ugimba wrote:
During the early years of European settlement on a continent that was viewed as “wilderness” by the newcomers,
Native Americans, intimately knowing the ecology of the land, were a help in the rescuing of many Pilgrims and pioneers from hardship, or even death.
(A) Native Americans, intimately knowing the ecology of the land, were a help in the rescuing of
(B) Native Americans knew the ecology and the land intimately and this enabled them to help in the rescue of
(C) Native Americans, with their intimate knowledge of the ecology of the land, helped to rescue
(D) having intimate knowledge of the ecology of the land, Native Americans helped the rescue of
(E) knowing intimately the ecology of the land, Native Americans helped to rescue
Here, I can eliminate D, E since the first clause is dependent and started with during, and second clause must be an independent clause and this independent clause should start with a subject which is 'Native Americans'.
So that left me with A, B, and C options ..
A is wrong probably meaning is not right?
I am not confident why B is wrong .... may be it should have a comma "land intimately, and this enabled " or there is no proper reference to "them"?
Can some one explain for me in detail?
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:Choice A suffers from the wordy and indirect expression
were a help in the rescuing of. B creates an awkward,
redundant, fused sentence in which the first clause has to be repeated in the vague
this of the second clause;
furthermore, the comma required before
and in larger compound sentences is omitted. D and E are confusingly
worded because they begin with present participles
(having and knowing) that appear at first to refer to the
immediately preceding noun,
newcomers, rather than to
Native Americans. D also has the wordy and
unidiomatic
helped the rescue of. Clear, direct, and economical, choice C is best.