Question

The national debt has risen quite steadily over the past decade.

Which revision removes unnecessary qualifiers from the sentence?

A.delete past

B.delete over

C.delete national

D.delete quite

Answer 1

D. That isn't a necessary component.

Answer 2

The revision that removes unnecessary qualifiers from the sentence is option D. By deleting the word quite, the sentence can still be understood, and the message that the author wants to convey is not altered. The word quite is emphasizing the word steadily, but it does not add or eliminate any kind of meaning by itself.