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 the best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose any one of the others.

There was something very strange and weird about that sound, which sent a chill of horror through both the hearers, and they laughed the next moment at their fears, for the noise was only such as could be given out by a pair of rusty hinges.

  1. and they laughed the next moment at their fears

  2. and they were laughing the next moment at their fears

  3. but they laughed the next moment at their fears

  4. and they laughed at the next moment at their fears

  5. but they laughed at the next moment at their fear
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Explanation for (1): The sentence bears error of conjunction. The 'laughter' provides a contrast to the 'chill of horror'. The two contrasting expressions should be connected by 'but', not by 'and'.

Explanation for (2): This option does not rectify the error of conjunction and introduces another error of tense shift from simple past to past continuous tense.

Explanation for (3): This option corrects the error of conjunction. The 'laughter' provides a contrast to the 'chill of horror'. The two contrasting expressions should be connected by 'but'.  
Explanation for (4): This option does not rectify the error of conjunction. Besides, it introduces another error of redundancy by inserting 'at' before the next moment. Explanation for (5): This option corrects the error of conjunction, but introduces another error of redundancy by inserting 'at' before the next moment.

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