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Difficulty: MediumShifts in Construction

To prepare a gourmet meal, the chef selected fresh organic vegetables, simmered the broth for several hours, and the steaks were grilled over an open flame. This careful attention to detail ensured that every component of the dish was cooked to perfection. The guests thoroughly enjoyed the dining experience and praised the chef's expertise.

Which of the following choices best maintains a consistent grammatical construction in the first sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. grilled the steaksAnswer
  3. C
    grilling the steaks
  4. D
    the steaks had been grilled

Answer

grilled the steaks
The correct answer maintains parallel construction in the sentence. The first two actions in the list ('selected' and 'simmered') are written as active-voice, simple past tense verbs that share the subject 'the chef'. By using the simple past tense active verb 'grilled', the list remains consistent and grammatically parallel.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the structure of the first sentence and identify the parallel series of actions.
The sentence describes three actions performed by the subject 'the chef': 'selected fresh organic vegetables', 'simmered the broth', and a final action.
Identifying the structure helps determine if there is an inconsistent shift in voice, subject, or tense.
2
Evaluate the grammatical voice and tense of the first two items in the series.
Both 'selected' and 'simmered' are active voice, simple past tense verbs that share the subject 'the chef'.
Consistent sentence construction requires that the final item in a list matches the grammatical pattern of the preceding items.
3
Select the option that maintains this active voice, simple past tense construction.
'grilled the steaks' is in the active voice and simple past tense, making it parallel to 'selected' and 'simmered'.
This revision eliminates the shift to passive voice and the shift in subject, maintaining grammatical consistency.

Key Concept

Parallel Structure and Voice Consistency in Lists
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Shifts in Construction

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