Question

Many experts regarded the large increase in credit card borrowing in March not as a sign that households were pressed for cash and forced to borrow, rather a sign of confidence by households that they could safely handle new debt.

• A. rather a sign of confidence by house holds that they could safely
• B. yet as a sign of households' confidence that it was safe for them to
• C. but a sign of confidence by house holds that they could safely
• D. but as a sign that households were confident they could safely
• E. but also as a sign that households were confident in their ability safely to

Answer 1

The correct option is D but as a sign that households were confident they could safely

The given sentence talks about 'increase in credit card borrowing in March'. The first part of the sentence uses 'not as' and this indicates that the latter part of the sentence must have 'but'. Therefore, options A and B are incorrect. The underlined part of the sentence is grammatically incorrect and therefore needs to be corrected and simplified.

The preposition 'by' is incorrectly used before 'households' because 'by' never precedes a clause which is seen in the given sentence.

Therefore, the right word to use to explain a clause in the given sentence is 'that'. Therefore, the best possible answer is option D.