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Difficulty: Very hardAdjectives, Adverbs, and Modifiers

Which of the following options correctly completes the sentence without creating a dangling modifier?

'Having exhausted all available financial remedies during the economic crisis, ______.'

  1. the board of directors reluctantly decided to liquidate the company's non-core assetsAnswer
  2. B
    the liquidation of the company's non-core assets was reluctantly decided upon by the board of directors
  3. C
    a decision was reluctantly taken by the board of directors to liquidate the company's non-core assets
  4. D
    the company's non-core assets were reluctantly liquidated by the board of directors

Answer

The sentence is correctly completed by 'the board of directors reluctantly decided to liquidate the company's non-core assets' because the subject immediately following an introductory participial phrase must be the agent performing the action.
The correct option places 'the board of directors' immediately after the introductory participial phrase 'Having exhausted all available financial remedies during the economic crisis'. This ensures proper grammatical alignment, as the board of directors is the logical subject capable of performing the action described in the modifier.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the introductory modifier
The clause 'Having exhausted all available financial remedies during the economic crisis' is an introductory participial phrase expressing an action.
Participial phrases function as modifiers and require an explicit subject in the main clause that logically performs the action described.
2
Determine the logical agent performing the action
The entity capable of exhausting financial remedies and taking organizational action is the board of directors.
Abstract nouns like 'liquidation' or 'decision' and inanimate objects like 'assets' cannot exhaust financial remedies.
3
Select the option where the logical agent immediately follows the modifier
The option placing 'the board of directors' right after the comma correctly avoids a dangling modifier.
In standard English syntax, a modifying phrase at the start of a sentence must directly modify the noun phrase that immediately follows it.

Key Concept

Participial Modifiers and Subject Alignment
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Topics

Adjectives, Adverbs, and Modifiers

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