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Difficulty: Very hardEliminating Wordiness

To decipher Linear B, classicist Alice Kober built a massive database of paper cards, sorting them into grids to analyze the relationships between grammatical endings. By cataloging grammatical inflections, she determined that the unknown language was inflected, which meant that word endings changed depending on their grammatical function. This detailed card system of hers, which was highly structured and organized in a grid format, was what ultimately laid the groundwork for Michael Ventris to crack the script.

Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion is the most concise and grammatically correct?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. This structured grid system ultimately laid the groundworkAnswer
  3. C
    Her structured grid, which ultimately laid the groundwork,
  4. D
    The structured grid system, that she developed, ultimately laid the groundwork

Answer

This structured grid system ultimately laid the groundwork
The correct choice is the most concise option that preserves the original meaning and is grammatically correct. It reduces the highly redundant original wording ('system of hers', 'highly structured', 'organized in a grid format') and the wordy construction ('was what ultimately laid') to a direct, active statement: 'This structured grid system ultimately laid the groundwork'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the underlined portion for redundant information and wordiness.
The original text contains several redundant expressions: 'card system of hers' (repetitive ownership), 'highly structured and organized in a grid format' (redundant synonyms for structure), and 'was what ultimately laid' (unnecessarily wordy construction).
ACT English prioritizes the most concise way of expressing an idea without losing meaning or grammatical accuracy.
2
Evaluate the choices to find the most concise option that is grammatically correct.
The correct option reduces the wordy phrase to 'This structured grid system ultimately laid the groundwork', which is grammatically complete, active, and removes all redundancies.
Choosing the most concise option requires verifying that it is grammatically correct and fits the surrounding sentence structure.
3
Check the distractors for grammatical errors introduced during simplification.
The option beginning with 'Her structured grid' creates a fragment by subordinating the main verb. The option with 'that she developed' incorrectly sets off a restrictive clause with commas.
Conciseness cannot come at the expense of proper sentence structure and punctuation.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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