Economists predicted strong growth for the third _____ the actual results revealed a significant decline in consumer spending and business...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• Economists predicted strong growth for the third quarter [?]
• the actual results revealed a significant decline
• in consumer spending and business investment.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning: 'Economists predicted strong growth for the third quarter'

• This is a complete thought
• Economists made a prediction
• What did they predict? Strong growth for the third quarter

Now we've reached the blank. Let's look at the choices to see what we're deciding:

• Choice A: colon (:)
• Choice B: comma alone (,)
• Choice C: comma + "and"
• Choice D: comma + "but"

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying! 'the actual results revealed a significant decline in consumer spending and business investment'

• This is also a complete thought
• The actual results showed something
• What did they show? A significant decline in consumer spending and business investment

Now let's understand the relationship between these two parts:

• 'Economists predicted strong growth'
  • This is what they thought would happen - GROWTH
• 'the actual results revealed a significant decline'
  • This is what actually happened - DECLINE
  • This is the opposite of what was predicted!

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have two complete thoughts that could each stand alone as sentences
• But these thoughts are contrasting with each other:
  • Prediction vs. reality
  • Growth vs. decline
• When we connect two complete thoughts that contrast, we need a comma plus a word that shows contrast

So we need: comma + "but"

The correct answer is Choice D (quarter, but) because "but" signals the contrast between what was predicted and what actually happened.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Connecting Two Complete Thoughts That Contrast

When you have two complete thoughts (called independent clauses in grammar terms) that could each stand alone as sentences, and they contrast with each other, you connect them with a comma + "but":

Pattern:

• Complete thought 1 [contrasting idea], but complete thought 2 [opposing contrasting idea]

Examples:

Example 1:

• Complete thought 1: "The team practiced every day"
• Complete thought 2: "they lost the championship"
• Relationship: Contrast (effort vs. disappointing result)
• Connection: "The team practiced every day, but they lost the championship."

Example 2:

• Complete thought 1: "She studied medicine for years"
• Complete thought 2: "she decided to become a writer instead"
• Relationship: Contrast (one path vs. choosing different path)
• Connection: "She studied medicine for years, but she decided to become a writer instead."

In our question:

• Complete thought 1: "Economists predicted strong growth for the third quarter"
• Complete thought 2: "the actual results revealed a significant decline in consumer spending and business investment"
• Relationship: Contrast (prediction of growth vs. reality of decline)
• Connection: "Economists predicted strong growth for the third quarter, but the actual results revealed a significant decline in consumer spending and business investment."

Key points:

• Both parts must be complete thoughts (subject + verb, can stand alone)
• The comma comes before "but"
• "But" specifically signals contrast or opposition
• Other coordinating conjunctions (and, or, so, for, yet, nor) show different relationships