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Question

Difficulty: MediumEmphatic Stress

In the sentence below, the word printed in capital letters has emphatic stress.

"The investigative journalist EXPOSED the financial scandal in Lagos."

Which of the following questions elicits this statement as an appropriate response?

  1. Did the investigative journalist cover up the financial scandal in Lagos?Answer
  2. B
    Did the crime reporter expose the financial scandal in Lagos?
  3. C
    Did the investigative journalist expose the environmental scandal in Lagos?
  4. D
    Did the investigative journalist expose the financial scandal in Abuja?

Answer

The question that elicits the statement is: 'Did the investigative journalist cover up the financial scandal in Lagos?'
Emphatic stress places contrastive emphasis on a single element in a sentence to highlight or correct specific information. Because 'EXPOSED' is capitalized, the correct question must challenge the verb action (asking if the journalist 'covered up' the scandal) while keeping all other components—the subject ('investigative journalist'), object ('financial scandal'), and location ('Lagos')—identical.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the word carrying emphatic stress in the given sentence.
The word printed in full capital letters is 'EXPOSED', which functions as the main verb of the sentence.
Emphatic stress indicates contrastive focus specifically on the capitalized word.
2
Determine what information must be queried or contradicted in the eliciting question.
The correct contrastive question must contradict or ask about the action 'EXPOSED' (e.g. asking if the journalist 'covered up' the scandal).
The emphasized word in a statement provides the specific piece of information that corrects or answers a preceding question.
3
Verify that all uncapitalized parts of the statement remain unchanged in the question.
The subject ('investigative journalist'), direct object ('financial scandal'), and place ('Lagos') are unchanged.
Elements without emphatic stress represent shared/given information and must not be altered.

Key Concept

Emphatic Stress and Contrastive Focus
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Emphatic Stress

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