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Question

Difficulty: HardParallel Structure

Read the sentence below, which contains a blank. Which form of the verb 'remedy' must be written in the blank to ensure the sentence maintains a parallel structure?

Answer:Critics of the proposed legislation argued that it would succeed neither in stimulating economic growth nor in 【remedying】 the rising unemployment rate.

Answer

remedying
The correct answer is 'remedying' because it is the gerund form of the verb 'remedy.' The sentence utilizes the correlative conjunction 'neither... nor...' paired with the preposition 'in.' The first parallel element is the gerund phrase 'in stimulating.' To maintain parallel structure, the second element must also be a gerund phrase, 'in remedying.'

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the parallel elements linked by the conjunction in the sentence.
The sentence uses the correlative conjunction 'neither... nor...' to link two parallel concepts: 'neither in stimulating economic growth' and 'nor in [blank] the rising unemployment rate.'
Correlative conjunctions must connect grammatically parallel structures.
2
Analyze the grammatical structure of the first parallel element.
The phrase following 'neither' is 'in stimulating,' which consists of the preposition 'in' and the gerund 'stimulating.'
Establishing the grammatical class of the first item determines the required class of the second item.
3
Apply the parallel grammatical structure to the second element.
The phrase following 'nor' is 'in [blank].' To match the gerund 'stimulating,' the verb 'remedy' must be in its gerund form, which is 'remedying.'
Using the gerund form completes the parallel prepositional gerund phrases ('in stimulating' and 'in remedying').

Key Concept

Parallelism with correlative conjunctions requires matching grammatical forms (such as gerunds following matching prepositions) for all connected elements.
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Topics

Parallel Structure

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