1.After serving two terms in the Texas State Senate, Barbara Jordan’s election to the United States House of Representatives, where she served from 1973 to 1979.
(A) Barbara Jordan’s election
(B) it was Barbara Jordan who was elected
(C) it was Barbara Jordan’s election
(D) Barbara Jordan had been elected
(E) Barbara Jordan was elected
2.Their part of the reconstruction process that followed the Second World War, the nations of Western Europe took steps toward achieving greater political and economic integration.
Answer Choices
(A) Their
(B) The
(C) It was
(D) As
(E) On
3.They use light that is 100 million times dimmer than the midday sun, and tropical nocturnal sweat bees leave their nests to forage for food.
Answer Choices
(A) They use light that is 100 million times dimmer than the midday sun, and
(B) By using light that is 100 million times dimmer than midday,
(C) In light that is 100 million times dimmer than the midday sun,
(D) With the light being 100 million times as dim as midday,
(E) When the light is 100 million times as dim as with the midday sun,
4.Africa is not nearly so mountainous as in Asia.
Answer Choices
(A) so mountainous as in
(B) that mountainous as
(C) equally mountainous to
(D) as mountainous as
(E) that mountainous as in
5.Its fossil record virtually unchanged over 100 million years, the Ginkgo tree is one of the oldest living species of tree.
Answer Choices
(A) Its fossil record
(B) Its fossil record was
(C) Its fossil record, which is
(D) Its fossil record exists
(E) Its fossil record, because
6.Upon winning her third gold medal at the competition, the young athlete learned that her accomplishments had surpassed her coach’s, a former track star.
Answer Choices
(A) her coach's
(B) her coach
(C) those of her coach
(D) those done by her coach
(E) those of her coach's
Explanation
1.The correct answer is E
Choice (E) is correct. It avoids the error of the original by placing the appropriate subject (“Barbara Jordan”) immediately after the modifying phrase (“After serving two terms in the Texas State Senate”).
2.The correct answer is D
Choice (D) is correct. It avoids the error of the original by using the preposition “As” to indicate what the “steps toward … integration” were a part of 3.The correct answer is C
3.The correct answer is C
Choice (C) is correct. It avoids the awkwardness and wordiness of the original by using an introductory phrase “In light...sun” to modify the verbal phrase “tropical nocturnal sweat bees leave.”
4.The correct answer is D
Choice (D) is correct. It avoids the awkwardness of the original by using the idiomatic “as … as” construction to compare “Africa” with “Asia.”
5.The correct answer is A
Choice (A) is correct. It avoids the errors of the other options by using the phrase “Its fossil record” to describe what has remained “virtually unchanged over 100 million years.”
6.The correct answer is C
Choice (C) is correct. This version of the sentence correctly compares the young athlete’s accomplishments with her coach’s accomplishments, not with her coach. In addition, it uses the plural pronoun “those” to refer to the coach’s accomplishments, which allows the noun “coach” to be correctly modified by the noun phrase “a former track star.” The possessive noun “coach’s” cannot be modified by a noun phrase.