C

Ideally, the professional career diplomat should help in the ongoing maintenance of an effective American foreign policy despite changes in administration.

(A) Implies same type of sense mentioned in E
(B) Implies same type of sense mentioned in E
(C) OK.
(D) "maintain" itself is a continuing process so use of "continue" is REDUNDANT
(E) Implies to help "the maintenance" not to help maintain the policy. This option changes the actual meaning, for example, as if there are some other people maintaining it and diplomat should help the people maintaining it.

inactived wrote:Ideally, the professional career diplomat should help in the ongoing maintenance of an effective American foreign policy despite changes in administration.
(A) in the ongoing maintenance of
(B) in the maintaining of
(C) maintain
(D) to maintain and continue
(E) the maintenance of

Can someone please evaporate the role of "maintain" here? A noun? A modifier?

Many thanks.

the OA is C

After help you can ignore to , so it read actuallt "to maintain".. This construct "to maintain an effective bla bla " plays a role of an essential adverbial modifier .

All other choices are needlessly wordy

Ideally, the professional career diplomat should help maintain an effective American foreign policy despite changes in administration.

maintain as used in C above ..is clear. in comparison to D which is wordy.
Do we really need continue here ? I dont think so.

Moreover the maintain means.. maintain and will maintain in future (continue)

Could choose C only on the basis of it making the sentence more concise.

It will be helpful if some expert could explain all the options clearly.

Thanks.