Multiple choice

Directions: The following question presents a sentence, part of which or all 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.

Seismologists studying the earthquake that struck northern California in October 1989 are still investigating some of its mysteries: the unexpected power of the seismic waves, the upward thrust that threw one man straight into the air, and the strange electromagnetic signals detected hours before the temblor.

  1. the upward thrust that threw one man straight into the air, and the strange electromagnetic signals detected hours before the temblor

  2. the upward thrust that threw one man straight into the air, and strange electromagnetic signals were detected hours before the temblor

  3. the upward thrust threw one man straight into the air, and hours before the temblor strange electromagnetic signals were detected

  4. one man was thrown straight into the air by the upward thrust, and hours before the temblor strange electromagnetic signals were detected

  5. one man who was thrown straight into the air by the upward thrust, and strange electromagnetic signals that were detected hours before the temblor
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The underlined portion lists three items that the seismologists are investigating, so it must maintain parallel structure with 'the unexpected power of the seismic waves.' Option A correctly uses 'the upward thrust...' and 'the strange electromagnetic signals...' to create a consistent noun phrase structure. Options B, C, D, and E break this parallelism by introducing verb phrases or changing the grammatical structure.

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