Read the sentence. the ruling classes fervently promoted tea in the hopes that the working classes would consume less alcohol and actually do some work. to maintain a more formal style and tone, which phrase within this sentence should be revised?
the ruling classes
fervently promoted tea
consume less alcohol
actually do some work

actually do some work.

This phrase should be revised in order to maintain a more formal style and tone. The passage uses this tone everywhere else in the text, except for this phrase. The phrase uses an accusatory tone, and implies that the working classes did not actually do much. This is an assumption that does not fit with the tone of the passage.

D) Actually do some work.

Explanation: The tone of a text or sentence is the author's or speaker's attitude towards the audience, the subject or even the characters of the text. There are many different kinds of tones, like: positive, negative, objective, sad, angry, etc. In the given excerpt we can see that in general it has a formal tone, but to mantain it through the entire text, the phrase "actually do some work" (which is informal) should be revised.

is there an image you meant to add?

explanation:

the sentence does not violate the phrase structure second rule (introduced by noam chomsky) because noun phrases consist of a determiner such as a, the or every, and a noun. in the sentence, the noun phrase the cake includes a determiner (the) and a noun (cake).

on the other hand, the first rule indicates that a sentence encloses a noun phrase, followed by a verb phrase. the example sentence can be analysed as follows:

john (n) + ate (v) + the (det) + cake (n).