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 infusion made with the soft water will have the strongest taste, although it possesses less color than the infusion made with the hard water.

  1. The infusion made with the soft water will have the strongest taste

  2. The infusion made with the soft water will have by far the strongest taste

  3. The infusion made by the soft water will have the strongest taste

  4. The infusion made by the soft water will have stronger taste

  5. The infusion made with the soft water will have stronger taste
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

Explanation for (1): The sentence bears the error of comparative. The sentence draws comparison between the infusion made with soft water and that made with hard water.

Explanation for (2): This option does not rectify the error of comparison and introduces another error (inserts 'by far' before 'the strongest taste').

Explanation for (3): This option does not rectify the error of comparison and introduces another error by replacing 'with' by 'by'
Explanation for (4): This option rectifies the error of comparison but includes another error of preposition ('by' in place of 'with'). Justification for (5): The sentence bears the error of comparative. The sentence draws comparison  between the infusion made with soft water and that made with hard water. This option corrects the error by using comparative degree of adjective to draw the comparison (stronger).

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