Bunuel wrote:
In the mid-fifth century, Rome was threatened by Hunnish troops who, led by Attila the Hun, demonstrated his military superiority over the weakened, recently conquered city.
(A) who, led by Attila the Hun, demonstrated his military superiority
(B) which, led by Attila the Hun, demonstrated their military superiority
(C) that Attila the Hun led, who demonstrated his military superiority
(D) that Attila the Hun led in demonstration of their military superiority
(E) that were led by Attila the Hun, who demonstrated his military superiority
KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
The original sentence offers a few grammatical problems to fix, but since we're in the subordination and coordination section, let's start there. As the sentence originally stands, led by Attila the Hun is a subordinate phrase (remember that participles, such as led here, create subordinate phrases). Since it is subordinated to the previous clause about the Hunnish troops and since the who or which marks the troops, rather than Attila, as the subject for the sentence, the pronouns following troops should refer to them. In other words, Attila only further describes the troops; the troops are the real concern of the sentence. Therefore, the original pronoun in the answer choices needs to be which in order to refer accurately to the troops. Eliminate (A). Further, the phrase demonstrated his military superiority still needs to refer to the troops. His is wrong because the proper pronoun for troops is their. Eliminate (C) and (E). (D) alters the structure of the sentence and in doing so distorts its meaning, suggesting the purpose of the attack was to showcase Attila's, rather than the troops', power. (B) remains.
_________________