I recently came across a question on our sister site, English Language Learners, which was asking about a question the OP had seen in some sort of language test. This question (slightly abbreviated for brevity here) was asking which of the four words given below should be used to fill in the blank:

The heightened alert ____ an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva

And the words were:

• A. proceeded
• B. activated
• C. followed
• D. prompted

The "right" answer, apparently, was "C, followed" and the OP was asking why D, prompted wouldn't also be a good fit. Now, I can see how prompted would be perfectly natural here, especially in the abbreviated example I am giving, but I feel that followed, the option actually expected, would be a worse fit. Somehow, it doesn't sit right with me that a heightened alert can follow a meeting. I would be fine with a rephrasing like:

Following the meeting, the country was placed on high alert.

Or, closer to the original:

The heightened alert was the result of an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva

But, for some reason, I am not happy with the idea that an alert followed an event. I think I am missing another noun there as I would be OK with the announcement of the heightened alert followed... It's the alert itself that I feel cannot follow a meeting.

Do I have a leg to stand on here? Is there something like the licensing of complements that verbs do perhaps? Or is this just my own personal hangup and there is nothing awkward about the phrase at all?

I recently came across a question on our sister site, English Language Learners, which was asking about a question the OP had seen in some sort of language test which asked which word should be used to fill in the gap in this sentence (slightly abbreviated for brevity here):

The heightened alert ____ an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva

The expected answer was followed:

The heightened alert followed an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva

Somehow, it doesn't sit right with me that a heightened alert can follow a meeting. I would be fine with a rephrasing like:

Following the meeting, the country was placed on high alert.

Or, closer to the original:

The heightened alert was the result of an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva

But, for some reason, I am not happy with the idea that an alert followed an event. I think I am missing another noun there as I would be OK with the announcement of the heightened alert followed... It's the alert itself that I feel cannot follow a meeting.

Do I have a leg to stand on here? Is there something like the licensing of complements that verbs do perhaps? Or is this just my own personal hangup and there is nothing awkward about the phrase at all?

I recently came across this question on our sister site, English Language Learners, which was asking about a question the OP had seen in some sort of language test. This question (slightly abbreviated for brevity here) was asking which of the four words given below should be used to fill in the blank:

The heightened alert ____ an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva

And the words were:

• A. proceeded
• B. activated
• C. followed
• D. prompted

The "right" answer, apparently, was "C, followed" and the OP was asking why D, prompted wouldn't also be a good fit. Now, I can see how prompted would be perfectly natural here, especially in the abbreviated example I am giving, but I feel that followed, the option actually expected, would be a worse fit. Somehow, it doesn't sit right with me that a heightened alert can follow a meeting. I would be fine with a rephrasing like:

Following the meeting, the country was placed on high alert.

Or, closer to the original:

The heightened alert was the result of an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva

But, for some reason, I am not happy with the idea that an alert followed an event. I think I am missing another noun there as I would be OK with the announcement of the heightened alert followed... It's the alert itself that I feel cannot follow a meeting.

Do I have a leg to stand on here? Is there something like the licensing of complements that verbs do perhaps? Or is this just my own personal hangup and there is nothing awkward about the phrase at all?

I recently came across a question on our sister site, English Language Learners, which was asking about a question the OP had seen in some sort of language test. This question (slightly abbreviated for brevity here) was asking which of the four words given below should be used to fill in the blank:

The heightened alert ____ an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva

And the words were:

• A. proceeded
• B. activated
• C. followed
• D. prompted

The "right" answer, apparently, was "C, followed" and the OP was asking why D, prompted wouldn't also be a good fit. Now, I can see how prompted would be perfectly natural here, especially in the abbreviated example I am giving, but I feel that followed, the option actually expected, would be a worse fit. Somehow, it doesn't sit right with me that a heightened alert can follow a meeting. I would be fine with a rephrasing like:

Following the meeting, the country was placed on high alert.

Or, closer to the original:

The heightened alert was the result of an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva

But, for some reason, I am not happy with the idea that an alert followed an event. I think I am missing another noun there as I would be OK with the announcement of the heightened alert followed... It's the alert itself that I feel cannot follow a meeting.

Do I have a leg to stand on here? Is there something like the licensing of complements that verbs do perhaps? Or is this just my own personal hangup and there is nothing awkward about the phrase at all?