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Question

Difficulty: HardPrepositions and Prepositional Phrases

The legal counsel maintained that the proposed amendment to the banking regulation was distinctly prejudicial _____ the operating licenses of microfinance institutions. Which preposition correctly completes the sentence?

  1. toAnswer
  2. B
    against
  3. C
    for
  4. D
    with

Answer

The preposition 'to' correctly completes the sentence because the formal adjective 'prejudicial' takes the fixed preposition 'to' when specifying the target of harm or detriment.
The adjective 'prejudicial' collocates specifically with the preposition 'to' (meaning causing harm or detriment to something). Therefore, 'prejudicial to' is the only grammatically correct structure.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the head word requiring a dependent preposition.
The controlling word in the sentence is the formal adjective 'prejudicial'.
Adjectives in formal English often require specific, fixed dependent prepositions.
2
Determine the correct prepositional collocation for 'prejudicial'.
The standard idiomatic collocation is 'prejudicial to'.
Although synonyms like 'harmful' can take 'to' or 'for', 'prejudicial' strictly collocates with 'to' in administrative and legal register contexts.

Key Concept

Dependent Prepositions with Formal Adjectives
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Topics

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

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