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Difficulty: Very hardPrepositions and Prepositional Phrases

In restructuring the state's healthcare infrastructure, the executive council opted for a decentralized administration __________ the centralized management system that had previously proven inefficient.

Which of the following prepositional phrases correctly completes the sentence?

  1. in preference toAnswer
  2. B
    in preference of
  3. C
    in preference over
  4. D
    in preference for

Answer

The phrase 'in preference to' correctly completes the sentence because it is the established fixed prepositional phrase used in formal English to indicate choice between alternatives.
The compound prepositional phrase 'in preference to' is the standard idiomatic expression used to show that one alternative has been selected instead of another. In formal English grammar, the fixed phrase 'in preference' requires the terminal preposition 'to'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the syntactic context and meaning of the sentence.
The context requires a complex prepositional phrase meaning 'rather than' or 'instead of' to introduce the rejected alternative (the centralized management system).
Determining the relationship between the two noun phrases establishes the specific prepositional structure required.
2
Evaluate standard prepositional collocations involving the noun 'preference'.
While the noun 'preference' takes 'for' in simple contexts (e.g., 'a preference for localized management'), the multi-word prepositional phrase construction strictly demands 'in preference to'.
Fixed prepositional phrases follow strict idiomatic constraints that cannot be altered by substituting complementary prepositions.
3
Eliminate non-standard prepositional variants.
Forms such as 'in preference of', 'in preference over', and 'in preference for' are erroneous and non-standard in formal English grammar.
These incorrect options stem from prepositional particle mismatch and false structural analogies.

Key Concept

Fixed Prepositional Phrases and Idiomatic Collocations
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Topics

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

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