Eliminating Wordiness

Read the following passage and consider the underlined portion:

During the cold, wet summer of 1816, Mary Shelley and her companions stayed near Lake Geneva, where they challenged one another to write ghost stories. Shelley was inspired by talks about the nature of life, and she then proceeded to write her masterpiece, which was a novel. The book, *Frankenstein*, became a landmark of science fiction.

Which choice best eliminates wordiness and redundant phrasing while maintaining the grammatical correctness and meaning of the sentence?

In 1931, Harry Beck, a temporary draftsperson for the London Underground, designed a revolutionary transit map. Instead of plotting the routes geographically, Beck spaced the stations evenly, using only vertical, horizontal, and 45-degree diagonal lines. The response and reaction from the public, which was extremely positive and enthusiastic, secured the map's status as a masterpiece of design.

Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion is the most concise and grammatically correct?

A portion of the passage below is underlined.

In 1903, during a frosty streetcar ride in New York City, Mary Anderson observed the driver repeatedly opening the front window to clear away falling sleet. Inspired by this struggle, she designed a hand-operated wooden blade that could sweep moisture from the glass, [which was a task that was performed by a driver from inside the vehicle].

Which choice best eliminates wordiness while maintaining grammatical correctness?

A portion of the passage below is underlined.

In 1964, astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were troubleshooting a persistent background hiss in their sensitive horn antenna. Initially, they suspected that the interference was caused by nesting pigeons, which had coated the inside of the instrument with debris. After cleaning the antenna and removing the birds, however, they found that the persistent noise continued to remain and still went on without stopping.

Which of the following options most effectively eliminates wordiness while maintaining the meaning and grammatical correctness of the underlined portion?

A portion of the passage below is underlined.

In 1942, actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil patented a secret communication system. This system was created by them in order to prevent enemy forces from jamming radio-guided torpedoes, it later laid the groundwork for modern Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies.

Which choice represents the most concise and grammatically correct phrasing for the underlined segment?

A portion of the passage below is underlined.

In 1923, after witnessing a spectacular collision between a car and a carriage, inventor Garrett Morgan patented a new kind of traffic signal. This automated device, which was created for the purpose of directing the movement of vehicles, featured a T-shaped pole with three positions: Go, Stop, and an all-directional stop.

Which of the following choices makes the underlined portion most concise and grammatically correct?

While standing near an active radar magnetron, self-taught engineer Percy Spencer noticed that a peanut butter candy bar in his pocket had completely melted. Realizing that electromagnetic waves could cook food, he then went ahead and invented the microwave oven, a device designed to heat food rapidly.

Which of the following choices is the most clear and concise way to write the underlined portion of the passage?

A portion of the passage below is underlined.

In 1961, a group of programmers at MIT set out to create a demonstration program for a newly acquired computer. They decided to build an interactive game, which would eventually be named *Spacewar!*. Over several months, they spent hours writing code, aiming to design a simulation that was realistic. In order to achieve a high degree of realistic simulation that was very true to life, they programmed accurate gravitational pull and star fields.

Which of the following choices is the best replacement for the underlined portion of the sentence?

A portion of the passage below is underlined.

In 1974, a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, made history by scanning the first commercial barcode on a pack of chewing gum. This milestone was the culmination and final result of decades of research that had been done by inventors who sought a way to automate grocery checkout lanes.

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

The following passage is an excerpt from an essay about the invention of the automatic dishwasher.

Although Josephine Cochrane had no formal training in engineering, she resolved to design a machine that could wash dishes faster and safer than human hands. Working in a backyard shed with a local mechanic, she constructed a copper boiler with a wooden wheel that turned as hot water sprayed onto wire racks. She was motivated by the desire to solve a practical problem, and this motivation drove her to persist through multiple design failures until she completed it. Her invention was patented in 1886 and later won top honors at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

Which choice most effectively eliminates the wordiness and redundancy of the underlined portion while maintaining grammatical correctness?

The following passage contains an underlined portion.

Mary Anning, a nineteenth-century British paleontologist, combed the cliffs of Lyme Regis to find fossils of prehistoric marine reptiles. Owing to the fact of her possessing a keen eye that was observant of small details, Anning discovered the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton. Her findings challenged established scientific beliefs about the history of the Earth.

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

The following passage is an excerpt from an essay about the invention of Morse code.

In the 1830s, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail developed the electric telegraph, a device that revolutionized long-distance communication. To represent letters, Vail assigned the shortest codes to the most frequently occurring letters, [a decision that was made to increase] transmission speed. By analyzing quantities of metal type in a local print shop, he determined that the letter 'E' was used most often, so he gave it the simplest code: a single dot.

Which of the following choices for the underlined portion most effectively eliminates wordiness and maintains grammatical correctness?

A portion of the passage below is underlined.

In 1956, Malcom McLean, a former trucking magnate, revolutionized global trade by introducing the modern shipping container. Before this innovation, cargo was loaded piece by piece, a process that was incredibly slow and expensive. McLean’s standardized steel boxes could be easily transferred from trucks to trains to ships, which was an efficient method that served to drastically reduce both loading times and shipping costs by a significant margin. Today, millions of these containers traverse the globe, forming the backbone of international commerce.

Which choice most effectively and concisely expresses the underlined idea?