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Difficulty: Very hardShifts in Construction

During his tenure at the university, the professor not only published several groundbreaking papers on marine biology, but also the department's research funding was doubled by him through private grants. This influx of capital allowed his graduate students to conduct extensive field studies in the Pacific Ocean. Consequently, the university quickly became a leading institution for oceanographic research.

Which of the following options best replaces the bolded portion to maintain a consistent grammatical construction and active voice throughout the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. doubled the department's research fundingAnswer
  3. C
    the department's research funding was doubled
  4. D
    doubling the department's research funding

Answer

The option that reads 'doubled the department's research funding' is the correct answer.
The correct option maintains a consistent active voice and parallel structure. The past tense verb 'doubled' perfectly matches the past tense verb 'published' inside the 'not only... but also...' construction, allowing 'the professor' to remain the clear subject for both actions.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the structure of the sentence containing the bolded portion.
The sentence uses the correlative conjunction structure 'not only... but also...' to join two actions performed by the same subject ('the professor').
Correlative conjunctions must connect grammatically parallel elements to avoid a shift in construction.
2
Analyze the grammatical structure of the first element in the pair.
The first element is 'published several groundbreaking papers...', which uses the active voice and the simple past tense verb 'published'.
This establishes the grammatical pattern that the second element must match.
3
Evaluate the second element to see if there is a shift in construction.
The original phrasing 'the department's research funding was doubled by him' shifts to the passive voice and changes the subject of the clause.
This shift violates parallel structure and creates an awkward, wordy construction.
4
Select the option that maintains active voice, parallel past-tense verbs, and grammatical consistency.
The phrase 'doubled the department's research funding' matches 'published' and keeps 'the professor' as the active performer of both actions.
This restores parallel structure and ensures a clean, direct sentence.

Key Concept

Maintaining parallel structure and avoiding unnecessary shifts in voice or grammatical construction within a sentence.
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Topics

Shifts in Construction

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