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by alekhya615 » Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:53 am
Aho, a Kiowa matriarch, held festivals in her home, they featured the preparation of great quantities of ceremonial food, the wearing of many layers of colorful clothing adorned with silver, and the recounting of traditional tribal jokes and stories.
(A) Aho, a Kiowa matriarch, held festivals in her home, they featured
(B) Festivals were held in Aho, a Kiowa matriarch's home, which featured
(C) Aho, who was a Kiowa matriarch in her home, held festivals featuring
(D) In her home, Aho, a Kiowa matriarch, held festivals that featured
(E) Aho, a Kiowa matriarch, held festivals in her home that featured
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by [email protected] » Sat Feb 22, 2014 6:16 pm
Hi alekhya615,

SC prompts that include lots of commas are usually built on either modification rules or parallelism rules. This prompt is all about modification rules and includes a style rule (active voice) that is worth knowing.

1) Modifier: From the sentence, we know that "Aho" is a female who held festivals in her home (and she is a matriarch). The phrase "a Kiowa matriarch" modifies the name "Aho." Eliminate B (festivals were NOT held in the woman), C (past tense verb is unnecessary).

2) Improper pronoun: the pronoun "they" is unnecessary since we know that we're dealing with festivals. Eliminate A.

3) Additional modifier: the phrase "in her home" modifies "festivals", not "Aho." Eliminate D.

Final Answer: E

The correct answer also uses "active voice" (subject does action, in that order), which is the proper style for most correct answers to SC questions.

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