Multiple choice

Directions: This question presents a sentence, all or part of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

He did write a long letter to Emily, in which he expressed a hope that both George and himself would soon be with her, and immediately prepared for his departure.

  1. He did write a long letter to Emily, in which he expressed a hope that both George and himself would soon be with her, and

  2. He wrote a long letter to Emily, in which he expressed a hope that both George and he would soon be with her, and then

  3. He wrote a long letter to Emily, in which he expressed a hope that both George and himself would soon be with her, and then

  4. He did write a long letter to Emily, in which he expressed a hope that George and he would soon be with her, and then

  5. He wrote a long letter to Emily, in which he expressed a hope that both George and himself will soon be with her, and
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Explanation for (1): ((Error of diction and pronoun). 'Did write' introduces an element of emphasis not required by the sentence. The sentence also uses the incorrect reflexive pronoun 'himself'. 

Justification for (2): 'Did write' introduces an element of emphasis not required by the sentence.

This option corrects the error. The verbs 'wrote' and 'expressed' are consistent with the verb 'prepared' in the non-underlined part of the sentence. It also uses the correct pronoun 'he' rather than the reflexive pronoun 'himself'. 
Explanation for (3): This option rectifies the error of diction but maintains the error of incorrect use of reflexive pronoun. 
Explanation for (4): This option rectifies the error of pronoun but maintains the error of diction. It also omits the pronoun 'both', before 'George and he'. Explanation for (5): This option rectifies the error of diction but maintains the error of incorrect use of reflexive pronoun.  Also, it incorrectly changes 'would' to 'will'.

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