I’ve never read this story but my gut is going with A
A parallel sentence mentions the same grammatical expression twice. I would go with "D". 'Passed' and 'Demonstrated' are both past tense words that express the same past tense grammatical idea.
If you have more questions, feel free to ask me.
Answer:
A. Is a neutral but meaningful statement so the receiver continues reading.
Explanation:
A well-written or oral buffer is an indirect approach to relay messages (most times negative messages). It is a neutral but meaningful statement that encourages the reader to continue reading. Sometimes we could be given the role of communicating a negative message to an individual or group of people. A buffer can be used in the opening statement to calm the individual before the message is delivered.
For example, some Human Resource officers when trying to tell a candidate that they were not chosen for a job, often begin the mail with sentences like, "Thank you, dear candidate, for your interest in the advertised role. But we would not proceed with your application because of the number of more qualified candidates for the job." The first sentence is a buffer statement because it has a neutral, and calming undertone, but is still meaningful.
I don't know if it is plus 8 or minus 8 but if it is plus 8 the answer would be -6 but if it is minus 8 the answer would be -14