toeic grammar question

How a company contributes more to worker health care plans ____becoming an important factor.
(a)are
(b)being
(c)is
(d)been
I know (b)and(d) that is impossible,but why answer is (c).
From context i think subject is "worker health care plans", but why not use (a).

not a teacher

The subject is 'how a company contributes', so the verb should be singular(is).

No. "Worker health care plans" is the object of the preposition "to". What is your second choice as the subject?

Odessa Dawn said:

What type of sentence is that, please?

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Hello, OD.

Are you familiar with 'indirect speech'?

She asked, "What do you want?" (direct speech)
She asked what I wanted. (indirect speech)

In the 'indirect speech' version, the part in bold functions as a noun, which is called a 'noun clause'.
Now, the 'noun clause' can be used as a subject, object and complement in a sentence.

Examples:

1. Health care reform is going to change how we will provide care for our patients. (- a 'noun clause' functioning as an object of the verb 'change')

2. How we will provide care for our patients is one of the key issues. (- a 'noun clause' functioning as a subject of the sentence)

3. One of the key issues is how we will provide care for our patients. (- a 'noun clause' functioning as a subject complement in the sentence)

I hope you'll find my reply helpful.

kiann, there is no need to write a new post just to say "Thank you". It makes us think there is new information or a follow-up question and we spend time opening the thread. Simply click on the "Thank" button at the bottom left-hand corner of any post you find helpful.

tzfujimino said:

She asked, "What do you want?" (direct speech)
She asked what I want. (indirect speech)

Click to expand...

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Tzfujimino:

May I respectfully ask whether you meant to write "She asked what I wanted"?


Thank you,


James

Hello, James.
Yes, I did. I've just edited my post.
Thank you for reminding me of that.