Proposing that inordinate government spending was causative of the hig

IMO E

In A and E , E is more precise.

B. change of tense is not required.

C. Wordy

D. It changes meaning of the original sentence

award kudos if helpful

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Passive tone is also an issue with option A.

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Proposing that inordinate government spending was causative of the high deficit, the president presented a budget that maintained relatively high defense expenditures while it reduced funding for certain social programs which, the administration argued, were receiving sufficient support from the private sector.

Meaning analysis - According to the President , Inordinate government spending is the reason for high deficit. So he presented a budget that maintained {X} while reduced {Y}.

A. Proposing that inordinate government spending was causative of the high deficit, the president presented a budget

B. Proposing that government spending causes deficits, the president presented a budget - It should be caused. 'cause' depicts present tense.

C. With a proposal that inordinate government spending was causative of the high deficit, the president presented a budget
same error as option A

D. The president presented a budget proposal that inordinate government spending was causative of the high deficit - completely wrong , the Presidnet didn't present a budget proposal that inordinate government spending was causative of the high deficit

E. Proposing that inordinate government spending caused the high deficit, the president presented a budget

A. Proposing that inordinate government spending was causative of the high deficit, the president presented a budget- "was causative" is an awkward usage

B. Proposing that government spending causes deficits, the president presented a budget- use present tense "causes" incorrect. In general it will mean that the goverment spending always causes deficit.

C. With a proposal that inordinate government spending was causative of the high deficit, the president presented a budget - same as A. The use of with distorts the intended meaning. The original sentence presented a link between the action of proposing and presenting a budget.But now it will mean that along with the budget the president also presented a proposal.

D. The president presented a budget proposal that inordinate government spending was causative of the high deficit - distorts the meaning entirely. The clause "that maintained relatively.." now modifies high deficit.

E. Proposing that inordinate government spending caused the high deficit, the president presented a budget- Correct

Official Explanation

E. Caused is better than the wordy and pretentious phrase was causative of in choices A, C, and D. Choice B omits two adjectives and unnecessarily changes the tense in causes.