Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an in

Empowergmat Official Explanation:

This sentence deals with modifier and antecedent placement. The modifier is the non-underlined portion of the text, so the correct antecedent is right after the modifier. What outshone the Panama Canal or the Empire State building as incredible construction? Differences within the text are highlighted.

(A) the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish

This is correct. The modifier is referring to the Hoover Dam and correctly places the modifier and noun it is modifying next to each other.

(B) the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, was tamed by the Hoover Dam that was built to be more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish it

This is incorrect. The modifier does not refer to the Colorado River; the river itself is not a construction feat.

(C) it took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers

This is incorrect. The modifier does not refer to the 21,000 workers because they are not a construction feat.

(D) for more than two years, 21,000 workers built the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers

This is incorrect. The modifier does not describe either the two years or the workers; neither the time nor the workers are construction feats. Additionally, “for more than two years” creates a nonessential clause that makes the sentence awkward.

(E) more than two years were needed to complete the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that 21,000 workers built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers

This is incorrect. The modifier does not refer to the time that workers used to build the dam; time is not a construction feat.