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Question

Difficulty: MediumEliminating Wordiness

In 1967, astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell was analyzing radio telescope data when she noticed a series of rapid radio pulses. These pulses, which occurred with a highly precise regularity and kept repeating at constant intervals, initially baffled astronomers, who jokingly named the source 'LGM-1' for 'Little Green Men.'

Which choice most effectively and concisely replaces the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. These highly regular pulsesAnswer
  3. C
    These pulses, that occurred regularly,
  4. D
    These pulses occurred with high regularity, they

Answer

These highly regular pulses
The correct answer, 'These highly regular pulses', is the most concise and direct phrasing. It removes the redundant references to the pulses' regularity without introducing any grammatical errors.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the underlined portion for redundancy.
The original phrasing 'which occurred with a highly precise regularity and kept repeating at constant intervals' repeats the same concept of regular timing in two different ways, making it wordy and redundant.
ACT English rewards conciseness; redundant synonyms should be eliminated.
2
Evaluate the remaining choices for conciseness and grammatical correctness.
The option 'These highly regular pulses' is concise and grammatically correct. The option 'These pulses, that occurred regularly,' incorrectly uses commas to set off a restrictive clause. The option 'These pulses occurred with high regularity, they' creates a comma splice by joining two independent clauses with only a comma.
The correct choice must be both concise and grammatically sound.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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