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Difficulty: Very hardEliminating Redundancy

Though the city council had initially predicted that the new transit system would be self-sustaining, the project’s ongoing expenses currently at this time continue to exceed revenue, resulting in a deficit that lacks sufficient funds.

Which of the following choices best maintains the sentence's meaning while avoiding redundancy and grammatical errors?

  1. A
    currently at this time continue to exceed revenue, resulting in a deficit that lacks sufficient funds
  2. continue to exceed revenue, resulting in a deficitAnswer
  3. C
    currently exceeding revenue, which results in a deficit
  4. D
    continue to exceed revenue, this results in a deficit

Answer

continue to exceed revenue, resulting in a deficit
The correct option successfully removes the repetitive temporal markers ('currently' and 'at this time') and the redundant definition of 'deficit' ('that lacks sufficient funds'). It maintains 'continue' as the active, finite verb for the subject 'expenses' and properly subordinately links the outcome using the participial modifier 'resulting in a deficit.'

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the redundancies in the original underlined phrase.
The phrase contains two types of redundancy: temporal repetition ('currently', 'at this time', and 'continue' all indicate the present state) and semantic repetition ('a deficit that lacks sufficient funds' repeats the meaning of deficit).
Eliminating redundant words is a primary rule of the ACT English test to ensure conciseness.
2
Evaluate the remaining options for grammatical correctness and sentence structure.
Replacing the verb with 'exceeding' creates a sentence fragment because the main clause no longer has a conjugated verb. Using 'this results' creates a comma splice by joining two independent clauses with only a comma.
An option must not only be concise but also grammatically sound and structurally complete.
3
Select the option that is both concise and grammatically correct.
The phrase 'continue to exceed revenue, resulting in a deficit' is free of redundancy and maintains a complete, grammatically correct independent clause.
This option correctly uses the active verb 'continue' and a subordinating participial phrase 'resulting in' to link the cause and effect clearly.

Key Concept

Eliminating redundancy while maintaining grammatical integrity
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Topics

Eliminating Redundancy

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