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Difficulty: MediumEliminating Redundancy

While studying the ruins of Pompeii, archaeologists discovered murals preserved in remarkable detail. The reason why the murals survived is because the volcanic ash sealed them from oxygen.

Which of the following options best replaces the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    The reason why the murals survived is because
  2. The murals survived becauseAnswer
  3. C
    Because the murals survived, which is why
  4. D
    The murals survived, this was because

Answer

The murals survived because
The correct answer, 'The murals survived because', is the most concise option and correctly connects the effect (mural survival) to the cause (volcanic ash sealing them) without any redundant wording or grammatical errors.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the underlined portion for redundancy.
The phrases 'the reason why' and 'because' are found to express the same causal relationship.
Identifying wordiness or redundant meanings is the first step in solving ACT redundancy questions.
2
Evaluate the grammar of the non-redundant options.
The option beginning with 'Because' creates a fragment, and the option containing 'this was because' creates a comma splice.
Ensuring the corrected sentence is grammatically sound prevents choosing an option that fixes redundancy but introduces a structural error.
3
Select the option that is both concise and grammatically correct.
The option stating 'The murals survived because' is selected.
This option successfully removes the redundant words while keeping a complete, correct sentence.

Key Concept

Eliminating Redundancy
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Topics

Eliminating Redundancy

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