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Difficulty: HardEliminating Wordiness

The following passage contains an underlined portion.

In 1900, physicist Wallace Sabine revolutionized architectural acoustics during the construction of Boston Symphony Hall. Prior to Sabine’s work, designers relied on guesswork, which often resulted in concert halls with poor sound quality. Sabine, however, calculated the exact rate of reverberation, a process that was done by him through analyzing and studying the absorption properties of various different materials. As a result, Boston Symphony Hall became the first auditorium designed with scientifically formulated acoustics.

Which of the following choices most effectively refines the underlined portion of the passage by eliminating wordiness while maintaining grammatical correctness?

  1. A
    reverberation, a process that was done by him through analyzing and studying the absorption properties of various different materials
  2. reverberation by analyzing the absorption properties of various materialsAnswer
  3. C
    reverberation, which was achieved by him through analyzing and studying the absorption properties of different materials
  4. D
    reverberation, he analyzed the absorption properties of various materials

Answer

reverberation by analyzing the absorption properties of various materials
The correct option, which reads 'reverberation by analyzing the absorption properties of various materials', is the most concise and direct choice. It uses the active voice ('by analyzing') and removes the redundant word pairs 'analyzing and studying' and 'various different' from the original sentence, while maintaining perfect grammatical structure.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the underlined portion in the original sentence for wordiness, redundancy, and passive voice.
The phrase 'a process that was done by him through analyzing and studying the absorption properties of various different materials' is identified as wordy and redundant.
Identifying these stylistic flaws establishes that a revision is necessary.
2
Evaluate the option that resolves wordiness but introduces a grammatical error.
The option containing 'reverberation, he analyzed the absorption properties of various materials' is shorter but joins two independent clauses with only a comma, creating a comma splice.
Revision choices must be both concise and grammatically correct.
3
Evaluate the option that retains wordy and redundant language.
The option containing 'reverberation, which was achieved by him through analyzing and studying the absorption properties of different materials' fails to eliminate the passive voice and the redundant phrase 'analyzing and studying'.
An effective revision must fully resolve stylistic issues like redundancy.
4
Confirm the grammatical correctness and conciseness of the remaining option.
The option containing 'reverberation by analyzing the absorption properties of various materials' is active, direct, and free of grammatical errors.
This is the most effective choice as it is concise and grammatically sound.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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