Meaning: 'Evolving' means developing gradually, suggesting that the characteristics of Australia's dwellings are changing over time.

Wrong options:

• revolving: Revolving implies a circular motion or repeated cycles, which does not fit the context of gradual change in housing characteristics.
• engaging: Engaging suggests attracting interest or attention, which does not accurately describe the state of the stock of dwellings.
• showing: Showing indicates displaying or revealing, which does not convey the idea of gradual change in the context of the sentence.

Correct answer: increasing

Explanation: The word 'increasing' is appropriate as it indicates a rise in the number of couple only and lone person households, fitting grammatically and contextually with the sentence structure that discusses changes in household composition.

Meaning: 'Increasing' means becoming larger in number or amount, indicating that there are more couple only and lone person households now compared to before.

Wrong options:

• slowing: Slowing implies a decrease in speed or rate, which contradicts the context of households becoming more prevalent.
• growing: Growing suggests an increase but is less precise than 'increasing' in this context, which specifically refers to numbers.
• bringing: Bringing implies causing something to come about, which does not fit the context of describing the number of households.

Correct answer: examines

Explanation: The word 'examines' is suitable as it indicates that the article is analyzing or investigating the changes in household size and number of bedrooms, fitting well with the context of the sentence.

Meaning: 'Examines' means to look at something carefully in order to understand it better, indicating that the article is studying the changes over the specified time period.

Wrong options:

• changes: Changes is a noun and does not fit grammatically as a verb in this context, which requires an action performed by the article.
• shows: Shows implies displaying information but lacks the analytical depth that 'examines' provides in the context of the article's purpose.
• bringing: Bringing is a verb that suggests causing something to happen, which does not accurately describe the article's function of analyzing changes.