Question

Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion would NOT be acceptable? 

The country cleared this \(\underline{\text{path and paved}}\) it with packed gravel...
 

• A. path, paving
• B. path and then paved
• C. path before paving
• D. path paved

Hint:

When two independent actions are performed by the same subject, they must be joined by a coordinating conjunction (like 'and', 'but') or structured correctly using participles or subordinate clauses. Simply placing two verbs back-to-back is usually incorrect.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

The original sentence has two verbs in the simple past tense connected by 'and': "cleared... and paved...". This indicates two sequential actions. Let's analyze the acceptability of the alternatives: \[\begin{array}{rl} \bullet & \text{(A) "cleared this path, paving it..." - This uses a present participle to describe a simultaneous or immediately following action. This is grammatically acceptable.} \\ \bullet & \text{(B) "cleared this path and then paved it..." - This explicitly states the sequence of actions and is grammatically acceptable.} \\ \bullet & \text{(C) "cleared this path before paving it..." - This also clearly and correctly states the sequence of actions. This is acceptable.} \\ \bullet & \text{(D) "cleared this path paved it..." - This construction is grammatically incorrect. It has two consecutive past tense verbs ("cleared" and "paved") without a conjunction like 'and' or a proper grammatical structure to connect them. It creates a run-on sentence fragment.} \\ \end{array}\] Therefore, "path paved" is NOT an acceptable alternative.