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Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
souvik101990 wrote:
To map Earth's interior, geologists use a network of seismometers to chart seismic waves that originate in the earth's crust and ricochet around its interior, most rapidly traveling through cold, dense regions and slower through hotter rocks.
(A) interior, most rapidly traveling through cold, dense regions and slower
(B) interior, which travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions, and more slowly
(C) interior, traveling most rapidly through cold, dense regions and more slowly
(D) interior and most rapidly travel through cold, dense regions, and slower
(E) interior and that travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions and slower
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that the seismic waves ricochet around the interior of the Earth's crust, and in doing so travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions and more slowly through hotter rocks.
Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Parallelism + Grammatical Construction• Any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.
• "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.
• If a phrase is subordinate to another in terms of importance (or sharing a cause-effect relationship), the phrases do not maintain parallelism.
• If a list contains two elements they are joined by a conjunction.
A: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "most rapidly traveling through cold, dense regions" and "(traveling) slower through hotter rocks"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.
B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "interior" with "which travel most rapidly...hotter rocks", illogically implying that
the Earth's interior travels most rapidly through cold, dense regions and more slowly through hotter rocks; the intended meaning is that
the seismic waves travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions and more slowly through hotter rocks; please remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.
C: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "traveling most rapidly through cold, dense regions", avoiding the modification error seen in Option A and conveying the intended meaning - that
the seismic waves ricochet around the interior of the Earth's crust and,
as a subordinate action, travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions, and more slowly through hotter rocks. Further, Option C maintains parallelism between "most rapidly through cold, dense regions" and "more slowly through hotter rocks". Additionally, Option C correctly uses conjunction ("and" in this sentence) to join two elements in a list.
D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "ricochet around its interior and most rapidly travel through cold, dense regions"; the parallelism between "ricochet" and "travel" incorrectly implies that the seismic waves ricochet around the interior of the Earth's crust and,
as a separate and equal action, travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions, and more slowly through hotter rocks; the intended meaning is that the seismic waves ricochet around the interior of the Earth's crust and,
as a subordinate action, travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions, and more slowly through hotter rocks; please remember, if a phrase is subordinate to another in terms of importance (or sharing a cause-effect relationship), the phrases do not maintain parallelism. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the "comma + conjunction ("and" in this sentence)" construction to join two elements in a list; please remember, if a list contains two elements they are joined by a conjunction.
E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "that...ricochet around its interior and that most rapidly travel through cold, dense regions"; the parallelism between "ricochet" and "travel" incorrectly implies that the seismic waves ricochet around the interior of the Earth's crust and,
as a separate and equal action, travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions, and more slowly through hotter rocks; the intended meaning is that the seismic waves ricochet around the interior of the Earth's crust and,
as a subordinate action, travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions, and more slowly through hotter rocks; please remember, if a phrase is subordinate to another in terms of importance (or sharing a cause-effect relationship), the phrases do not maintain parallelism. Further, Option E fails to maintain parallelism between "travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions" and "(traveling) slower through hotter rocks"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.
Hence, C is the best answer choice.To understand the concept of "Which, Who, Whose, Where", you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team