sonia.mahmodian
why severity is incorrect in the sentences? why severity is incorrect in the sentences? Since the Great Depression of the 1930’s, social programs such as Social Security have been built into the economy to help avert severity business declines.
Jul 29, 2015 5:54 AM
Answers · 4
2
You must use severe (adjective) instead of severity (noun). The word is used to indicate how bad or intense are the business declines that you try to avoid with the social programs.
July 29, 2015
1
1. The purpose of social security is to alleviate hardship among the unfortunate and the disadvantaged. It is not "to avert business decline". 2. The term you need is "an economic downturn", not "business decline". 3. The adjective you need is "severe": during a severe economic downturn.. "Severity" is a noun, not an adjective. 4. The sentence you need may be, " ... social security programs have continually been improved to provide a social safety net in general, but especially during a severe economic downturn."
July 29, 2015
A cultural note: In the United States, "social security" is the name of a government pension plan. The actual details are complicated. My case is typical. During all of my working career, my paycheck showed how much I was paid. Then various deductions were subtracted from it, such as income tax and health insurance, leaving a smaller number as my "take-home pay." One of these deductions was my automatic contribution to Social Security. I paid into Social Security every month. (It was mandatory). When I reached age 66, I "filed for" Social Security. Now I receive a "Social Security payment" that gets paid into my checking account automatically every month. Social Security does NOT do anything to mitigate the severity of business declines. Social Security is not intended to soften the business cycle. This would be a (reasonably) accurate statement: "Before the 1930s, severe business declines were especially cruel to the elderly. Social Security mitigates the effects of severe business declines on the elderly."
July 29, 2015
Speaking only of grammar, meaning, and word choice: One could write a correct sentence using the word "severity" this way: "Since the Great Depression of the 1930’s, social programs such as Social Security have been built into the economy to help mitigate the severity of business declines." "Mitigate" is a verb that means "to make something less bad." In the phrase as you've written it, the skeleton is "avert business declines." You can add an adjective to answer the question "what kind of business declines." "...avert prolonged business declines..." "...avert deep business declines..." "...avert severe business declines..." In each case, "avert" means that something stops them from happening. The business decline didn't happen. Something averted it. There are also noun forms. We can speak of "the length of a business decline," "the depth of a business decline," "the severity of a business decline." We can write a verb that tells about some effect on length, depth, or severity. "reduce the length of a business decline," "decrease the depth of a business decline," and "mitigate" or "soften" or "minimize the severity of a business decline."
July 29, 2015
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