Examkin

Soru

Zorluk: ZorShifts in Construction

The following passage is an excerpt from a history of the Brooklyn Bridge.

During the building of the Brooklyn Bridge in the late nineteenth century, workers faced dangerous conditions under the East River. Inside the massive timber caissons, laborers excavated silt, blasted bedrock, and a constant battle against decompression sickness was fought. Many workers emerged from the depths with severe joint pain, a condition they called "the bends."

Which of the following choices best corrects the underlined portion to maintain consistency in grammatical construction?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. fought a constant battle against decompression sicknessCevap
  3. C
    fighting a constant battle against decompression sickness
  4. D
    they fight a constant battle against decompression sickness

Cevap

fought a constant battle against decompression sickness
The correct option maintains the active voice and past tense established earlier in the sentence. The sentence describes a list of actions performed by the subject 'laborers': they 'excavated silt,' 'blasted bedrock,' and 'fought a constant battle.' Using the active, past-tense verb 'fought' ensures grammatical parallelism and prevents an unnecessary shift in construction.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Identify the structure of the sentence and the list of actions performed by the subject.
The subject 'laborers' performs a series of three actions: 'excavated silt,' 'blasted bedrock,' and the underlined portion.
Understanding the grammatical structure helps identify the pattern that the third item must follow.
2
Analyze the underlined portion to check for consistency in construction.
The original phrasing 'a constant battle against decompression sickness was fought' is in the passive voice with a new subject ('a constant battle'), shifting construction away from the active past-tense verbs 'excavated' and 'blasted'.
This identifies the error in the original sentence as a shift in grammatical construction and voice.
3
Evaluate the choices to find one that maintains active voice, past tense, and grammatical parallelism.
The phrasing 'fought a constant battle against decompression sickness' matches the past-tense active structure of 'excavated' and 'blasted' and keeps 'laborers' as the subject.
This resolves the construction shift and ensures parallel structure.

Anahtar Kavram

Avoiding shifts in construction and maintaining parallel structure in a list of verbs.
Bu soruyu puanla

Konular

Shifts in Construction

Bu konudan daha fazla soru