In the following question, improve the given sentence if necessary: "He was too conscientious in the discharge of his duties that he could not serve that exploiter for long." Choose the best alternative or select 'No improvement'.

Introduction / Context:
This sentence improvement problem focuses on the correct use of the structure "too ... to". The original sentence is: "He was too conscientious in the discharge of his duties that he could not serve that exploiter for long." You must decide which option best improves the grammatical and idiomatic correctness of the statement.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- Given sentence: He was too conscientious in the discharge of his duties that he could not serve that exploiter for long.
- Options:
- that he would not serve.
- for serving.
- to serve.
- No improvement.
- The intended meaning is: because he was very conscientious, he could not continue to serve a person who exploited others.

Concept / Approach:
English often uses the pattern "too + adjective + to + verb" to indicate an excessive degree that prevents an action. For example, "too tired to work" or "too honest to cheat". The original sentence mistakenly uses "too conscientious ... that he could not serve", mixing the "too ... to" pattern with "so ... that". The correct structure is "He was too conscientious ... to serve that exploiter for long". This states that his high conscientiousness made service to an exploiter impossible or unacceptable.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the pattern in the original sentence: "too conscientious ... that he could not serve". This is incorrect, because "too" should be followed by "to" when expressing prevention of an action.Step 2: Option A, "that he would not serve", changes the entire structure to "too conscientious ... that he would not serve", which still clashes and alters the clear cause-effect pattern.Step 3: Option B, "for serving", would give "too conscientious ... for serving", which is ungrammatical and does not express the intended meaning.Step 4: Option C, "to serve", gives "He was too conscientious in the discharge of his duties to serve that exploiter for long." This follows the standard "too ... to" construction.Step 5: Option D, "No improvement", would preserve the incorrect mixture of structures.Step 6: Therefore, "to serve" is the correct improvement.

Verification / Alternative check:
Compare the corrected version with a closely related alternative using "so ... that": "He was so conscientious in the discharge of his duties that he could not serve that exploiter for long." This is also grammatically correct. However, the given sentence explicitly uses "too", so the correct fix is to complete the "too ... to" form, not to rewrite the whole sentence. The exam expects you to recognise and repair the internal pattern rather than rewrite it with "so ... that".

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
- "that he would not serve": keeps the wrong "too ... that" combination and slightly changes the meaning to a matter of will rather than moral impossibility.
- "for serving": does not form a recognised structure; it would need additional words to be meaningful and still not match the intended pattern.
- "No improvement": leaves the sentence with a clear structural error, which is not acceptable in a standardised grammar question.

Common Pitfalls:
Many learners confuse "too ... to" with "so ... that" because both can talk about results. However, they cannot be mixed; "too" pairs with "to", and "so" pairs with "that". A helpful memory trick is: "too" usually signals that something is "excessive to the point of impossibility" ("too cold to go out"), while "so" introduces a degree that leads to a result ("so cold that we stayed inside"). Ensuring you keep each pattern consistent will prevent the type of error found in the original sentence.

Final Answer:
The correct improvement is "to serve", so the sentence should read: "He was too conscientious in the discharge of his duties to serve that exploiter for long."