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Difficulty: HardEliminating Redundancy

To ward off predators, some species of beetles produce a toxic spray through a rapid chemical reaction in their glands, which is a defensive mechanism that currently at this time serves to deter attackers.

Which of the following choices best replaces the underlined portion of the sentence to ensure that the sentence is clear, grammatically correct, and free of redundancy?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. B
    this defensive mechanism currently serves to
  3. C
    which, because it is a mechanism serving to
  4. serving toAnswer

Answer

serving to
The correct option is 'serving to' because it is the most concise choice that preserves the meaning of the sentence. The phrase 'To ward off predators' already implies that the spray is a defense mechanism, making the words 'defensive mechanism' unnecessary. Additionally, it eliminates the redundant time indicators 'currently' and 'at this time' without creating grammatical issues.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify redundancies in the original sentence.
The phrase 'To ward off predators' indicates defense, making 'defensive mechanism' redundant. The words 'currently' and 'at this time' are synonyms that express the same time frame.
Eliminating redundant words makes the sentence concise and improves readability.
2
Evaluate the remaining options for grammatical correctness.
The option containing 'this defensive mechanism' creates an ungrammatical comma splice. The option containing 'which, because' creates an incomplete fragment. The option 'serving to' is concise and grammatically correct.
The correct answer must not introduce new grammatical errors while fixing the redundancy.

Key Concept

Eliminating Redundancy
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Eliminating Redundancy

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