Sentence Correction (SC) | Re: Heating oil and natural gas futures rose sharply yesterday, as long-te

Very good Question:

Before we start POE :-

Let's understand the use of - fear of/fear that

Let's take simple word - afraid of / afraid that

Afraid of X = you are afraid of a noun (person, place, thing, or idea) OR event that starts with an gerund (an –ing verb).

Afraid that Y = you are afraid of an event might happen; the phrase after "that" MUST be an independent clause

1) I am afraid of taking exam.

2) I am afraid that I may not perform well in the exam.

Now let's go for
...

---