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Difficulty: EasyEliminating Redundancy

Read the passage below and select the choice that best replaces the underlined portion to eliminate redundancy.

"The astronaut looked out the window and saw the Earth, which was a round sphere floating in the dark void of space."

Which of the following options best eliminates the redundant phrasing while maintaining correct grammar?

  1. A
    which was a round sphere
  2. a sphereAnswer
  3. C
    a sphere, it was
  4. D
    a sphere, which

Answer

a sphere
The correct choice is the most concise option because a sphere is already a round object, making the modifier 'round' redundant. The phrasing 'a sphere' functions cleanly as an appositive modifying 'Earth' without introducing any grammatical errors.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the redundancy in the underlined phrase.
The phrase 'round sphere' is redundant because a sphere is, by definition, a round three-dimensional shape.
Eliminating redundant words is necessary to make the sentence concise and direct.
2
Evaluate the remaining options for grammatical correctness and conciseness.
The option containing just 'a sphere' is the most concise and forms a grammatically correct appositive phrase. The options that introduce a comma splice or a dependent clause fragment are grammatically incorrect.
ACT English questions require the correct choice to be both grammatically correct and free of redundancy.

Key Concept

Eliminating Redundancy
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Eliminating Redundancy

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