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Difficulty: Very hardMisplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Read the sentence below and determine which option best corrects the underlined portion.

By mapping the neural pathways of the zebra finch, the songbird's courtship behavior was shown to rely on a complex network of auditory feedback loops.

Which of the following is the best revision of the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. researchers showed that the songbird's courtship behavior reliesAnswer
  3. C
    which showed that the songbird's courtship behavior relies
  4. D
    researchers showed this, the songbird's courtship behavior relies

Answer

researchers showed that the songbird's courtship behavior relies
The correct answer resolves the dangling modifier by immediately following the introductory phrase 'By mapping the neural pathways of the zebra finch' with a logical subject, 'researchers,' who are capable of performing the mapping. The rest of the clause is grammatically complete and structured correctly.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the introductory modifier in the sentence.
The phrase 'By mapping the neural pathways of the zebra finch' is a gerund phrase acting as a modifier.
Introductory modifiers must logically describe the subject that immediately follows the comma.
2
Analyze the subject of the main clause in the original sentence.
The subject is 'the songbird's courtship behavior.'
Since courtship behavior cannot map neural pathways, this is a dangling modifier error.
3
Evaluate the choices to find a subject that can logically perform the action of 'mapping.'
The options containing 'researchers' provide a logical subject.
Only human researchers can perform scientific mapping.
4
Check the grammatical structure of the remaining options containing the correct subject.
The option adding 'which' creates a fragment, and the option with a comma splice creates a run-on. The correct option cleanly connects the modifier to the subject and continues with a grammatically sound dependent clause.
A corrected sentence must not introduce new grammatical errors like fragments or comma splices.

Key Concept

Identifying and correcting dangling modifiers by ensuring the introductory modifying phrase has a logical subject immediately following it.
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Topics

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

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