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Question

Difficulty: HardEliminating Wordiness

The following passage contains an underlined portion.

In 1856, while attempting to synthesize quinine, an antimalarial drug, eighteen-year-old chemist William Henry Perkin accidentally created mauveine, the first synthetic organic dye. At that point in time, natural dyes, which were extracted from plants and animals, were extremely costly to produce, and because of this, they were available only to the wealthy. Perkin's inexpensive, brilliant purple dye revolutionized the textile industry and birthed the modern chemical industry.

Which of the following is the best replacement for the underlined portion?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. Because natural dyes from plants and animals were expensive to produce, they were available only to the wealthy.Answer
  3. C
    Natural dyes from plants and animals were expensive to produce, they were available only to the wealthy.
  4. D
    Because natural dyes from plants and animals, which were expensive to produce, were available only to the wealthy.

Answer

The correct answer is the option that states: 'Because natural dyes from plants and animals were expensive to produce, they were available only to the wealthy.'
The correct option is the most concise choice that remains grammatically correct and preserves the original meaning. It removes the wordy introductory phrase and the redundant cause-and-effect wording, replacing them with a streamlined adverbial clause.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the underlined portion for wordiness and redundancy.
Identify that 'At that point in time' and 'because of this' are wordy, repetitive phrases that can be expressed more simply.
ACT English prioritizes conciseness and clarity, so unnecessary words must be eliminated.
2
Evaluate the choices for grammatical correctness.
Identify that the option ending in a comma splice and the option starting with 'Because' that forms a fragment are grammatically incorrect.
A choice must be grammatically correct to be the right answer, even if it is concise.
3
Select the most concise and grammatically correct option.
The option beginning with 'Because' that correctly structures the sentence with a main clause is chosen.
This option removes the wordy phrases while maintaining proper sentence structure.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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