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Difficulty: MediumModifier Placement

Read the passage below. To ensure the sentence is grammatically correct and avoids a dangling modifier, which phrase should fill the blank? Fill in the blank by typing either 'the researchers found the rare orchid species' or 'the rare orchid species was found by the researchers' exactly as shown.

Answer:While trekking through the dense undercanopy of the Amazon rainforest, 【the researchers found the rare orchid species】. The plant had not been documented in this region for over fifty years.

Answer

the researchers found the rare orchid species
The correct phrase is 'the researchers found the rare orchid species' because it starts with 'the researchers', which is the logical subject of the introductory action 'trekking'. This structure ensures the modifier is placed correctly and describes the researchers who were trekking.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the introductory modifying phrase.
The phrase is 'While trekking through the dense undercanopy of the Amazon rainforest'.
This phrase contains the participle 'trekking' and functions as an adverbial modifier that must describe the action of a logical subject.
2
Identify the logical subject that performs the action in the modifying phrase.
The logical subject must be 'the researchers' because plants (the orchid species) cannot trek.
To avoid a dangling modifier, the subject of the main clause must immediately follow the introductory phrase and be the entity performing the action.
3
Select the phrase that places the logical subject immediately after the comma.
The phrase 'the researchers found the rare orchid species' correctly begins with the logical subject.
Placing 'the researchers' as the subject of the main clause makes the sentence grammatically correct, whereas starting with 'the rare orchid species' creates a dangling modifier.

Key Concept

Modifier Placement (specifically preventing dangling modifiers by ensuring the introductory phrase is followed immediately by its logical subject)
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Topics

Modifier Placement

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