As it becomes more frequent to have spouses who both work outside the

Hey All,

I got asked to explain two things on this question.

1) Why is E wrong. E is wrong because it gets the meaning scrambled. Take a look:

couples in which both of the spouses working outside the home become more common

The question is what is becoming more common. In this one, "become more common" has the subject "both of the spouses working outside the home." But that's not what we want. We want THE FACT that both spouses work outside of the home to be becoming more common.

Which brings me to the second questions: 2) What is the "it" standing in for?

This is a special "it" that gets used in the subject of object position to refer to a specific or situational subject or object later in the sentence. For example: It is hot out today. It's likely you'll come over later.

The "it" here is exactly what we want to be more common; the situation of two working spouses in households.

Does that make sense?

-t

(A) it becomes more frequent to have spouses who both work outside the home An action which is regular will be referred as 'common' and an action explicitly done by someone will be referred by 'frequent'. For example - frequent visits, frequent flyer etc. Thus, correct usage here would be 'common' not 'frequent'. INCORRECT

(B) it becomes more frequent to have couples both working outside the home Same as A. INCORRECT

(C) it becomes more common that both husband and wife should be working outside the home This sentence is correct to use 'common' but it makes mandatory for husband and wife to work outside, by using the word 'should'and that is not the intended meaning. INCORRECT


(D) it becomes more common for both husband and wife to work outside the home CORRECT

(E) couples in which both of the spouses working outside the home become more common Core of this sentence is: As couples become more common, companies are beginning to help. This distorts the meaning because couples may be common for many other reasons. Companies are helping not because couples are common but because one of the spouse (who happens to get the transfer) is with the company and helping the other would benefit the company. INCORRECT

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