Errors Tested: Subject-verb agreement, Verb, and Meaning.
Main Error Type: Subject-verb agreement. The main error, S-V agreement helps eliminate options A and B.
Verb: Option E lacks a main verb and is therefore a sentence fragment.
A. Antarctic,
appears in various configurations that are shaped
Subject-verb agreement error: Auroras is plural and hence must have plural verb, appear.
B. Antarctic
appears in various configurations
in which those are shapedSubject-verb agreement error: Auroras is plural and hence must have plural verb, appear.
Meaning: The configurations are shaped by earth's the earth’s magnetic field. "In which those" is awkward and "those" does not have a clear antecedent.
Punctuation: Antarctic must be followed by a comma in order to close the comma pair used to separate the non-essential modifier "such as those seen in the Arctic and Antarctic".
C. Antarctic,
appear in various configurations that are shaped
No error: All grammar and meaning issues in other choices are fixed in option C.
D. Antarctic appear in various configurations
in which those are shapedMeaning: The configurations are shaped by earth's the earth’s magnetic field. "In which those" is awkward and "those" does not have a clear antecedent.
Punctuation: Antarctic must be followed by a comma in order to close the comma pair used to separate the non-essential modifier "such as those seen in the Arctic and Antarctic".
E. Antarctic,
shaped in various configurations
as thoseVerb: Past participle, shaped, cannot function as a verb; as written, the sentence lacks a main verb and hence is a fragment.
Meaning: The configurations are shaped by earth's the earth’s magnetic field. The phrase, as those, changes the meaning.