Assuming the underlined word is 'singing,' the correct answer is going to be A. participle.
A participle and a gerund look the same - they both end in -ing. However, participles are used as adjectives (as is the case here), whereas gerunds are used as nouns. Infinitives always have the same form, which is TO + verb.
Alfred Thayer Mahan was a United States naval officer and historian. His book <em>The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783</em> (1890) was widely acclaimed, especially in Europe.
In his book, Mahan argued that the power a nation has depends predominantly on its dominance of the seas. He also argued that the economic future of the U. S. depended on getting new markets abroad. This required an end to isolationism. It also required a powerful navy to protect these markets from foreign rivals.
The surrender of Germany made the allies focus only on the pacific.
Explanation:
There were two main fronts of the war.
One was the European land where the Germans were fighting the allies and also Italy that had had an early surrender.
The pacific front was controlled by Japan and its expansionist lands.
When Italy surrendered Europe was completely on Germany and when eventually Germany fell the war remained in pacific.
The war in pacific was thus the only thing that the allies had to focus on by the end of the war.
According to Enlightenment-era European writers, literature's role was to delight and instruct.
