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.

The people she served were affluent, suave and of good culture, mostly women whose dress, manners, and position in the social world were quoted as criterions.

  1. affluent, suave and of good culture, mostly women whose dress, manners, and position in the social world were quoted as criterions.

  2. affluent, suave and cultured, mostly women whose dress, they had good manners, and position in the social world were quoted as criterions.

  3. affluent, suave and cultured, mostly women whose dress, manners, and position in the social world was quoted as criteria.

  4. affluent, suave and cultured, mostly women whose dress, manners, and position in the social world were quoted as criteria.

  5. affluent, suave and of good culture, mostly women whose dress, manners, and position in the social world were quoted as criterion.

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Explanation for (1): The original sentence has a parallelism error. 'Affluent' and 'suave' are adjectives. Therefore, to maintain parallel structure, 'cultured' is the correct adjective to use.

Explanation for (2): This option also has a parallelism error. 'Dress' and 'social position' are nouns. Therefore, 'manners' too should be in the noun form.

Explanation for (3): This option has a noun verb agreement error.  The nouns 'dress, manners and position' make a plural subject and require the plural verb 'were'. 
Justification for (4): The original sentence has a parallelism error. 'Affluent' and 'suave' are adjectives. Therefore, to maintain parallel structure, 'cultured' is the correct adjective to use. This option rectifies the error. Explanation for (5): The option fails to rectify the error of parallelism. Also, the plural form of the noun 'criterion' is needed.