The discovery of gold near Deadwood, South Dakota

Always consider how the underlined portion functions in the complete sentence. Here, the underlined portion of the sentence modifies the action expressed in the sentence.. Is the modifier logically placed? In this case, yes— "leading to violence" follows the verbs "drew" and "created" and is correctly placed. Something else we notice is the phrase "as many as." We know that "many" and "much" are often confused in writing. "Many" applies to things that can be counted, while "much" applies to things that cannot be counted. In this sentence, "many" refers to lives lost, which can be counted, so the usage is correct. There does not seem to be an error in this sentence.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

Before we mark (A) as the correct answer, let’s verify our analysis by looking at the other options. Choices (B) and (C) use the phrase "as much as" rather than "as many as." Choices (C), (D), and (E) all begin with a word or words other than "leading."

Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains:

Since we have already determined that "as many as" correctly modifies "lives," we can rule out choices (B) and (C) immediately. Choice (D) is wordy, replacing the concise "leading to" with "with the effect that" and repeating the same idea by using both "claimed" and "lost." Choice (E) is incorrect because, when we integrate it into the entire sentence, we see that the placement of "and" is incorrect. The sentence would have to read "drew adventurers, created economic competition, and led to violence" for (E) to be correct. Thus, we confirm that Choice (A) is, indeed, the correct answer.