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Question

Difficulty: MediumModifier Placement

The passage below describes a famous historical site. The second sentence of the passage has been split into four segments.

'Overlooking the Urubamba River Valley, the ruins of a fifteenth-century Inca citadel continue to fascinate historians. [Segment 1] [Segment 2] [Segment 3] [Segment 4]'

Arrange the four segments below in the correct order to form a grammatically correct second sentence that avoids misplaced or dangling modifiers.

  1. 1the ancient city of Machu Picchu
  2. 2which is located in the Andes mountains
  3. 3attracts thousands of tourists
  4. 4who hope to see the sunrise over the ruins

Answer

The correct sequence of segments to form a grammatically correct sentence is: 'the ancient city of Machu Picchu', followed by 'which is located in the Andes mountains', followed by 'attracts thousands of tourists', and ending with 'who hope to see the sunrise over the ruins'.
The correct order constructs the sentence: 'The ancient city of Machu Picchu, which is located in the Andes mountains, attracts thousands of tourists who hope to see the sunrise over the ruins.' This placement keeps the non-restrictive relative clause next to 'the ancient city of Machu Picchu' and the restrictive relative clause next to 'tourists', ensuring proper modifier alignment and subject-verb agreement throughout the sentence.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the main subject of the sentence.
'the ancient city of Machu Picchu' is identified as the subject because it is the only noun phrase that can logically start the sentence and serve as the subject for the main verb.
Establishing the main subject provides the grammatical foundation for the rest of the sentence.
2
Determine the placement of the relative clause starting with 'which'.
'which is located in the Andes mountains' must be placed immediately after 'the ancient city of Machu Picchu'.
To avoid a misplaced modifier, the relative clause must be adjacent to the noun it modifies. Placing it elsewhere creates a subject-verb agreement error with the singular verb 'is' and makes the meaning illogical.
3
Locate the main verb phrase.
'attracts thousands of tourists' follows the modified subject.
The main verb must follow the complete subject noun phrase to complete the independent clause.
4
Place the final relative clause modifying the object.
'who hope to see the sunrise over the ruins' must follow 'tourists'.
The relative pronoun 'who' refers to people ('tourists') and must be placed immediately after its antecedent to prevent ambiguity or misplacement.

Key Concept

Modifier Placement
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Topics

Modifier Placement

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