12. After gradual declension down to about 39 hours in 1970, the workweek in the United States has steadily increased to the point that the average worker now puts in an estimated 164 extra hours of paid labor a year.
(A) After gradual declension down
(B) Following a gradual declension down
(C) After gradual declining down
(D) After gradually declining
(E) Following gradually declining
Diction + Rhetorical construction
One of the meanings of
declension is a decline, but
declension is rarely, if ever, used in this sense in
the modern era. Replacing declension with decline would be acceptable, but it is preferable to use the participle declining with the adverb gradually: after gradually declining. Declining shows movement in only one direction, so the redundant adverb down must be omitted.
A Wordy, redundant, and stilted construction uses
the rare declension in place of the familiar decline
B Construction is wordy and redundant; declension
in the sense of decline is not a familiar or
contemporary usage
C Declining must be modified by the adverb gradually, not the adjective
gradual; down is redundant
D Correct. In this sentence, after gradually
declining is clear, correct, concise, and idiomatic.
E Phrase must be introduced by a preposition
(after), not a participle (following)
The correct answer is D.
E选项问：following gradually declining,decling不可以理解为动名词吗？
declining是participle.
after是prep.＋ving，gradually修饰分词；用ing分词结构代替after it gradually declined to．．in １９７０
用动名词除非动词本身无名词形式不得已才用，decline有名词的形式．
我的理解，希望指正！thanks
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