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Difficulty: MediumIllogical and Incomplete Comparisons

The navigation systems of modern commercial aircraft are far more sophisticated than early maritime vessels, which relied primarily on celestial tracking and compasses.

Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion results in a sentence that is logical and grammatically correct?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. those of early maritime vessels, which reliedAnswer
  3. C
    those of early maritime vessels, they relied
  4. D
    early maritime vessels; relying

Answer

The correct option is the one that changes the underlined portion to 'those of early maritime vessels, which relied'. This makes the comparison logical by comparing 'navigation systems' to 'those' (representing the navigation systems) of early maritime vessels, rather than comparing systems to the vessels themselves.
The correct option makes the comparison logical by using the pronoun 'those' to represent 'navigation systems,' thereby comparing the navigation systems of aircraft to the navigation systems of early maritime vessels rather than comparing systems directly to vessels. It also correctly uses a relative clause starting with 'which' to describe the vessels.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the two things being compared in the original sentence.
The sentence compares 'navigation systems' (plural noun) with 'early maritime vessels' (plural noun indicating ships).
To determine if the comparison is logical, we must ensure that the sentence compares two items of the same type.
2
Determine the correct structure to make the comparison logical.
The comparison must be between navigation systems and navigation systems. Since 'navigation systems' is plural, the pronoun 'those' should be introduced to refer back to it, resulting in 'those of early maritime vessels'.
Using the pronoun 'those of' establishes a logical and parallel noun-to-noun comparison.
3
Check the remaining clause for grammatical correctness and punctuation.
The clause starting with ', which relied' is a dependent relative clause that correctly modifies 'vessels' and avoids structural errors like comma splices or fragments.
This ensures the entire sentence is grammatically correct and coherent.

Key Concept

Illogical and Incomplete Comparisons
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Topics

Illogical and Incomplete Comparisons

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