[Grammar] The verb to mean (sense - to bring, cause, or produce as a result)

[Mothy]

I have a question concerning the use of the verb "to mean" in the sense of to produce as a result. I know that it can be used in a sentence like, "The weather will mean long traffic delays.", but whilst teaching, I came across an exercise in a TOEIC test preparation book that had the following sentence, "The combination of these three factors has ........ a situation where too much coffee is being produced." My question is can the past participle of the verb to mean be used in the gap? It doesn't seem correct to me - I would naturally use "has led to", or "has resulted in" - but I'm not sure. If it isn't correct, please can you explain why?

 

[5jj]

Welcome to the forum, Mothy.

Like you, I'd use 'has led to' or 'has resulted in'. However, I wouldn't be surprised to hear 'has meant' here.

 

[Mothy]

Thanks for your reply 5jj. I've looked in a number of reference books, but I'm still not sure whether or not it's correct.