1.Althea Gibson, the first African American tennis player to be recognized as a world champion,beginning to play amateur tennis in the 1940s.
(A) beginning to play
(B) began playing
(C) and she began playing
(D) she began to play
(E) she had begun playing
2.In just a couple of years, low-carbohydrate diets have accomplished what the government has failed to do in decades of trying: it has convinced the public of refined grains, that they are bad and whole grains are good.
(A) it has convinced the public of refined grains, that they
(B) convincing the public about refined grains, which
(C) convince the public that refined grains
(D) convinces the public of refined grains, they
(E) convincing the public that refined grains
3.New analyses of a fossil suggest winged insects having possibly emerged as early as 400 million years ago.
(A) suggest winged insects having possibly
(B) suggest that winged insects may have
(C) suggesting that winged insects, they may have
(D) that suggests winged insects as having possibly
(E) that suggest winged insects to have possibly
4.Although biologists have made tremendous progress in mapping the human genome, the genetic roots of most common diseases remained largely elusive.
(A) remained
(B) had remained
(C) remain
(D) are remaining
(E) remains
Explanation
1.The correct answer is B
Choice (B) is correct. It avoids the sentence fragment error of the original by providing a main verb (“began”) for the subject of the sentence, “Althea Gibson.”
2.The correct answer is C
Choice (C) is correct. It avoids the awkwardness and wordiness of the original by clearly and concisely stating what the government has failed to do—it has failed to “convince the public that refined grains are bad and whole grains are good.”
3.The correct answer is B
Choice (B) is correct. It avoids the error of the original by replacing the awkward and wordy “suggest winged insects having possibly” with the more precise and idiomatic “suggest that winged insects may have.”
4.The correct answer is C
Choice (C) is correct. It avoids the verb tense error of the original. The past tense verb “remained” is not consistent with the present perfect tense verb “have made” and should be changed to the present tense verb “remain.”