Sentence with 'remain as '

Question

I am a bit confused about which of the following two sentences are correct (if any). I searched online but could not find any good example. I will be grateful if you can help me on this.

1. In addition, the continuation of low price environment in 2017 means that cost reduction will remain as one of the key priorities for the industry.

2. In addition, the continuation of low price environment in 2017 means that cost reduction will remain to be one of the key priorities for the industry.

Also, should I use would instead of will in the above examples?

Answer 1

option 1 is correct, regarding both of your questions.

a) If you wanted to say "will <something> to be" you'd say "continue" rather than "remain". In other words, you can say "will remain as one of the..." or "will continue to be one of the", but don't mix them up. These two alternatives mean the same thing in this context and both are commonly used.

b) Saying "would" instead of "will" makes it hypothetical which isn't what you want to do: you're making a prediction about the real situation, not a hypothetical one.

You'd use "would" in a situation like "If there is a large change to interest rates in 2017 then cost reduction would continue to be...". Here you're talking about a hypothetical situation (interest rates increasing) AND you're implying that if that situation doesn't come about then cost reduction might not remain as one of the key priorities.

Answer 2

I don't think anyone will say that the following sentence doesn't work:

It remains to be seen.

This shows that "remain to be" is just fine.

In fact I like your second sentence better than your first.

I found another example at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/remain

It (only) remains for me to do something.