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. While the book's grandiose subtitle suggests a story blown way out of proportion to hold much conviction, the author does manage to win some confidence and when questioned about the difficulties faced while writing novels, he replied, “while writing novels, door-bells are especially irritating.”

  1. “while writing novels, door-bells are especially irritating.”

  2. “while writing novels, I find door- bells especially irritating”

  3. “while writing novels, door- bells are irritating”

  4. “while I am writing novels, I find door-bells especially irritating”

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

Explanation for (1): Type of error: dangling modifier

The modifying phrase, 'while writing novels' has no subject. The sentence does not specify who is writing and suggests that the door-bells are doing the writing.

Justification for (2): The sentence is correct as the modifying phrase refers to 'I' and now the sentence means that I find door bells irritating.
Explanation for (3): The sentence suggests that door-bells are writing the novel.
Explanation for (4): The addition of 'I' to 'door bells are especially irritating' as well as to the modifying phrase makes 'I' redundant in one of the phrases. Explanation for (5): 'Door bells especially irritate' doesn't sound very pleasant.