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Question

Difficulty: MediumEliminating Redundancy

Biologists studying New Caledonian crows have observed that these birds can fashion hooks from twigs. By manufacturing and creating these tools, the crows can easily extract insects from deep within tree bark.

Which of the following options represents the most effective way to write the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. By manufacturing these tools,Answer
  3. C
    By manufacturing these tools; which
  4. D
    They manufacture these tools,

Answer

The correct option is the phrase that removes the redundant word, resulting in 'By manufacturing these tools,'.
The correct option removes the word 'creating' from the introductory phrase, which is redundant because it means the same thing as 'manufacturing' in this context. The resulting phrase is concise, maintains the intended meaning, and links correctly to the main clause of the sentence.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the redundancy in the original underlined phrase.
The phrase contains both 'manufacturing' and 'creating', which are synonymous in this context and repeat the same meaning unnecessarily.
ACT English questions require eliminating wordiness and redundancy to make sentences as concise as possible.
2
Evaluate the remaining options for conciseness and grammatical correctness.
The option containing the semicolon and relative pronoun creates a fragment. The option with 'They manufacture these tools' creates a comma splice. The option with just 'By manufacturing these tools,' is both concise and grammatically correct.
Eliminating grammatically incorrect distractors ensures the final choice is correct in both punctuation and syntax.

Key Concept

Eliminating Redundancy
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Topics

Eliminating Redundancy

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