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.

A number of linguists contend that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world's five billion people can be traced back to a common root language.

  1. that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world's five billion people can be traced

  2. that the world's five billion people speak thousands of languages of which all can be traced

  3. the world's five billion people speak thousands of languages which are all traceable

  4. all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world's five billion people to be traceable

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

The original 'that all of the thousands of languages...can be traced' is grammatically correct and logically clear. The 'contend that' construction properly introduces the linguists' claim. Other options rearrange the sentence unnecessarily, creating wordy or awkward constructions without improving clarity or correctness.

Keep practicing — related questions