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1)During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing over 16
million soldiers who served in combat and thousands more support staffers who served the war effort domestically,
and which indirectly supported several million additional jobs through its extensive use of the manufacturing and
trasportation industries.

(A) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing wrong modifier, directly employing is modifying whole sentence instead of only DoD
(B) The Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer during World War II, which directly employed which is modifying World War II
(C) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer and employed Sentence after and is a fragment and it is missing a subject
(D) The nation's largest employer during World War II was the Department of Defense was, directly employing couldnot make anything of two was
(E) During World War II the nation's largest employer was the Department of Defense, which directly employed[color=#0000ff]which correctly modifying the DoD[/color]
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Correct option : E

Reason: Here 'which directly employed over 16 million soldiers ...' correctly modifies"..the Department of Defense.

A: "directly employing" modifies the entire previous clause
B: "which directly employed" modifies the adjacent noun World War II
C: "employer and employed" are redundant usages
D: Wrong usage of "was". Also similar to A, "directly employing" modifies the entire previous clause
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1)During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing over 16 million soldiers who served in combat and thousands more support staffers who served the war effort domestically, and which indirectly supported several million additional jobs through its extensive use of the manufacturing and
transportation industries.
The options in this questions are quite tricky. So I will in detail to explain each one
(A) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing
- If we remove the modifier "directly employing.....effort domestically", the sentence would be "During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer and which indirectly supported several million additional jobs through its extensive use of the manufacturing and transportation industries.". In the above mentioned use of AND creates a Run-on. Incorrect

(B) The Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer during World War II, which directly employed
- WHICH incorrectly refers to World War II. Incorrect

(C) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer and employed - Use of AND creates a Run-on. Incorrect

(D) The nation's largest employer during World War II was the Department of Defense was, directly employing - Same Error as A

(E) During World War II the nation's largest employer was the Department of Defense, which directly employed - CORRECT
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During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing over 16 million soldiers who served in combat and thousands more support staffers who served the war effort domestically, and which indirectly supported several million additional jobs through its extensive use of the manufacturing and trasportation industries.


(A) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing

(B) The Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer during World War II, which directly employed

(C) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer and employed

(D) The nation's largest employer during World War II was the Department of Defense was, directly employing

(E) During World War II the nation's largest employer was the Department of Defense, which directly employed


A very good question. B is out because of incorrect usage of which. D is preposterously wrong as it uses two verbs 'was' with one subject. C is also out because we need a modifier rather than a parallel element.

Now between A and C is a close contests and the winner is based E based on parallelism in the non -underlined part of the sentence. which directly employed ....which directly employed.

Winner E.
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During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing over 16 million soldiers who served in combat and thousands more support staffers who served the war effort domestically, and which indirectly supported several million additional jobs through its extensive use of the manufacturing and trasportation industries.


(A) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing -- Not parallel,misplaced modifier

(B) The Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer during World War II, which directly employed -- misplaced modifier

(C) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer and employed -- wrong construct, X was Y and Z and A

(D) The nation's largest employer during World War II was the Department of Defense was, directly employing -- was after department of defense is wrong

(E) During World War II the nation's largest employer was the Department of Defense, which directly employed - CORRECT. Department of defense is correctly modified & parallel structure is also maintained
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During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing over 16 million soldiers who served in combat and thousands more support staffers who served the war effort domestically, and which indirectly supported several million additional jobs through its extensive use of the manufacturing and trasportation industries.


(A) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing

(B) The Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer during World War II, which directly employed

(C) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer and employed

(D) The nation's largest employer during World War II was the Department of Defense was, directly employing

(E) During World War II the nation's largest employer was the Department of Defense, which directly employed



IMO E
Tests parallelism and modifiers

Two clauses "directly employing..." and "which indirectly supported..." should be parallel. so ans should contain "which directly employed"
Out of B and E, "which directly employed.." modifies Word War II in B which is wrong.

Thus E.
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During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing over 16 million soldiers who served in combat and thousands more support staffers who served the war effort domestically, and which indirectly supported several million additional jobs through its extensive use of the manufacturing and trasportation industries.


(A) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing
Not parallel with the "and which indirectly supported part"

(B) The Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer during World War II, which directly employed
Usage of which is wrong

(C) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer and employed
Not parallel with the "and which indirectly supported part"

(D) The nation's largest employer during World War II was the Department of Defense was, directly employing
Defence was is wrong

(E) During World War II the nation's largest employer was the Department of Defense, which directly employed
Correct
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During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing over 16 million soldiers who served in combat and thousands more support staffers who served the war effort domestically, and which indirectly supported several million additional jobs through its extensive use of the manufacturing and trasportation industries.

(A) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer, directly employing

(B) The Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer during World War II, which directly employed

(C) During World War II the Department of Defense was the nation's largest employer and employed

(D) The nation's largest employer during World War II was the Department of Defense was, directly employing

(E) During World War II the the nation's largest employer was the Department of Defense, which directly employed


Analysis: this question shows you the importance of reading the whole sentence. The not underlined part has a "and which" that is an indicator of parallelism: options B and E have this construct. However as which refers to the preceeding elegible noun in E it refers to war => clear error.

The other options: C uses "and" as connector, which give us the idea of two separate facts, and options A and D do not respect the parallel structure of the sentence as stated above.

OA E
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Eliminate A & D, as it implies the wrong tense, "employing".
Eliminate B, the modifier "which" implies that WW2 directly employed people.
E is more concise than C.

I chose E
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