For people living in the small town of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, mukluk

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT


• Modifiers
Whatever comes after that last comma could modify the preceding noun ("daily wear"); or
the subject of the preceding clause (boots and hoods); or
the verb of the preceding clause;
or, as long as the modification is logical, the whole preceding clause itself.

• Strategy tip: when answers are nearly indistinguishable (such as A, B, and D), they are probably all wrong.
Figure out what those similar answers have in common. In this case, "method" and some form of "protect" are common to all three.
The correct answer is very likely to have a construction different from those three.

THE OPTIONS

• Misplaced / inaccurate modifier
This option contains a misplaced modifier.
The noun after the comma is called an appositive modifier; it provides extra information about the noun before the comma.
In this case it seems that a method modifies daily wear.

Daily wear is not a method.
Eliminate A.


• misplaced / inaccurate modifier
Just as is the case in option A, daily wear is not a method protecting (that protects) against cold.
Daily wear is a physical barrier of protection against the cold.
Eliminate B


• I do not see any errors

The active participle protecting correctly modifies mukluk boots with bottom insulation and parka hoods with a ruff to imply that these items are
protecting people living in the small town of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska.
Remember that present participle modifiers (verbING words) have more leeway as modifiers than most: verbING words can refer to the subject of the previous clause, lay out the result of the previous clause, and so on.

KEEP

• misplaced / inaccurate modifier
→ same problem as that in A and B.
Daily wear is not a method (of protection, or anything else).
Daily wear is clothing, physical things that you put on as barriers of protection against cold.

Eliminate D

• being is often suspect
Remove the word being.
Does the meaning of the sentence change?
Nope.
If not, you do not need the word being.

For those of you who are interested, the simple word "protection" would modify "daily wear" (or boots and parkas, which are what daily wear consists of).
That word, protection, would come from a reduced relative clause.
The full relative clause would be: which is [are] protection against the harsh cold.
To "reduce" the relative clause, first we remove the relative pronoun which, and then we remove the to be verb (is / are).
All that remains is protection. That state of affairs would be just fine.

But being is unnecessary.
Eliminate E.

THe best answer is C.

COMMENTS

Both of these answers are very good.

Both posters "lumped" the "method" options together (as they should have done) and eliminate all three.
Then they faced two remaining choices, one of which is pretty bad ("being protection" ugh).

Nice work.

I think I can now say Happy New Year to people somewhere on the other side of the planet, and I say it to all people who celebrate the new year on Jan 1.
May you stay safe and find smiles.