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A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

-> Fragment sentence. ' it triggered..., the government declared..'

B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

-> Meaning Error: Water shortage was triggered with the city government declaring..

C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

-> No IC is present in the sentence.

D) triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

-> Passive voice is used. It is okay.
-> a public emergency was declared(Verb)..., and a communication program initiated (verb ed modifier) Not parallel.
-> Meaning Error: The original meaning is that the city government initiated. here, we don't know, who initiated a program.
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imo D

When a tunnel providing water to the city of Bogotá, Colombia, partially collapsed in 1997, it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
-- 2 independent clause connected by only Comma ..

B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
-- meaning error , with doesnot convey the correct meaning ..

C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
-- no verb in the second clause .. govt declaring .. ..

D) triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

-- Correct

E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
--active construction is better than Passive construction in this case . Also there is a meaning error error since the a communication program initiated ... is acting as a modifier
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When a tunnel providing water to the city of Bogotá, Colombia, partially collapsed in 1997, it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis
-- pronoun "it" is confusing. Also ,FANBOYS not included with 2 IC

B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis
-- pronoun "it" is confusing. Also...with the city government declaring..initiating are not correct.it should be in past tense

C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis
--Declaring is not correct. The verb is missing

D) triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis
--correct

E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis
- Sentence Structure error leads to meaning error as

a public emergency was declared and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis

highlighted part is a modifier
he threat of a crisis.
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My answer is (D). It took me 01:10.

(A) Comma splice.

(B) While this option is grammatically sound, it relegates important information (regarding the city government's measures in the aftermath of the water shortage) to a secondary position in the "with + participle" absolute construction. Keep for now.

(C) Fragment. This option provides a subordinate clause without main clause.

(D) So much better than (B).

(E) Passive voice is not as straightforward as active voice, esp. when the actor (by the city government) is spelt out. To put it another way, choosing passive voice requires stronger justification.
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Sentence Analysis:
When a tunnel providing water to the city of Bogotá, Colombia, partially collapsed in 1997, (DC clause)
it triggered a water shortage, (IC1)
the city government declared a public emergency and
initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. (IC2 with 2 parallel verbs in X and Y structure )

Two IC clause joined only by a "," - Definite error in grammatical structure. IC,IC is wrong grammatical structure.

A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

Error as above.

B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

IC,IC error is corrected but the sentence does not communicate the main logical idea properly.
" with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis." -> these actions did not happen with water shortage rather water shortage led the govt. to take these actions. Main Idea is to communicate that city govt did 2 actions when tunnel collapsed led to water shortage.
We need proper form of verb "declared" and initiated" instead of the modifier usage here to communicate logical meaning.

C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

No IC clause is present in the sentence. "triggering, declaring and initiating" all are modifier. We need min. 1 IC.

D) triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

Hold - corrects the original error and Sentence structure is clear as well.

E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

Parallelism structure is not correct grammatically in the Main Clause.
a public emergency was declared by the city government (clause) and
communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. (Noun phrase) -> Further, not clear who is doing action of program initiation
"for warning " is inferior in construction to " to warn"

D is the winner here.
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IMO D

When a tunnel providing water to the city of Bogotá, Colombia, partially collapsed in 1997, it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

Option (A) and (B)- antecedents not available. Parallelism error.

C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

D)triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
Correct

E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
Incorrect use of passive voice.
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When a tunnel providing water to the city of Bogotá, Colombia, partially collapsed in 1997, it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. -> we have an IC "When a tunnel providing water to the city of Bogotá....partially collapsed in 1997" and another IC "it triggered a water shortage". It is incorrect form. We need IC, DC.

B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.-> Same as A.

C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. -> We are in better shape, with IC, DC form. But, the city government declaring ....is incorrect. We need past tense.

D) triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. -> It is better than C. Let's keep it.

E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. -> "Something happened then someone took actions" is a better form, not "actions are taken by someone". incorrect.

So, I think D. :)
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A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. — “it” can’t refer to a whole clause and I don’t see a relative clause to justify a placeholder pronoun usage. Eliminate. I think the dependent clause, Independent clause construction is okay. The problem is in the usage of pronoun. If it was “the collapse” instead of “it”, it would have been okay.

B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. — same as A.

C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. — Eliminate. Fragment. The IC has a long subject “the city government...crisis” but has no verb. Eliminate.

D) triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. — Fixed the error in C by converting the gerund to simple past verbs. Correct.

E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. — passive voice isn’t needed. Didn’t venture further. Eliminate.

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When a tunnel providing water to the city of Bogotá, Colombia, partially collapsed in 1997, it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. Incorrect

it refers to what? correct uses triggering that modifies previous clause

B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. Incorrect

same as A

C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. Incorrect

past form require, because this happened in 1997

D) triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. Correct

E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis. Incorrect

passive form - avoidable
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When a tunnel providing water to the city of Bogotá, Colombia, partially collapsed in 1997, it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
Run-on.

B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
This option says that the tunnel with the city government triggered a water shortage.
Incorrect.

C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
Fragment.

D) triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
Correct

E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
There is no main verb in the right arm of the parallel marker 'and' as there is in the left arm.
Therefore, it is a fragment.

Choice D is the answer.
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Answer: D

Quote:

When a tunnel providing water to the city of Bogotá, Colombia, partially collapsed in 1997, it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.

A) it triggered a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
'it' has no clear antecedent to refer back to. Moreover, the two clauses are not joined by any conjunction.
Eliminate A


Quote:
B) it triggered a water shortage, with the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
'it' has no clear antecedent to refer back to. In a way sentence is constructed, it seems, 'with the city government...crisis' is an action to be considered along with water shortage, which obstructs the intended meaning.
Eliminate B

Quote:
C) triggering a water shortage, the city government declaring a public emergency and initiating a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
This sentence has no main action verb.
Eliminate C

Quote:
D) triggering a water shortage, the city government declared a public emergency and initiated a communication program to warn inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
This one seems right on. Correctly uses declared and maintains parallelism with initiated.
Keep D

Quote:
E) triggering a water shortage, a public emergency was declared by the city government and a communication program initiated for warning inhabitants of the threat of a crisis.
This turns the tone into passive, which is alright, but it misses the doer of action for the communication program and thus distorts the intended meaning.
Eliminate E
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