Each sentence contains two blanks. Choose the option that best completes the sentence logically and grammatically. Rising fuel prices have ______ household budgets and ______ consumer spending.

Solution

A. burdened – decreased  Burdened budgets → acceptable Decreased consumer spending → grammatically weak (spending declines/is reduced, it doesn’t “decrease” itself cleanly) B. affected – lowered  Affected → too vague, non-diagnostic Lowering -> grammatically wrong C. weakened – declined  Weakened budgets → budgets don’t weaken; finances do Declined suits “spending”, but first verb fails D. strained – reduced  Strained household budgets → standard, precise meaning (pressure without collapse) Reduced consumer spending → clear, measurable outcome E. disturbed – limited  Disturbed budgets → incorrect usage Limited spending → implies restriction, not outcome