Public-access cable television, created in the 1970s, allows the publi

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The original sentence uses modifiers and idiomatic expressions correctly and has a clear meaning. First, it correctly states that public-access cable television “allows the public to broadcast” -- an expression that is idiomatically sound and also conveys the idea that the action of broadcasting (not the broadcasts themselves) is what is “allowed.” Second, the action of broadcasting is properly modified by the prepositional phrase “over private television cables,” and, in turn, “television cables” is properly modified by the participial modifier “laid on public land.”

(A) CORRECT. This choice is correct, for the reasons in the paragraph above.

(B) This choice is grammatically correct but illogical: the phrasing “broadcasting from the laying of…” suggests that the public can actually produce broadcasts directly from the action of laying the cables, rather than using the cables after they are laid.

(C) The meaning of this choice differs significantly from the original; this choice indicates that the “broadcasts” themselves were allowed -- in other words, the wording of this choice suggests that public-access cable television legalized more types of broadcasts, rather than creating a new delivery method for broadcasts. In addition, “made from private television cables” is idiomatically incorrect; this wording illogically suggests that the broadcasts themselves were literally fashioned from television cables.

(D) "Allow(s) that the public can broadcast" is both unidiomatic and redundant; the presence of both "allow" and "can" creates redundancy. In addition, the modifier at the end of the sentence is changed from an essential modifier to a nonessential modifier, changing the meaning to suggest that the sentence is referring to all television cables (while the original sentence includes only those cables that are laid on public land).

(E) This sentence is grammatically correct but illogical; the use of "because" suggests that there is an actual cause-and-effect relationship. In other words, this sentence illogically suggests that the laying of television cables actually causes the public to produce television broadcasts.

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