The last election resulted … a disaster for the Socialist Party

Analyze the question This tests your knowledge of prepositions that follow particular verbs (verb-preposition collocations). The verb here is "resulted."

Explain the concept The verb result is used with two different prepositions, and each gives a different meaning:

• result in = to cause or lead to something (the outcome). Example: The accident resulted in many injuries.
• result from = to be caused by something. Example: Many injuries resulted from the accident.

Show the solution

• The sentence says the election (the cause) led to a disaster (the outcome).
• This is the "cause leading to outcome" pattern, so we need result in.
• Checking the other options: • B. "resulted to" is not standard English. • C. "resulted into" is a common error, but it is not accepted in standard usage. • D. "resulted through" is not a valid collocation.

Correct sentence: The last election resulted in a disaster for the Socialist Party.

Answer: A. in

Exam tip Remember: result IN = outcome, result FROM = cause. Think of it as "in" pointing to what comes in the end, and "from" pointing back to where it came from. WAEC often tests this, so watch out for "resulted into," which looks right but is wrong.