Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a one-day strike to protest a law that requires them to contribute $330 a year toward the cost of higher education, previously paying $7 per year.
A. year toward the cost of higher education, previously paying $7 per year
B. year toward the cost of higher education, for which was previously paid $7 per
year
C. year, compared to the previously $7 per year, toward the cost of higher education
D. year toward the cost of higher education, instead of the $7 per year required
previously
E. year as opposed to the $7 per year required previously for the cost of higher
education
A COMMA + VERBing modifier serves to express CONTEMPORANEOUS action: an action attributed to the preceding subject and happening AT THE SAME TIME as -- and often as a result of -- the preceding action.
Thus, A implies the following:
When the students
contribute $330 a year, they are AT THE SAME TIME
previously paying $7 per year.
Not the intended meaning.
B states that students must
contribute $330 a year toward their education,
for which was previously paid $7 per year.
Here, it's unclear WHO previously paid $7 per year.
Also, a reader might construe that BOTH amounts are being applied to a student's education (the $330 a year AND the $7 previously paid).
To make it clear that one amount ($330 a year) is serving to REPLACE the previous amount ($7 per year), a word of contrast is needed (such as
instead or
whereas).
Eliminate B.
In C,
previously (adverb) cannot serve to modify
the $7 per year (noun phrase).
Eliminate C.
In E, the reason that students must
contribute $330 a year seems to be conveyed by the modifier
required previously for the cost of higher education.
The result is a nonsensical meaning:
A law that REQUIRES them to contribute $330 a year REQUIRED PREVIOUSLY.
Eliminate E.
The correct answer is
D.
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