ShmoopTube

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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by the lost city of Atlantis. If found, please

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return for one hundred dollar reward.

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How would you correct the underlined portion below, if at all?

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He could barely believe his eyes; he had found it at last. Right there in front of him stood

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the lost city of Atlantis, the aquatic city of myth.

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The trick with the next section is making sure the underlined portion matches the general

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style of the rest of the passage.

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So the first thing to do is analyze the tone of everything that's not underlined. "The

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aquatic city of myth" stands out as being slightly elevated.

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Therefore, we'll punch the "penthouse" button and take that tone all the way to the top

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floor.

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We can eliminate choice (A) because "right there in front" is too casual to fit in with

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the buttoned-up style of the rest of the passage.

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Next time, maybe it should try wearing a suit.

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Choice (B) might seem fancy enough to fit in here.

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But the phrase "immediately present before him" is a phony.

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Ultimately, it's redundant and convoluted because something that's "immediately present"

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is obviously "before him."

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It sounds like somebody trying to sound smart, but not quite pulling it off. We can show

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choice (B) the door.

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Now we're left with choices (C) and (D), which express the same basic idea.

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Though either would work, (D) expresses the thought in a clearer and more concise way,

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making it the best answer.

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This question is now over, thank goodness. We can finally loosen our bow tie.

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