Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: to make
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This question tests both grammar and vocabulary in the context of a critical passage about court decisions. You must choose the correct form of a phrase that follows the structure are easy and fits naturally with the rest of the sentence. The focus is on choosing the right infinitive or participle form so that the whole sentence reads smoothly and expresses the intended meaning. Such questions are common in exams because they check your understanding of collocations and fixed patterns like easy to make and difficult to do.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
In English, adjectives like easy, difficult, hard, and impossible often take an infinitive with to, as in easy to make, hard to find, or difficult to understand. The structure something is easy to do expresses that performing an action is simple. In this sentence, the subject is proclamations and the adjective is easy. The phrase easy to make is therefore the most natural way to complete the idea that it is simple for the court to make such proclamations from a secure bench. Other forms, such as easy making or easy made, do not form standard collocations in this context.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Examine option a, making. If we insert it, we get Such proclamations are easy making from the high bench, which is ungrammatical because easy is not normally followed by a gerund in this way.
Step 2: Examine option b, made. This gives Such proclamations are easy made from the high bench, which is incorrect in standard English; easy does not directly modify the past participle in this structure.
Step 3: Examine option c, for making. This results in Such proclamations are easy for making from the high bench, which sounds awkward and unnatural. The preposition for is unnecessary and breaks the common pattern.
Step 4: Examine option d, to make. This yields Such proclamations are easy to make from the high, secure, and insulated bench of the Supreme Court. This is a standard English structure and clearly means that it is easy to issue such proclamations.
Step 5: Examine option e, to be made. This gives Such proclamations are easy to be made, which is grammatically awkward and rarely used in modern English; the passive infinitive is not natural here.
Step 6: Since easy to make is the common and grammatically correct pattern, the best choice is option d, to make.
Verification / Alternative Check:
You can verify your choice by comparing similar sentences. For instance, we say The rules are easy to understand, not easy understanding or easy for understanding. Another example is These decisions are hard to justify, not hard for justifying. The pattern adjective plus infinitive is well established in English. In the given sentence, Such proclamations are easy to make from the high bench fits neatly into this pattern and expresses that issuing those proclamations does not require much effort from the judges. Trying each alternative in the sentence clearly shows that only to make produces smooth and idiomatic English.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option a, making, fails because easy making is not a standard phrase, and the gerund making does not combine properly with easy in this position.
Option b, made, cannot be used directly after easy in this way; easy made sounds incorrect in formal written English.
Option c, for making, creates an awkward and non standard structure easy for making, which native speakers do not typically use.
Option e, to be made, uses an unnecessary passive infinitive, resulting in a clumsy sentence that exam setters would not consider correct here.
Common Pitfalls:
Many learners are tempted by for making because they are used to phrases like suitable for making or useful for making, where for is appropriate. However, easy behaves differently: it usually calls for an infinitive with to. Another pitfall is overusing passive forms like to be made, which can quickly make sentences heavy and unnatural. To avoid these mistakes, it is helpful to memorise common adjective plus infinitive patterns such as easy to use, hard to find, and difficult to explain, and then apply them when similar structures appear in exam questions.
Final Answer:
The phrase that correctly completes the sentence is to make, so option d is correct.
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