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Question

Difficulty: MediumEliminating Wordiness

In 1856, eighteen-year-old chemist William Henry Perkin was attempting to synthesize quinine, a drug used to treat malaria, in his home laboratory. Instead of quinine, he accidentally produced a dark sludge that, when diluted with alcohol, turned a beautiful shade of purple. Perkin had created mauveine, the first synthetic organic dye, which was an invention that would go on to completely revolutionize the entire global textile industry.

Which of the following options is the most concise and grammatically correct replacement for the underlined portion?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. , which revolutionized the global textile industryAnswer
  3. C
    , it revolutionized the global textile industry
  4. D
    . Which revolutionized the global textile industry

Answer

, which revolutionized the global textile industry
The correct option is both concise and grammatically correct. It avoids the unnecessary words in the original sentence, such as 'was an invention that would go on to' and the redundant modifiers 'completely' and 'entire,' while using active-voice verbs and proper punctuation to attach the relative clause to the main clause.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify wordiness and redundancy in the original underlined portion.
The original phrasing 'was an invention that would go on to completely revolutionize the entire global textile industry' is flagged as wordy. The words 'completely' and 'entire' are redundant because they convey the same meaning.
ACT English questions prioritize conciseness and clarity, so unnecessary or repetitive words must be eliminated.
2
Evaluate the grammar and structure of the remaining options.
The option beginning with a period creates a sentence fragment because relative clauses cannot stand alone. The option using 'it' creates a comma splice because it joins two independent clauses without a conjunction or semicolon.
The correct option must be both concise and grammatically correct.
3
Select the option that is grammatically correct and most concise.
The option ', which revolutionized the global textile industry' is selected as it is active, concise, and correctly punctuated.
This choice successfully removes the wordy phrasing and grammatical errors of the other options.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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