Environmentalists associated with the United Nations Environment Programme…
2025
Environmentalists associated with the United Nations Environment
Programme predict that if the current trends associated with global
warming continue, thousands of acres of pristine land is in danger to undergo potentially irrevocable changes that could alter the planet's ecosystem forever.
- A.
is in danger to undergo
- B.
are in danger of undergoing
- C.
is in danger of undergoing
- D.
are in danger to undergo
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept: A finite verb must agree in number with its subject -- a singular head noun takes a singular verb, a plural head noun takes a plural verb. Separately, the noun "danger" idiomatically takes the preposition "of" followed by a gerund (a verb+-ing form) when describing the risk of something happening, not a to-infinitive.
Application: The subject controlling the verb here is "thousands of acres of pristine land" -- the head noun is "thousands", which is plural, so the verb must be "are", not "is". Applying the idiom rule, the risk is expressed as "in danger of undergoing [changes]", using "of" plus the gerund "undergoing", not "danger to undergo". Combining both corrections gives "are in danger of undergoing".
Cross-check: testing every option against both rules confirms only one satisfies both.
Option wording | Verb agrees with the plural subject? | Idiom uses "of" + gerund? |
|---|---|---|
is in danger to undergo | No | No |
are in danger of undergoing | Yes | Yes |
is in danger of undergoing | No | Yes |
are in danger to undergo | Yes | No |
Only "are in danger of undergoing" satisfies both the agreement rule and the idiom rule; each other option fails at least one, so the correct replacement is "are in danger of undergoing".