Originally developed by ancient Hawaiians, surfing appeals to people d

This sentence contains three parallel elements: “the unusual confluence,” “an
unpredictable backdrop,” and “the camaraderie.” Additionally, the introductory
modifying phrase “originally developed by ancient Hawaiians” correctly modifies the
noun “surfing.”
(A) CORRECT. This choice properly follows rules of parallel construction and uses
the introductory phrase to correctly modify the noun “surfing.”
(B) The introductory modifying phrase “originally developed by ancient Hawaiians”
incorrectly describes “surfing’s appeal” rather than surfing itself. Additionally, the
pronoun “its” has no clear antecedent to refer to.
(C) The introductory modifying phrase “originally developed by ancient Hawaiians”
incorrectly describes “surfing’s appeal” rather than surfing itself. Furthermore, the
third element of the sentence, “developing camaraderie among people,” is not parallel
to the other two elements.
(D) This choice lacks clarity of meaning by stating “a backdrop that is unpredictable
and that is, by turns, gracefully and serenely violent and formidable.” The original
intent of the sentence is to use the adjectives graceful, serene, violent, and
formidable to describe surfing’s “unpredictable backdrop”; this choice improperly
separates this into two distinct ideas. Additionally, this choice incorrectly changes the
adjectives “graceful” and “serene” to adverbs “gracefully” and “serenely”; thus, the
adverbs incorrectly modify the adjectives “violent” and “formidable” rather than the
noun “backdrop.”
(E) The plural pronoun “their” incorrectly refers to the plural noun “people,” making it
seem that people, rather than surfing, contain the three parallel elements found in the
sentence.