In the sentence "Government officials keep throwing the buck to others", which option best replaces the incorrect phrase so that the standard idiom for shifting responsibility is correctly expressed?

Introduction / Context:
This sentence improvement question tests your understanding of the English idiom pass the buck. The sentence Government officials keep throwing the buck to others is attempting to use this idiom but does so incorrectly. Your job is to select the option that gives the correct verb and preserves the idiomatic meaning of shifting responsibility to someone else.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Original sentence: Government officials keep throwing the buck to others.
• The idiom intended is pass the buck, which means to shift responsibility or blame to another person.
• Option A: giving.
• Option B: passing.
• Option C: donating.
• Option D: No improvement.

Concept / Approach:
The correct and widely used idiom is pass the buck, not throw the buck, give the buck, or donate the buck. In this idiom, buck refers to responsibility or blame. When government officials avoid taking responsibility and push it onto others, we say that they pass the buck. Therefore, the verb that must replace throwing in the sentence is passing, so that the phrase becomes keep passing the buck to others.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recognise that throwing the buck sounds odd and is not a standard English expression.Step 2: Recall the correct idiom pass the buck, which means to avoid responsibility by making someone else deal with a problem.Step 3: Replace the incorrect verb throwing with each option in turn: giving the buck, passing the buck, donating the buck, and leaving it unchanged.Step 4: Observe that only passing the buck is a known idiomatic expression in English that fits the context of government officials avoiding responsibility.Step 5: Conclude that passing is the required improvement and that No improvement is incorrect because the original phrase is not idiomatic English.

Verification / Alternative check:
You can confirm the meaning by thinking of typical political commentary. Journalists often say The minister tried to pass the buck to his subordinates, meaning he shifted blame to them. The phrase throw the buck is not used in this context. Similarly, giving the buck or donating the buck would be understood literally and would lose the idiomatic sense. This real world usage verifies that passing the buck is the correct standard expression.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Giving the buck suggests handing over something but does not carry the idiomatic meaning of evading responsibility. Donating the buck sounds like giving money or something valuable to charity and is completely out of place here. No improvement is wrong because the sentence as given contains a non standard phrase that exam setters clearly want you to correct. Only passing preserves both the correct idiom and the intended criticism of government officials behaviour.

Common Pitfalls:
Some learners mistakenly judge idiomatic sentences only by grammar without checking whether the phrase is actually used in English. The words throwing and buck can appear together in sports contexts, so the phrase may not sound obviously wrong to an untrained ear. In exam preparation, it is important to build a strong list of standard idioms such as pass the buck, beat around the bush, and bury the hatchet. Recognising these fixed expressions quickly will make sentence improvement questions much easier.

Final Answer:
The incorrect phrase throwing the buck should be replaced so that the idiom reads keep passing the buck to others, therefore the correct option is passing, and option B is correct.