help with grammar questions please

<p>Hey, I need some help with some of these questions. I appreciate any help. Also, if you can give a short explanation, that would be great! Thanks!!</p>

<p>1) seventy-five percent of the apples (sold in) NYC come from the West Coast or overseas, (even though) NY state produces (more than enough) apples (to meet) the city's needs.</p>

<p>To me, this sentence sounded very weird (yes, I know this is no reason to select one of the choices as incorrect..)</p>

<p>2) some scientists believe that mentally stimulating activities may increase the number of brain cells (available to replace if any) are lost through aging.
A) available to replace if any
B)available to replace any that
c) available, which replace any that
D) available, replacing if any
E) available, they replace any which </p>

<p>I got A... that is wrong</p>

<p>3)The agency reports that by rigorously enforcing state regulations, (industrial pollution has been successfully reduced to acceptable levels).
A) industrial pollution has been successfully reduced to acceptable levels.
B)acceptable levels of industrial pollution have been successfully reduced.
C) a reduction of industrial pollution to acceptable levels has succeeded.
D)they have succeeded to reduce industrial pollution to acceptable levels.
E) it has succeeded in reducing industrial pollution to acceptable levels.</p>

<p>would it be E because of the modifier?</p>

<p>(1) Seventy-five percent of the apples (sold in) NYC come from the West Coast or overseas, (even though) NY state produces (more than enough) apples (to meet) the city’s needs.</p>

<p>There are two clauses, and both are grammatically correct. They are tied together by the conjunction “even though”. This conjunction is the logical way to relate the first clause to the second.</p>

<p>(2) Some scientists believe that mentally stimulating activities may increase the number of brain cells (available to replace if any) are lost through aging.
A) available to replace if any
B)available to replace any that
c) available, which replace any that
D) available, replacing if any
E) available, they replace any which </p>

<p>The best of these is (D). The use of “replacing” instead of the infinitive “to replace” is almost always the right choice when the two choices are presented. (E) requires a conjunction (such as “because”). Otherwise it’s a comma splice. In (C) “which” is ambiguous. All in all even with (D) this is not a well written sentence.</p>

<p>(3) The agency reports that by rigorously enforcing state regulations, (industrial pollution has been successfully reduced to acceptable levels).
A) industrial pollution has been successfully reduced to acceptable levels.
B)acceptable levels of industrial pollution have been successfully reduced.
C) a reduction of industrial pollution to acceptable levels has succeeded.
D)they have succeeded to reduce industrial pollution to acceptable levels.
E) it has succeeded in reducing industrial pollution to acceptable levels.</p>

<p>The answer is (E), where “it” clearly refer to the agency. The action of the agency is stated clearly.</p>

<p>You can eliminate (D) because the agency is singular, and the infinitive “to succeed” is incorrect usage. You can eliminate (A) and (C) because they are passive and awkward, and they sorely need a clear active agent who did the reduction. (B) is silly.</p>

<p>No mistake in 1 and 3 is E so you are correct. However, for 2 I believe the answer is B. D is not gramatically correct but B is. D is incorrect because it doesn’t state what is being replaced.</p>

<p>@sa0209- yeah, the answer to that one is B… it was a really weird one.</p>