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Difficulty: EasyEliminating Wordiness

In 1964, inventor Douglas Engelbart designed the first computer mouse, which was a simple device carved out of a block of pine wood. The device featured a single red button on top and two metallic wheels on the bottom that tracked movement. Because of the fact that it was made of wood, it was remarkably durable, though it looked very different from modern plastic mice.

Which choice most effectively and concisely expresses the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. Because it was made of wood,Answer
  3. C
    Since it was crafted out of wood, which was a wooden material,
  4. D
    It was made of wood,

Answer

Because it was made of wood,
The correct option is the most concise and grammatically correct choice. By replacing 'because of the fact that' with the single subordinating conjunction 'because', it removes unnecessary words while maintaining the correct cause-and-effect relationship between the material of the mouse and its durability.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the underlined portion and analyze it for wordiness or redundancy.
The phrase 'Because of the fact that it was made of wood,' contains 'because of the fact that,' which is a wordy way of expressing a simple causal relationship.
ACT English questions require selecting the most concise option that is grammatically correct and retains the original meaning.
2
Evaluate the choices for conciseness and grammatical correctness.
The option 'Because it was made of wood,' expresses the same idea in just 6 words, removing the wordy 'of the fact that' construction. The option containing 'wooden material' is redundant. The option 'It was made of wood,' creates a comma splice.
Eliminating redundant words and ensuring proper sentence structure leads to the best choice.

Key Concept

Eliminating Wordiness
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Topics

Eliminating Wordiness

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