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Difficulty: MediumIdiomatic Word Choice

Although now cultivated in gardens worldwide, the Ginkgo biloba tree is native of the Zhejiang province in eastern China, where wild stands still survive.

Which choice best replaces the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. native toAnswer
  3. C
    native too
  4. D
    native with

Answer

native to
The correct option 'native to' uses the standard English idiomatic preposition for describing where a plant or animal species naturally originates. While people can be described as a 'native of' a country, species are described as being 'native to' a region.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the underlined phrase and determine its grammatical relationship to the surrounding words.
The phrase is 'native of', linking the subject (the Ginkgo biloba tree, a plant species) to its place of origin (Zhejiang province).
This allows us to evaluate whether the preposition 'of' is idiomatically appropriate for a biological species' origin.
2
Recall the idiomatic rules governing the word 'native' and prepositions.
While humans are referred to as 'natives of' a place, plant and animal species are idiomatically described as being 'native to' a geographic area.
This identifies 'native to' as the correct idiomatic match for this context.
3
Evaluate the remaining options for errors.
'native too' is incorrect because it uses the adverb 'too' instead of the preposition 'to'. 'native with' is unidiomatic.
This confirms that 'native to' is the only correct, error-free option.

Key Concept

Idiomatic Preposition Collocations
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Idiomatic Word Choice

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