beckee529 wrote:
The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just as the planets are, yet being so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.
(A) The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just
as the planets are,
yet being(B) Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are
(C)
Although like the planets the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds,
yet(D)
As the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are
(E) The stars are in motion like the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion but
Two problems with A "some of them ..." is awkward . The stars are in motion at tremendous speeds.
Since speed describes the motion, the sentence is easier to understand if we introduce motion first.
"The stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds."and "being" is clumsy, we want a verb here, since we're talking about two qualities of stars, and we introduced the first one with a verb.
"The stars ARE in motion yet ARE so far from Earth that ..."
First GlanceThe underline starts immediately; a glance at the beginning of the answers reveals substantial changes. How should the sentence start?
Issues(1) Meaning / Modifier: at tremendous speeds The original sentence says that
the stars, some of them are tremendous speeds, are in motion. The
stars themselves don't occur
at tremendous speeds; rather, the
motion occurs
at tremendous speeds. The modifier should be pointing to the action (
motion), not the noun (
stars).
Answers (B), (C), and (D) all clearly tie in the motion to the speeds:
in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds. Like answer (A), answer (E) muddles the meaning of this modifier:
the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion.
Furthermore, in answer (E), the
some of which modifier points to the preceding noun,
planets, not the
stars. This answer, then, says that
the planets are in motion. It's already common knowledge that
planets are
in motion; the point of the original sentence was to highlight that the
stars are also
in motion even though they seem to be fixed in the sky. Eliminate answers (A) and (E).
(2) StructureThe original sentence consists of an independent clause (
the stars are in motion as the planets are) followed by a comma and a coordinating conjunction (
yet), setting up the expectation for another independent clause.
Chop out the portion after the coordinating conjunction (
being so far that X) and read it on its own: that portion is not a complete sentence. The word
being could function as a
subject−as in the sentence
Being far away from loved ones can cause homesickness−but no verb completes the thought. Eliminate answers (A) and (C) because they are sentence fragments.
Answer (C)'s issue is even more severe.
Although like is momentarily confusing (because one indicates contrast and the other similarity) and the use of both although and yet is redundant: only one contrast word is needed. Eliminate answer (C).
(3) Comparison: asSome of the answers contain the comparison marker
like: others use the marker
as.
Like is used to compare two nouns directly;
as is used to compare clauses.
Answer (A) correctly uses
as to compare two clauses. Answers (B), (C), and (E) correctly use like to compare two nouns. Answer (D), however, uses
as to compare two nouns. Eliminate (D).
The Correct AnswerCorrect answer (B) consists of two independent clauses connected by a comma and a coordinating conjunction. The sentence makes clear that the
motion occurs at
tremendous speeds.
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