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Question

Difficulty: MediumEliminating Wordiness

Although early daguerreotypes captured incredibly sharp details, the long exposure times required subjects to sit perfectly still for several minutes. Photographers used metal head braces that were clamped behind the subject's head in order to keep the person from moving or shifting during the portrait session.

Which choice most effectively and concisely expresses the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. to keep the subject stillAnswer
  3. C
    so that movement by the subject was prevented by the brace
  4. D
    to keep the subject still, this prevented blurring

Answer

to keep the subject still
The correct answer is the most concise and direct option. It eliminates the wordy phrase 'in order to' and removes the redundant synonyms 'moving' and 'shifting' while remaining grammatically correct.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the wordy and redundant elements in the original sentence.
The phrase 'in order to keep the person from moving or shifting during the portrait session' is unnecessarily long and uses redundant synonyms ('moving' and 'shifting').
ACT English tests conciseness and clarity; removing extra words and redundant ideas is essential.
2
Evaluate the choices for both grammatical correctness and conciseness.
The option 'to keep the subject still' is grammatically correct and conveys the meaning directly in five words. The option using passive voice is wordy, and the option with the comma splice is grammatically incorrect.
The correct answer must be the shortest grammatically correct option that preserves the original meaning.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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