When the technology company underwent its major reorganization in 2019, leadership implemented sweeping operational changes. These _____ the consolida...

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

Sentence 1:

• When the technology company underwent its major reorganization in 2019,
• leadership implemented sweeping operational changes.

Sentence 2:

• These transformations [?]
• the consolidation of three regional offices,
• the adoption of remote work policies, and
• the integration of artificial intelligence tools into daily workflows.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start with the first sentence:

• 'When the technology company underwent its major reorganization in 2019,'
  • This sets up the time and context - a company reorganization that happened in 2019 (past event)

• 'leadership implemented sweeping operational changes.'
  • The leadership made big, wide-ranging changes to how things operate
  • Note the past tense 'implemented' - this already happened

Now the second sentence:

• 'These transformations...'
  • This refers back to those 'sweeping operational changes'
  • 'Transformations' is our subject here

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices:

• A: including
• B: would include
• C: , include
• D: included

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The sentence continues with:

• 'the consolidation of three regional offices,'
• 'the adoption of remote work policies, and'
• 'the integration of artificial intelligence tools into daily workflows.'

This is a list of three specific things:

• The consolidation (bringing together offices)
• The adoption (taking on remote work policies)
• The integration (incorporating AI tools)

What do we notice about the structure here?

• 'These transformations' is the subject
  • But wait - where's the verb?
  • A complete sentence needs a main verb to tell us what the subject does or is

• Looking at our list of three items
  • These are noun phrases (consolidation, adoption, integration)
  • They're not verbs - they're the THINGS that happened

• So the blank needs to provide the MAIN VERB
  • It needs to connect the subject 'these transformations' to the list of what those transformations were

• Also notice the time frame
  • Everything happened in 2019
  • We're talking about past, completed actions

So we need: a past tense verb that serves as the main verb for this sentence.

The correct answer is D: transformations included

This gives us: 'These transformations included the consolidation..., the adoption..., and the integration...'

Perfect! The past tense verb 'included' tells us that these transformations consisted of or were made up of these three specific changes.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Recognizing When a Sentence Needs a Main Verb

Every complete sentence must have a main verb - the verb that expresses the primary action or state of being for the subject. This is especially important to watch for when you have a subject followed by additional information.

The Pattern:

• Subject + Main Verb + Additional Information

Example 1:

• "The new policies, including flexible hours" (Fragment - no main verb)
• "The new policies included flexible hours" (Complete - "included" is the main verb)

Example 2:

• "The company's innovations, featuring AI technology" (Fragment - "featuring" is a modifier, not a main verb)
• "The company's innovations featured AI technology" (Complete - "featured" is the main verb)

In our question:

• Subject: "These transformations"
• Main verb needed: "included" (past tense to match 2019 time frame)
• Additional information: the list of three specific changes

Key distinction: Present participles like "including" or "featuring" function as modifiers (they describe), not as main verbs (they don't express the primary action). When you see "-ing" words, ask yourself: "Is this the main action of the sentence, or is it just adding description?"

Tense matching: Once a passage establishes a time frame (like "in 2019"), your verbs should match that time frame. Past events need past tense verbs ("included"), not conditional forms ("would include") or present tense ("include").