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Difficulty: HardModifier Placement

Read the passage below:

Exploring the benthic zone of the Mariana Trench, the autonomous vehicle captured footage of a bizarre, previously undocumented siphonophore. [1] Hovering near a hydrothermal vent, the scientists were amazed by the creature's bioluminescent display. [2] This display served not only as a warning to predators but also as a lure for prey.

Which of the following options is the best replacement for the underlined portion in sentence [1]?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. B
    Hovering near a hydrothermal vent, the creature amazed the scientists with its bioluminescent display, they had never seen anything like it.
  3. Hovering near a hydrothermal vent, the creature amazed the scientists with its bioluminescent display.Answer
  4. D
    Hovering near a hydrothermal vent, the creature, along with several other deep-sea organisms, are amazing to the scientists.

Answer

Hovering near a hydrothermal vent, the creature amazed the scientists with its bioluminescent display.
The correct choice resolves the dangling modifier by placing the logical subject ('the creature') directly after the introductory modifier ('Hovering near a hydrothermal vent'). This clearly conveys that the creature was the one hovering near the vent, and the clause contains no secondary grammatical errors.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the introductory modifying phrase and its logical target.
The phrase is 'Hovering near a hydrothermal vent'. Logically, it must describe the creature (the siphonophore) rather than the scientists.
Introductory participial phrases must immediately precede the noun they modify to prevent dangling modifiers.
2
Evaluate the choices to find which one puts the correct subject immediately after the modifier.
The options starting with 'the creature' (the correct subject) fix the modifier issue, while the original phrasing keeps 'the scientists' as the subject, which is incorrect.
Since the scientists were not hovering near the vent, the original phrasing is dangling.
3
Check the grammatically modified options for secondary errors like punctuation or agreement issues.
The choice ending with 'they had never seen...' contains a comma splice. The choice containing 'are amazing' contains a subject-verb agreement error. The choice ending with 'with its bioluminescent display' is grammatically correct and concise.
ACT distractors often fix the primary error but introduce a secondary grammatical error.

Key Concept

Modifier Placement
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Topics

Modifier Placement

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