+HOT Competition 4 Sep/9AM: The government allocated trillions of doll

Veritas Prep Explanation:

The correct answer is B.

This answer correctly parallels the list at the end of the underlined potion. Beyond that, this answer is one of only a couple of choices that correctly connect to – and parallel – the “but was instead” second half of the sentence.

Answer A describes the “trillions of dollars” at first using the plural “were” but later switches to the singular “was” (“but was instead… spent”). Whether “trillions of dollars” is singular or plural, it simply makes no sense to switch between the two agreements when referring to this same subject. And, of course, “was” must refer to the “trillions of dollars,” since the alternative is that “the government… was… spent on handouts” – not a logical meaning of the sentence.

Answer C fails to provide a verb on “trillions of dollars” to parallel “but was instead… spent on handouts.” (“intended” in C is a participle modifier, not a verb.) As such, this answer seems to suggest that “the government… was… spent on handouts” – still entirely illogical.

Answer D suggests that the “trillions of dollars” was what “intended” to do the things described in the middle of the sentence. But, of course, money is not sentient and intends nothing. This answer also fails parallelism in its list “aid small businesses, unemployed individuals, and prevent economic devastation,” since only the first and third elements contain verbs.

Answer E begins a list with “intending, … preventing,” but simply never finishes that list. Furthermore, yet again this answer choice fails to connect properly to the “but was… spent on handouts” in the latter portion of the sentence.

It is worth noting that “trillions of dollars” could be construed as either a singular or a plural subject, but that in either case the sentence must maintain consistency throughout. Certainly, though, it would not have been correct to simply cross out the singular usage in this case, since one could, and perhaps in this case even should, to quote the New York Times’ grammar blog (in an analogous case), “construe ‘billions of dollars’ as an amount rather than a number, and use singular verbs.”