<p>Alright, so I took a practice English section and did not understand the reasoning behind some of the questions. The caps represents the underline portion.</p>
<p>1) On a familiar trail near our house, I was pushing Jeremy in his stroller and WERE THINKING of the day ahead and the tasks I had to complete.
A. NO CHANGE
B. were having thoughts
C. thinking
D. DELETE the underlined portion</p>
<p>2) I was sure that girls growing up today would have more up-to-date role models and my generation’s favorite sleuth WOULD OF BEEN retired to the library’s dusty back rooms.
A. NO CHANGE
B. would have been
C. would of
D. DELETE the underlined portion</p>
<p>3) We ALSO loved how smart she was and how pretty, how confident and successful.
Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion would be LEAST acceptable?
A. furthermore
B. therefore
C. likewise
D. DELETE the underlined portion</p>
<p>So for the first one, is it still parallel despite the fact that "was thinking" is not an answer choice? If "was" is the main verb, shouldn't it be included in the answer choices?</p>
<p>For the second one, I chose D in order to make a correct sentence: Independent FANBOYS Dependent (from barrons).
B is the correct answer but that means that "and" joins two independent clauses, which is incorrect. </p>
<p>For the third one, I chose B as my answer because "furthermore" sounded too awkward. I can see why it is correct because it still means "similarly". Is this reasoning correct?</p>
<p>THANKS in advance! </p>
<p>I got you covered, mate. </p>
<p>1) The answer’s C. The structure is still parallel because the sentence contains the word was before pushing; without all the stuff in the middle, the sentence would look like …I was pushing…and thinking… The real parallelism is between “pushing Jeremy in his stroller” and “thinking of the day ahead.” </p>
<p>2) The answer is B. This is a trick question because the word “and” doesn’t introduce a new independent clause for this sentence. If it did, the sentence would look like this:
“I was sure that girls growing up today would have more up-to-date role models, and my generation’s favorite sleuth retired to the library’s dusty back rooms.”
The sentence’s meaning completely changed (not to mention that technically, you would need a comma before the and). What the sentence is intending to say, really, is “I was sure THAT girls…AND THAT my generation’s favorite sleuth…” The second part is simply a dependent clause lacking the word that. So, just choose the correct usage of would have been.
For something like this, always check if the meaning of the sentence is the same. If a choice changes the meaning of the sentence, then it is wrong.</p>
<p>3) The answer is B because the word “therefore” signifies cause and effect. There’s no cause and effect shown in this sentence. The words “also,” “furthermore,” and “likewise” signify additional information.</p>
<p>@ LifeAsIKnowIt
I see your points for the first and third one.
However, I’m still confused on the second one. How can you assume that the second half of the sentence is really a dependent clause missing the word “that”?
Also how does choice D change the meaning of the sentence and how does B retain it?</p>
<p>its has to do with active versus passive verbs.
favorite sleuth retired means that the sleuth its retired (sleuth is acting).
favorite sleuth would be retired (or was retired) suggests a third part retiring it. (sleuth is acted upon) </p>