Sentence improvement — Subordinate clause after ‘‘ensure that’’: select the best finite-clause completion of ‘‘The company goes to great length to ensure that employees ___ comfortable in their work environment.’’ so the result clause is natural and precise.

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: are comfortable

Explanation:

Given dataThe company goes to great length to ensure that employees can be comfortable in their work environment.

Concept/ApproachAfter ‘‘ensure that’’, we typically use a straightforward indicative clause that states the assured state: ‘‘employees are comfortable.’’ The modal ‘‘can’’ implies mere possibility, not ensured outcome.

Option analysisare comfortable — Best: expresses the guaranteed state the company aims to secure.will be comfortable — Future orientation; unnecessary and less idiomatic.should be comfortable — Moral desirability, not assurance.No improvement — Retains weaker ‘‘can be’’.

Verification/AlternativeAlso idiomatic: ‘‘ensure a comfortable work environment for employees.’’

Common pitfallsOver-using modals like ‘‘can/should’’ when a simple finite verb better matches ‘‘ensure that’’.

Final Answerare comfortable

More Questions from Sentence Improvement

Discussion & Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment!
Join Discussion