OG11-12

winbie

        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

(sorry can't type Chinese now). Just wondering why in the answer choice, it says " replacing declension with decline would be acceptable, but it is preferable to use the participle declining". Why is it preferable to use participle. Thanks for the opinions first.

iamwuyan

选撒? D么? 个人感觉这里强调的应该是WORKWEEK的动作变化, 和后面的INCREASE成对比, 而且这两个动作都是同一个主语发出的

winbie

答案是D。 但是答案说 prefer 用分词declining + gradually. 那是不是说分词比动词好啊。if 有一个答案是  after gradually decline 是不是没有D 好呢？

liu4949

LZ理解错了，decline的主语是workweek ，这个句子说的是 after （主语）doing sth ，主语～～～

[此贴子已经被作者于2008-9-14 9:47:35编辑过]

winbie

谢谢liu。 我也在想是不是因为主语的问题。 要是用 after gradually decline 的话那就需要主语，就没那么简洁。
顺便问一下， after (主语) doing sth 是一个固定搭配马？ 我全都快忘光了。

liu4949

以下是引用winbie在2008-9-14 10:10:00的发言：
谢谢liu。 我也在想是不是因为主语的问题。 要是用 after gradually decline 的话那就需要主语，就没那么简洁。
顺便问一下， after (主语) doing sth 是一个固定搭配马？ 我全都快忘光了。

算是固定搭配