The fragile markets were caught off-guard Friday by an unexp

The fragile markets were caught off-guard Friday by an unexpected drop in retail sales for May, which renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.

• which renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.

• an event that renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.

• and renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.

• renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.

• renewing concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.

Solution:
This problem tests your ability to distinguish between different types of modifiers. The underlined portion in the original stimulus is a relative clause because it begins with the relative pronoun “which.” A relative clause modifier must be immediately adjacent to the noun it modifies. Because it doesn’t make sense to modify “May,” answer (A) is incorrect.


Option (B) is an appositive modifier, but again, there is no noun it is renaming, so this construction is also incorrect.

Choice (C) applies the main subject “fragile markets” to the verb “renewed,” implying that the fragile markets themselves renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery. This changes the meaning of the sentence and therefore should be eliminated.

Answer (D) eliminates the subject attached to the verb “renewed” and therefore renders the sentence incoherent.


Option (E) correctly uses a participial modifier (“renewing concerns…”) at the end of the sentence to show that it modifies the action of the entire previous clause. Only a participial modifier (using a verb that typically ends in –ing or –ed) can function in this position.

I am strucked with the explanation of B,C,D and E.

Can some one shower more light, this question has so many Concepts.