To preserve the integrity of newly discovered Bronze Age artifacts, the museum's conservation team plans to store the items in...

Sentence Structure

Sentence 1:

• To preserve the integrity of newly discovered Bronze Age artifacts,
• the museum's conservation team plans to store the items in a climate-controlled vault.

Sentence 2:

• This environment would protect the objects from humidity damage and [?] their original condition for future study.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence sets up the situation:

• The museum has some newly discovered Bronze Age artifacts
• To keep them in good condition (preserve their integrity),
• the conservation team plans to store them in a special vault with controlled climate

Now the second sentence tells us what this special environment would do:

• 'This environment would protect the objects from humidity damage...'
  • So the vault would keep moisture from damaging the artifacts

Let's look at the choices:

• They're all forms of the verb "maintain"
• So we need to figure out which form fits the structure here

To see what works here, let's understand what the sentence is telling us. The environment would do TWO things:

• It would protect the objects from humidity damage
• It would [blank] their original condition for future study

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have two actions connected by "and":
  • would protect
  • and [blank]
• Both actions are things "this environment" would do
• The first action uses "would + protect" (would + base verb)
• For these two actions to match and connect smoothly with "and," they need the same structure
• After "and," the word "would" is understood/shared from the first part
• So we need: would protect... and [would] maintain

The correct answer is maintain - the base form of the verb that matches the structure of "protect."

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Verb Forms with "And" (Parallel Structure)

When you connect two actions with "and" that share the same subject and helping verb (called a modal verb in grammar terms, like "would," "could," "should"), both main verbs must be in the same form - specifically, the base form:

Pattern:

• Subject + modal verb + verb₁ + and + verb₂
• Both verbs must be base forms

Example 1:

• ✓ The new policy will reduce costs and improve efficiency
  • will reduce (modal + base verb)
  • and improve (understood "will" + base verb)

Example 2:

• ✗ The new policy will reduce costs and improving efficiency
  • breaks the parallel structure (reduce vs. improving)

In this question:

• Subject: "This environment"
• Modal: "would"
• Verb₁: "protect" (base form)
• Verb₂: "maintain" (base form)
• Structure: would protect... and [would] maintain

The "would" applies to both actions, so both verbs need to be in their base form to create a smooth, parallel structure.