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PSAT 1.5 Writing Diagnostic. How should the underlined portion be changed in the passage, if at all?
ACT English 3.5 Passage Drill 191 Views
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Description:
ACT English: Passage Drill, Drill Set 3, Problem 5. How should this sentence be changed, if at all?
Transcript
- 00:03
Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by spinning columns of air.
- 00:08
Let’s hope they don’t get dizzy.
- 00:10
Check out the following passage...
- 00:20
How would you correct this underlined segment from the passage, if at all?
- 00:23
Spinning and gaining momentum, the surrounding water is pulled into a spiral pattern by the column of air.
Full Transcript
- 00:29
And here are the potential answers...
- 00:34
The trick here is that the phrase "spinning and gaining momentum" is supposed to modify
- 00:38
air, not water. We know this because the idea follows logically from the previous sentence,
- 00:42
which informs us on the joys of spinning columns of low-pressure air.
- 00:46
Therefore, we know we’re on the hunt for the answer choice that makes this relationship clear.
- 00:50
Option (D) looks like the worst of the bunch. Not only does this version attempt to modify
- 00:54
water instead of air, it’s also so garbled that we suspect it’s taken a spin in a tornadic waterspout itself.
- 01:00
No doubt, this choice has to go.
- 01:02
Option (A) relates its information much more clearly. But, unfortunately, it’s the wrong information.
- 01:07
By placing the modifying phrase before “the surrounding water,” this version of the sentence
- 01:12
makes it seem a bit like the water is instigating the spinning rather than the air.
- 01:16
While we’re at it, we might as well go ahead and nix choice (C), which makes the same mistake
- 01:20
by placing the phrase directly after “the surrounding water.”
- 01:24
This leaves us with choice (B), which correctly places “spinning and gaining momentum”
- 01:29
before “the column of air.”
- 01:30
Ah, it’s nice when modifier and modified come together.
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