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.

Machines replacing human labor, there was wide anticipation that the workweek would continue to become shorter.

  1. Machines replacing human labor, there was wide anticipation that

  2. When machines replaced human labor, there was wide anticipation

  3. As machines replaced human labor, it was widely anticipated that

  4. Insofar as machines replaced human labor, it was widely anticipated

  5. Human labor being replaced by machines, there was wide anticipation that
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The original sentence incorrectly uses a dangling modifier - 'Machines replacing human labor' doesn't logically modify 'there was wide anticipation.' Option C fixes this by using 'As machines replaced' to create a proper subordinate clause, and uses 'it was widely anticipated' where 'it' refers to the anticipation itself, making grammatical sense. The other options either don't fix the modifier issue or use awkward phrasing.

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