Covered with low shrubs, the quality of the land along the seashore is sandy and unsuitable for agricultural use.Meaning Analysis: The land along the seashore is covered with low shrubs, is sandy and is unsuitable for agriculture.
Sentence structure: Covered with low shrubs,
(Noun modifier)the quality
(subject) (seems to be modified by the previous noun modifier)of the land
(prepositional phrase modifying the subject "the quality"along the seashore
(additional information about the land)is sandy
(verb)and
(parallel marker)unsuitable
(verb) ("is" unsuitable is understood)for agricultural use
(prepositional phrase)Quote:
(A) Covered with low shrubs, the quality of the land along the seashore is sandy and unsuitable for agricultural use.
We have a modifier error out here. The noun modifier "covered with low shrubs" seems to modify the "quality of land" instead of the "land" itself.
There is also a SV error out here. The subject "quality of land" does not make sense with the verb "is sandy" and "unsuitable for agricultural use.
Note - I believe "Is sandy" is correctly parallel to "unsuitable for agricultural use". Here the
is before "unsuitable" is understood.
Quote:
(B) Covered with low shrubs, the land along the seashore is sandy and unsuitable for agriculture.
Correct. This choice rectifies the modifier and the SV errors sited in the original sentence.
Quote:
(C) The land along the seashore, covered with low shrubs, is sandy and has a quality unsuitable for agricultural use
The sentence structure of this choice makes it inferior. Why say "has a quality unsuitable for agricultural use" when we can simply say "is unsuitable for agricultural use"
Quote:
(D) The land along the seashore is covered with low shrubs, sandy, and is unsuitable for agriculture.
This choice rectifies the modifier error but now introduces a parallelism error. "Is covered" and "is unsuitable" are verbs while "sandy" is simply a modifier.
Quote:
(E) The quality of the land along the seashore, covered with low shrubs, is sandy and unsuitable for agricultural use.
This choice repeats the SV error in choice (A). How can "the quality" be covered with low shrubs, or be sandy and unsuitable for agricultural use?
Correct choice:
(B)Please could someone edit this post and present it the way it is supposed to be.