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Question

Difficulty: MediumEliminating Wordiness

A portion of the passage below is underlined.

In 1974, a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, made history by scanning the first commercial barcode on a pack of chewing gum. This milestone was the culmination and final result of decades of research that had been done by inventors who sought a way to automate grocery checkout lanes.

Which of the following options represents the most effective way to write the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. the culmination of decades of research byAnswer
  3. C
    the culmination of decades of research that was being done and performed by
  4. D
    the culmination of decades of research, this was completed by

Answer

the culmination of decades of research by
The phrasing 'the culmination of decades of research by' is the most concise and direct option. It eliminates the redundant pair 'culmination and final result' and uses a simple, active prepositional phrase ('by') instead of a wordy relative clause.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the redundancy in the underlined portion.
The phrase 'culmination and final result' is redundant because both terms convey the same idea of a concluding achievement.
ACT English requires eliminating redundant words or phrases that repeat information.
2
Evaluate the remaining options for wordiness and grammatical correctness.
The option using 'that was being done and performed by' adds wordy passive phrasing and redundant synonyms. The option containing 'this was completed by' creates a comma splice because it incorrectly attempts to join two independent clauses with a comma.
Correct answers must be both grammatically correct and concise.
3
Select the option that is most concise, clear, and grammatically correct.
The phrasing 'the culmination of decades of research by' is concise, avoids redundancy, and functions grammatically within the sentence.
This is the standard way to resolve wordiness on the ACT.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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