V08-01

Official Solution:

Lack of fresh water is an ongoing problem in the outposts, expecting it to continue until reinforcements arrive.

A. Lack of fresh water is an ongoing problem in the outposts, expecting it to continue until reinforcements arrive.
B. Lack of fresh water is an ongoing problem in the outposts, which was expected to continue until reinforcements arrive.
C. Lack of fresh water is an ongoing problem in the outposts, and they are expected to continue until reinforcements arrive.
D. The outposts lack fresh water, it is expected to continue the problem until reinforcements arrive.
E. The outposts have a lack of fresh water, a problem expected to continue until reinforcements arrive.


A. The present participle modifier “expecting it to continue until reinforcements arrive” wrongly modifies the preceding main clause (the subject of the preceding main clause). In such constructions, there must be a subject who performs the action stated in the present participle modifier. Here it is not mentioned who performs the action “expecting”.

B. The relative pronoun “which” wrongly modifies the noun “outposts”.

C. The plural pronoun “they” could only refer to outposts, which implies that the outposts, rather than the problem, are expected to continue.

D. Two independent sentences are separated by comma - they should be separated by semicolon. “It is expected to continue” is awkward - it is true that “it” can be used as a placeholder, but here the usage makes the sentence unnecessarily wordy and awkward.

E. CORRECT. An absolute phrase “a problem expected to continue until reinforcements arrive” correctly refers to the preceding main clause.


Answer: E