AbdurRakib wrote:
Gusty westerly winds will continue to usher in a seasonably cool air mass into the region, as a broad area of high pressure will build and bring fair and dry weather for several days.
A. to usher in a seasonably cool air mass into the region, as a broad area of high pressure will build and
B. ushering in a seasonably cool air mass into the region and a broad area of high pressure will build that
C. to usher in a seasonably cool air mass to the region, a broad area of high pressure building, and
D. ushering a seasonably cool air mass in the region, with a broad area of high pressure building and
E. to usher a seasonably cool air mass into the region while a broad area of high pressure builds, which will
Dear AbdurRakib,
I'm happy to respond.
This is a great question, as all the official questions are!
This uses a quite idiosyncratic idiom, involving the verb "
to usher." The literal use of this word is the action of the person called an "
usher," the person in a theater or at a classical concern who escorts patrons to their seats. Metaphorically, it is used about anything that brings something into existence. The basic idiom is:
I usher X in.
If I want to specify the region in which this X is introduced, I would say:
I usher X into A.
The "
in . . . into" is redundant and wrong: choice (A) & (B) have this, and the "
in . . . to" in (C) is far from ideal. Choices (D) & (E) get the idiom completely correct.
This is not a strict rule, but
"continue" +[infinitive] sounds formal and sophisticated, whereas
"continue" +[gerund] sounds casual and colloquial.
Choice (D) also makes a mistake with "with" + [noun] + [participle][/url]. That's very subtle.
This leave (E), the OA.
Does all this make sense?
Mike
Shouldn't "which" as a pronoun directly be next to "broad area of high pressure"? How to identify situations where it's okay for modifiers / pronouns to not directly touch nouns? It's a little confusing