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the electoral college
[1]
most historians will tell us that ancient greeks gave us democracy, that miraculous gift of political freedom that ultimately rescued civilizations from the shackles of monarchy. however, the greeks also gave us the term "hoi polloi" (1) which, at least today, casts a somewhat negative light upon (2) the great masses of regular folks that compose a country. these people, hoi polloi, with all their flaws, are the ones who actually determine the shape of our democracy. or are they! (3)
[2]
it would seem, at first glance, that there would be nothing more straightforward than electing a public official. everybody votes, the votes are tabulated, and (4) the winner is declared. the voice of hoi polloi is transferred directly to action—right? in the united states the very altar of modern-day democracy, that is not exactly true. (5)
[3]
in the united states, each individual vote actually goes toward the election of an elector. the elector, as a representative of the voting body, then casts the votes that actually decide who wins or loses the election. while the electoral system has been in place since the 1800s, it does not have, nor has it ever had, united (6) appeal; in fact, (7) with the passage of time, it became (8) increasingly controversial, with some calling for its elimination.
[4]
there are 538 total electors, distributed unevenly across the 50 states. some states have as few as 3 electors, california, (9) however, has an astonishing 55. when all the votes in a state are cast, the electors then cast their own votes for the candidate of either party, as representatives of the majority in a state. typically, all of the electors in a given state are allotted for (10) whomever gets the most votes in that particular state. the widely varying numbers of electors make some states particularly valuable for candidates’ chances (11) at winning election, while other states mean less.
[5]
the fly in the ointment is that giving all of the electors in a state to the candidate with the most votes does not properly reflect the way a state voted. this is also because (12) the system makes it all too possible that a candidate might lose the popular vote and still win the election.
[6]
that said, voters in favor of the electoral college maintain (13) that it ensures a certain degree of fairness in voting: it (14) prevents states with huge populations from dominating the voting field. as time passes, thinking on the electoral college may evolve. [15]
in fact, with the passage of time, it became increasingly controversial, with some calling for its elimination.
title
the electoral college
your result
correct
difficulty
hard
your pace
0:29
others' pace
0:18
video explanation
text explanation
this is a verb-tense agreement question. we need to pick the verb tense that properly conveys the series of events in a clear, unambiguous way to the reader. and what is the series of events? well, we’re describing an ongoing process that began in the past and is still continuing. and what is that ongoing process? the electoral college becoming increasingly controversial, with some people demanding it be eliminated at various points in time.
the sentence as it is currently written uses the simple past tense verb “became,” which implies that this process was completed at some point in the past. the part of the sentence before the semicolon tells us that the electoral college was not unanimously popular in the past, but it also tells us that the electoral college is still not unanimously popular today. in other words, the increase in controversy around the electoral college has effects in the present, and may even still be happening. so choice a doesn’t work, because we need a verb tense that communicates that this process has an impact in the present as well as the past.
choice b, “becomes,” is in the simple present tense, which also doesn’t work. while the simple present tense does communicate that the process is still occuring, it doesn’t adequately convey that this process began at some point in the past and presumably occured "with the passage of time" up until the present. choice b is not correct.
choice c, “has become,” uses what is called the “present perfect” tense. as the name implies, the “present perfect” tense can be used in two ways. the first is to refer to actions that occured at an indefinite time in the past. the second is to describe actions that began in the past and continue to have consequences in the present. this second way is how the present perfect “has become” is being used here. and it makes good sense -- the process of becoming increasingly controversial started in the past, and the consequences of that process, if not the process itself, continue into the present day. choice c is the correct answer.
choice d, “had become” uses the “past perfect” tense. we use the past perfect tense when we want to indicate that an action began in the past and was entirely completed before some other action that occured in the past began. for example: “i had gone to store before i baked the cookies.” here the past perfect “had gone” is used to communicate that the action of going to the store occured before the action of baking cookies. this is not actually the kind of situation we’re describing in this sentence, because the increasing unpopularity of the electoral college is still lingering in the present, alongside the other actions, like the calling for the elimination of the electoral college. choice d is not correct.
related lessons
watch the lessons below for more detailed explanations of the concepts tested in this question. and don't worry, you'll be able to return to this answer from the lesson page.
