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Difficulty: MediumEliminating Wordiness

In 1952, computer pioneer Grace Hopper completed the first compiler, a program that translated English-like instructions into machine code. Previously, programmers had to write code in tedious binary sequences. Hopper’s development, which was a major breakthrough in computer science, revolutionized programming by allowing software to be written in a way that was much easier and simpler for humans to read and write.

Which of the following options represents the most concise and grammatically correct version of the underlined portion?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. B
    Hopper’s breakthrough, which revolutionized programming, making software much easier to write.
  3. Hopper’s breakthrough revolutionized programming, making software much easier to write.Answer
  4. D
    Hopper’s breakthrough revolutionized programming, it made software much easier to write.

Answer

Hopper’s breakthrough revolutionized programming, making software much easier to write.
The correct answer is the most concise option that preserves the original meaning and remains grammatically correct. It condenses 'Hopper's development, which was a major breakthrough' into 'Hopper's breakthrough' and replaces the wordy passive phrase 'by allowing software to be written in a way that was...' with a concise participial phrase 'making software...'. It also eliminates the redundant synonyms 'easier and simpler' and the wordy pair 'read and write'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify redundancy and wordiness in the original underlined sentence.
The phrase 'easier and simpler' is redundant because the words express similar ideas. The phrase 'read and write' is wordy, and the clause 'which was a major breakthrough in computer science' can be condensed to 'breakthrough'.
ACT English conventions prioritize conciseness by eliminating unnecessary synonyms and wordy clauses.
2
Evaluate the remaining options for grammatical correctness and conciseness.
The option containing 'which revolutionized' results in a sentence fragment because there is no main verb. The option with 'it made software' creates a comma splice. The option 'Hopper’s breakthrough revolutionized programming, making software much easier to write.' is grammatically correct and successfully removes all wordy and redundant language.
Identifying and eliminating options that introduce new grammatical errors leads directly to the correct, most effective choice.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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