Three top excecutives REQUESTED to see the manager.

Analyze the question

This is an emphatic stress question. The capitalized word in the answer sentence shows the part that corrects or answers the information in the question. The stressed word, REQUESTED, is the new or contrasting information. Everything else in the sentence is already known from the question.

Concept

The emphasized word replaces or corrects a different word in the question. So we look for the question that has a different word where "requested" should be, while the rest of the sentence matches exactly.

The answer sentence is: Three top executives REQUESTED to see the manager.

Step-by-step check

• A. "...request to see the clerk?" The difference is clerk vs manager. The stress would fall on MANAGER, so this is not the answer.
• B. "Did three top executives decline to see the manager?" The difference is decline vs requested. The stress falls on REQUESTED, which corrects "decline". This fits.
• C. "...three junior executives..." The difference is junior vs top. The stress would fall on TOP, so this is not the answer.
• D. "...request to accompany the manager?" The difference is accompany vs see. The stress would fall on SEE, so this is not the answer.

Answer

Option B is correct. The stressed word REQUESTED contradicts "decline", and the rest of the sentence stays the same. Strictly speaking, the answer to B would be "No, they REQUESTED to see the manager," which is the correction the stress signals.

Tip

In emphatic stress questions, find the one word that differs between the question and the answer sentence. The question whose single differing word matches the capitalized word's position is the correct one.