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ACT English 3.3 Sentence Structure 255 Views


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Description:

ACT English: Sentence Structure Drill 3, Problem 3. Which choice indicates the proper placement for "remaining" in this sentence?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by early weavers. We can respect that, because

00:09

we hate being the last one to weave.

00:10

How should you change the underlined portion below, if at all?

00:13

Early weavers are depicted holding one shuttle in the right hand while placing the remaining

00:18

left hand near the shuttles on the loom.

00:27

This one has a bad case of a modifier-gone- wild.

00:30

We can tell because the main difference between our four answer choices is the placement of

00:34

the adjective "remaining."

00:35

So we know it's our job to figure out exactly where this rogue modifier is supposed to go.

00:36

A quick logic check helps us eliminate choice (A). The original sentence makes "remaining"

00:42

modify "left hand."

00:44

This would imply that the "early weavers" had more than one left hand, since the only

00:49

way there could be a "remaining" left hand is if there was another left hand in the mix.

00:54

Therefore we're feeling pretty good about nixing choice (A).

00:57

Choice (D) places "remaining" before "loom." The logic doesn't check out here either. This

01:01

would imply that these early weavers were operating more than one loom at a time.

01:06

Choice (D) is officially eliminated.

01:08

Choice (B) garbles the sentence so badly it's kinda hard to tell what it's trying to do.

01:12

This would be wrong for the same reason as (A). We're positive by this point that the

01:17

"left hand" is not the thing that's "remaining," so we can get (B) out of our hair.

01:21

(C) gets it right by using "remaining" to modify "shuttles."

01:24

The first half of the sentence tells us that the one shuttle is in the right hand, and

01:28

so what is "remaining" must be the shuttles that the left hand is supposed to operate.

01:33

Okay, now wave good-bye with all of your hands.

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