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Difficulty: Very hardEliminating Wordiness

The following passage contains an underlined portion.

In 1936, Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann published a pioneering paper that fundamentally altered our understanding of Earth's interior. Analyzing seismic waves from a recent earthquake in New Zealand, Lehmann observed that some P-waves, which should have been blocked by a completely liquid core, were instead reflecting off a distinct boundary. She reasoned that these waves could only behave in such a manner if Earth possessed a solid inner core surrounded by a liquid outer core. Before Lehmann's groundbreaking discovery, scientists had generally held the widely accepted consensus belief that the entirety of the planet’s core was composed of nothing but a single, uniform liquid layer.

Which option represents the most concise and grammatically correct way to write the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. scientists believed that the planet’s core was entirely liquidAnswer
  3. C
    scientists, who believed that the planet’s core was entirely liquid,
  4. D
    the planet's core was believed by scientists to be liquid, they thought it had no solid parts

Answer

scientists believed that the planet’s core was entirely liquid
The correct option is the most concise and direct way to express the sentence's meaning. It uses the active voice ('scientists believed') and removes all the wordy and redundant phrasings of the original sentence, such as 'generally held the widely accepted consensus belief' and 'composed of nothing but a single, uniform.'

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the underlined portion for wordiness, redundancy, and passive constructions.
Identify redundant phrases: 'generally held,' 'widely accepted,' and 'consensus belief' all repeat the same meaning. Similarly, 'entirety,' 'nothing but,' 'single,' and 'uniform' are highly repetitive.
Recognizing wordiness helps narrow down the choices to the most concise options.
2
Evaluate the remaining options for grammatical correctness and structural integrity.
The option containing 'scientists, who believed...' lacks a main verb, creating a fragment. The option beginning with 'the planet's core was believed...' creates a comma splice.
Ensures the chosen concise option does not introduce new grammatical errors.
3
Confirm that the most concise, grammatically correct option preserves the original meaning.
The option stating 'scientists believed that the planet’s core was entirely liquid' is grammatically sound, active, concise, and preserves the original meaning.
Guarantees the selected option satisfies all ACT English conventions for style and clarity.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness and Redundancy
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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