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Difficulty: MediumEliminating Redundancy

When scientists captured a living coelacanth off the coast of South Africa in 1938, they were shocked to find a prehistoric fish that had previously been thought to be extinct and no longer living.

Which choice is the most effective and concise option for the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    that had previously been thought to be extinct and no longer living
  2. that had previously been thought to be extinctAnswer
  3. C
    that they thought was extinct. Since it had not been seen for millions of years
  4. D
    that they thought was extinct, it had not been seen for millions of years

Answer

The correct choice is the most concise option that eliminates the redundant phrase 'and no longer living' while maintaining grammatical correctness.
The correct answer is the most concise and grammatically correct option. The phrase 'thought to be extinct' already communicates that the coelacanth was believed to be no longer living, making the additional words redundant.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the redundancy in the underlined portion of the original sentence.
The phrase 'and no longer living' repeats the definition of 'extinct,' which is redundant.
ACT English questions prioritize conciseness and favor options that eliminate unnecessary repetition.
2
Evaluate the remaining choices for grammatical correctness and conciseness.
The option ending in a period before 'Since' creates a sentence fragment, while the option using a comma to connect two independent clauses creates a comma splice.
Eliminating redundancy should not introduce new grammatical errors like fragments or comma splices.

Key Concept

Eliminating Redundancy
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Eliminating Redundancy

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