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Question

Difficulty: MediumVerb Tense and Consistency

In the 1930s, archaeologist Tatiana Proskouriakoff traveled to Mayan ruins in Mexico and Guatemala to create architectural reconstructions. As she studied the stelae—carved stone slabs—she noticed patterns in the dates inscribed on them. Rather than depicting stories of gods as was previously believed, the monuments, she proposed, recorded the lives of historical rulers. This discovery revolutionized Mayan studies, as it [underlined]shifts[/underlined] the academic understanding of Mayan glyphs from abstract myths to historical records.

Which of the following is the best replacement for the underlined word 'shifts'?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. shiftedAnswer
  3. C
    will shift
  4. D
    has shifted

Answer

The correct answer is the past tense verb 'shifted', which maintains consistent verb tense with the rest of the passage.
The past tense verb 'shifted' is correct because the rest of the passage is written in the simple past tense to describe historical events. Using 'shifted' maintains consistent verb tense throughout the paragraph.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the surrounding context to determine the timeframe of the passage.
The passage describes historical events that occurred in the past, indicated by verbs like 'traveled', 'noticed', 'proposed', and 'revolutionized'.
To maintain verb tense consistency, all verbs describing the sequence of these historical events should remain in the past tense.
2
Evaluate the underlined verb 'shifts' against the established timeframe.
'shifts' is in the present tense, which creates an inconsistent shift from the simple past tense verbs used elsewhere in the paragraph.
An unnecessary shift in verb tense confuses the reader and violates ACT conventions of usage.
3
Select the option that corrects the shift while maintaining grammatical consistency.
'shifted' is the simple past tense form of the verb, which matches the simple past verbs like 'revolutionized' in the same sentence.
Using 'shifted' keeps the paragraph consistent and grammatically correct.

Key Concept

Verb Tense Consistency
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Verb Tense and Consistency

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