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Question

Difficulty: HardMisplaced and Dangling Modifiers

In the sentence below, a portion of the text is underlined.

Though initially dismissed as mere decorative patterns by early explorers, Yuri Knorozov eventually deciphered the Mayan glyphs in the mid-twentieth century.

Which of the following choices represents the most effective and grammatically correct version of the underlined portion?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. B
    linguist Yuri Knorozov, who deciphered the Mayan glyphs,
  3. the Mayan glyphs were eventually deciphered by Russian linguist Yuri KnorozovAnswer
  4. D
    the Mayan glyphs were eventually deciphered by Russian linguist Yuri Knorozov, they were studied

Answer

The correct answer is the option that changes the subject of the main clause to 'the Mayan glyphs', resulting in: 'the Mayan glyphs were eventually deciphered by Russian linguist Yuri Knorozov'.
The correct option resolves the dangling modifier by introducing 'the Mayan glyphs' as the subject of the clause immediately following the introductory modifier. Since the glyphs are what early explorers dismissed as decorative patterns, this placement is logical. Additionally, the phrase forms a complete, grammatically correct independent clause.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the introductory modifying phrase and determine what it logically describes.
The phrase 'Though initially dismissed as mere decorative patterns by early explorers' must describe something that could be dismissed as patterns, which is the Mayan glyphs, not the linguist Yuri Knorozov.
To avoid a dangling modifier, the noun phrase immediately following the introductory comma must be the logical subject of that modifier.
2
Evaluate the options to find one that places 'the Mayan glyphs' as the subject immediately following the comma, while maintaining grammatical completeness.
The option containing 'the Mayan glyphs were eventually deciphered by Russian linguist Yuri Knorozov' places the correct subject first and contains a complete independent clause.
This fixes the dangling modifier without introducing other errors like sentence fragments or comma splices.

Key Concept

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
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Topics

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

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