Since the mid-1990s, the central government of Botswana has been forci

Official Explanation:

The “government,” the singular subject of the underlined clause, requires the singular verb “justifies” and the singular pronoun “its.” Additionally, since “medical care and schooling” are examples of services, they should be delineated by “such as” rather than “such like.”

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This choice incorrectly uses the plural pronoun "justifies" to refer to government. Additionally, it is redundant to state “too costly and expensive."

(C) The plural verb “justify” and the plural pronoun “their” incorrectly refer to the singular “government.” Also, basic services “like” medical care and schooling is unidiomatic.

(D) The plural verb “justify” incorrectly refers to the singular “government.” Additionally, “too costly and expensive” is redundant, and medical care and schooling are two services rather than “a service.”

(E) CORRECT. The singular subject "government" is properly accompanied by the singular verb "justifies" and the singular pronoun "its." Furthermore, the phrase “such basic services as medical care and schooling” is idiomatically correct.
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Edited your question:


Government is singular, so it should be "its actions" so A,B,C are out and "costly" and "expensive" are synonyms, so D is out. Also verbs should use "as" not "like"
Answer is E.

The correct answer here is E. Example should always have such as and not such like, which elimnates option A, C. Costly and Expensive are same thing which eliminates option B and D. Hence we are left with option E.

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in this sentence subject for underlines part is government ,which is singular hence we can eliminate easily A,B,C now let D&E . the correct used of `Too` is too lazy to walk..

hence E is should be the correct one.

Answer choice E would be the likely answer. But I doubt this is a correct question because the usage of 'as' in option E seems to be wrong. The correct word here would be 'like medical care...'.

Other than this, answer option E is perfect. 'its' is singular and correctly refers to the Govt. Also, eliminates the redundancy in D caused by the word 'expensive'.

There are 2 issues with this question - 1. Pronoun Usage ( Their Vs It ) 2. As Vs Like

Antecedent ( The central government ) is singular so it will take a singular verb It ( Options A,B, c can be rejected )

Go through the sentence once again , as per the meaning examples are given so , as should be used not like.

Option (D) incorrectly uses " such a basic service " and presents 2 examples - (1) medical care & (2) schooling so this option is incorrect.

Hence Correct answer is (E)
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Justifies its action
so E correct


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Since the mid-1990s, the central government of Botswana has been forcibly removing native Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve; the government justifies their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services like medical care and schooling to such a remote area.

Subject of the sentence is "government" which is singular and hence the singular verb "Justifies" goes with it. Also "its" (i.e. singular) would be used as a pronoun for the "government"
So C and D go out.

A. justifies their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services like
Wrong: As services "Like" is is used in case of comparison. Here "as" would be the right word.
Also "their" is a plural pronoun for the antecedent "Government"
So A isn't the right choice.

B. justifies their actions by stating it is too costly and expensive to provide such basic services as
Wrong: Costly and Expensive both are the same thing. Hence redundant.

C. justify their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide basic services like

D. justify its actions by stating that it is too costly and expensive to provide such a basic service as

E. justifies its actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services as
Correct.

A. justifies their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services like

B. justifies their actions by stating it is too costly and expensive to provide such basic services as

C. justify their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide basic services like

D. justify its actions by stating that it is too costly and expensive to provide such a basic service as

E. justifies its actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services as

It's E.
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Answer is choice E.

Two errors:
1. Subject Verb agreement (government...their)

Collective nouns such as Army, Government, Family, Team, etc. require a singular verb.

Army is...
Government has...
Family is...
Team has...

Choice E has got it right, government.....its

2. Usage of "Like" to introduce examples is incorrect.

"Like" is used to compare nouns or to express similarity.

to introduce examples, always use "Such as"

Choice E, correctly uses Such as X, Y & Z
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Govt is singular so its required
So A,b,c are out

Medical care and schooling are two in Number so services required instead of service

So E is correct

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Quickly down to D Vs E. [its is correct over their]

Costly and expensive mean one and the thing.

E was a straight forward choice here.
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Since the mid-1990s, the central government of Botswana has been forcibly removing native Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve; the government justifies their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services like medical care and schooling to such a remote area.

A. justifies their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services like. WRONG: This option has Pronoun Error - As in the second clause THE GOVERNMENT is subject which is SINGULAR so Neutral THIRD PERSON Singular PRONOUN should be used which is ITS. In this option,"Their" has been used. So wrong option.

B. justifies their actions by stating it is too costly and expensive to provide such basic services as. WRONG: This option has Pronoun Error - as same explanation as that of first explanation.

C. justify their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide basic services like. WRONG: This option has Pronoun Error - as same explanation as that of first explanation.

D. justify its actions by stating that it is too costly and expensive to provide such a basic service as. WRONG - Here I believe TOO COSTLY and EXPENSIVE both are same.

E. justifies its actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services as. CORRECT.

Since the mid-1990s, the central government of Botswana has been forcibly removing native Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve; the government justifies their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services like medical care and schooling to such a remote area.

A. justifies their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services like. WRONG: This option has Pronoun Error - As in the second clause THE GOVERNMENT is subject which is SINGULAR so Neutral THIRD PERSON Singular PRONOUN should be used which is ITS. In this option,"Their" has been used. So wrong option.

B. justifies their actions by stating it is too costly and expensive to provide such basic services as. WRONG: This option has Pronoun Error - as same explanation as that of first explanation.

C. justify their actions by stating that it is too costly to provide basic services like. WRONG: This option has Pronoun Error - as same explanation as that of first explanation.

D. justify its actions by stating that it is too costly and expensive to provide such a basic service as. WRONG - Here I believe TOO COSTLY and EXPENSIVE both are same.

E. justifies its actions by stating that it is too costly to provide such basic services as. CORRECT.

The “government,” the singular subject of the underlined clause, requires the singular verb “justifies” and the singular pronoun “its.” Additionally, since “medical care and schooling” are examples of services, they should be delineated by “such as” rather
than “such like.”

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This choice incorrectly uses the plural pronoun "justifies" to refer to government. Additionally, it is redundant to state “too costly and expensive."

(C) The plural verb “justify” and the plural pronoun “their” incorrectly refer to the singular “government.” Also, basic services “like” medical care and schooling is unidiomatic.

(D) The plural verb “justify” incorrectly refers to the singular “government.” Additionally, “too costly and expensive” is redundant, and medical care and schooling are two services rather than “a service.”

(E) CORRECT. The singular subject "government" is properly accompanied by the singular verb "justifies" and the singular pronoun "its." Furthermore, the phrase “such basic services as medical care and schooling” is idiomatically correct.

THE GOVERNMENT is singular
So verb should be Justifes ( C and D OUT)
Their is OUT too so ABC OUT
Only remaining answer is E
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