite a benign expression to start with.

  3. Nobody gave any serious thought to ‘outsourcing’ and thought of it as just another form of business expansion.

  4. When a new verb makes it to a gerund so quickly, it is a sign that the word fills a linguistic need.

  5. To start with, globalisation was an unmixed blessing for the U.S.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The passage is all about syntactic usage - the gerund form. So, the only option is (4). 

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