"depends upon developing" vs "depends upon development"

Question

This is an English test item:

The human eye is nature's most fantastic organ, and the high degree of development of human society probably depends upon ......... .

a) developing of this organ

b) the development of this organ

Which choice is correct? And why is the other one not correct? Thanks

Does this answer your question? Using Nouns or Gerunds '... the developing' would be grammatical, but 'the development' is the better choice here as the finished degree of development in man rather than the assumed evolutionary process (which the ing-form would point to) is meant. — Edwin Ashworth, Apr 04 '21 at 13:16

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 04 '21 at 18:23

1

For sure "b" -- "the development of." The sentence is talking about the high level of functioning of the eye, and "the development of" refers to a complete (or almost complete) level of evolution of something.

answered Apr 04 '21 at 18:23

Lillie

36

Hello, Lillie. The reason I didn't give an 'answer' was because the pure noun vs ing-form issue has been covered before. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 04 '21 at 18:29

"depends upon developing" vs "depends upon development"

1 Answers1