When a given industry—water and electricity are two well-known examples—carries high infrastructural start-up costs and other barriers that discourage competition,______ of just one or two suppliers per municipality. Such industries are known as natural monopolies.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Explanation
Context: "When a given industry — water and electricity are two well-known examples — carries high infrastructural start-up costs...__ of just one or two suppliers per municipality." The antecedent is "a given industry" — singular. The examples in the dashes are parenthetical.
Answer: D) it often consists
Why? Singular antecedent "a given industry" → singular pronoun "it." The parenthetical "water and electricity are two well-known examples" is a distractor.
Traps:
- A) they often consist → plural; "a given industry" is singular
- B) this often consists → "this" is a vague demonstrative; "it" correctly refers to the specific singular antecedent
- C) these often consist → plural demonstrative; "a given industry" is singular