Question

fantastic voyager by david cohen
it might sound like the nautical equivalent of a lead balloon, but british inventor heinz lipschutz really did dream of going to sea in a concrete submarine. and though such a vessel has yet to surface for real, lipschutz—who died last year aged 82—(1) argued to the end that building his dream craft was not only possible, it would actually offer all kinds of advantages over existing designs.
lipschutz calculated that his concrete sub could dive five times as deep as metal submarines and have ten times their range and endurance. (2) he even claimed the german navy built a 7 - meter prototype to test his theory—though this claim has never been substantiated.
1 yet developments in new types of high - tech concrete mean his idea may not be as ridiculous as it sounds. (3) 2 many saw lipschutz simply as an eccentric. 3 building deep - diving vessels out of concrete could actually be quite sensible, says david creswell, a submarine expert with the british technology consultancy qinetiq, until recently an agency of the ministry of defence. 4 “i quite like the idea from a survivability point of view,” he says.
and although concrete is something we usually associate with (4) building bridges, paving roads, and the construction of sidewalks, the stuff has been used successfully for a century to construct ships and yachts of all sizes. (5) today, american engineering students regularly build and race concrete canoes. and troll a, the world’s biggest offshore oil platform is a 369 - meter - tall structure that sits on the seabed and uses huge concrete cylinders to store oil that beneath the surface. there can be little doubt that this material can survive extreme conditions.
1 what choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable?
a. no change
b. argues
c. is arguing
d. will argue
2 the writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. should the sentence be kept or deleted?
a. kept, because it highlights lipschutz’s ingenuity
b kept, because it provides context that an authority like the german navy supported lipschutz’s theory.
c. deleted, because it detracts from lipschutz’s credibility.
d. deleted, because it adds a detail that contradicts the claim that the submarine could be effective.
3 the best place for sentence 2 is
a. where it is now
b. before sentence 1
c. after sentence 3
d. after sentence 4
4 what choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable?
a. no change
b. building bridges, road paving, and constructing sidewalks,
c. building bridges, the paving of roads, and construction of sidewalks,
d. building bridges, paving roads, and constructing sidewalks,

Explanation:

1. The past - tense "argued" is appropriate as it refers to actions of Lipschutz who has passed away.
2. The sentence about the German Navy building a prototype adds an unsubstantiated claim that detracts from Lipschutz's credibility.
3. Placing sentence 2 after sentence 3 disrupts the flow. It makes more sense where it is now as it follows the claim about the advantages of the concrete sub and precedes the counter - point about new high - tech concrete developments.
4. The original list "building bridges, paving roads, and the construction of sidewalks" has inconsistent verb forms. The correct parallel form is "building bridges, road paving, and constructing sidewalks".

Answer:

1. a. No Change
2. C. Deleted, because it detracts from Lipschutz's credibility.
3. a. where it is now
4. b. building bridges, road paving, and constructing sidewalks