Video Explanation

Text Explanation

A question that refers to America’s Social Security system.   

Split #1: Idiom

This sentence explores the idioms about “means of” and “means to.” Both are correct and have different meanings.  The construction “means for” is idiomatically incorrect, so choice (E) is incorrect.   The idiom “X is a means of Y” implies that X is one way to do Y:

“Talking is a means of communication.”  

“Running is a means of stress reduction.”    

In those examples, the form of communication is talking, and the form of stress reduction is running.  In this idiom, there is a fundamental identity between X & Y.  

In the idiom “X is a means to Y,” there is a pronounced separation of Y from X.  The element Y is definitely the goal, and X not equivalent to Y but merely something we use to get to the goal.  

“The couple began a savings account as a means to accumulating the down payment for a house.”  

“Magoosh employs the Rooney rule as means to a more diverse workspace.”  

In the first example, the “saving account” is not the goal; in the second, the “Rooney rule” is not the goal.  Both are routes that people take, hoping to reach other, larger worthwhile goals.

Here, cutting staff hours is not a goal in and of itself.  The management is pursuing this action only because it wants to achieve a larger goal.  We need the second idiom, “means to.” In this context, “means of” is incorrect, so choices (C) & (D) are incorrect.  

Split #2: adjective vs. adverb

The adjective “economic” means “pertaining to money and the flow of money.”  This adjective applies to anything you would study in an Economics class and to anything having to do with the micro- or macroeconomics.  

The adjective “economical” and the adverb “economically” have to do with thrift, that is, saving money, penny-pinching.  

Here, we are talking about the “sustainability” of a senior-citizen facility, that is, whether the facility will have the necessary projected cash flow to remain in full operation indefinitely.   This is squarely a microeconomics issue, so we need the adjective “economic.” Choice (B) & (D) are incorrect.

Split #3: parallelism 

"has cut" should be in parallel with "has lowered."

The only possible choice is (A).