Environmentalists are advocating for solar panels on residential homes. This "green energy" initiative could both aid in reducing carbon footprints and _________ the cost of electricity bills.
9
writingWhich choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A
lower
B
lowering
C
have lowered
D
should have lowered
Correct Answer: A
Choice A is the best answer. The sentence structure uses the modal "could" which applies to both verbs in the list: "could [aid]... and [lower]." Therefore, the base form of the verb "lower" is required to maintain parallelism.