<p>1- During the male courtship ritual of the periodical cicada, a type of insect chiefly famous for its long (hibernation, periods of synchronized singing alternate) with periods of silence. </p>
<p>A- hibernation, periods of synchronized singing alternate
B- hibernation, they alternate periods of synchronized singing
C- hibernation that alternate periods of synchronized singing
D- hibernation, periods of synchronized singing alternating
E- hibernation alternate periods of synchronized singing</p>
<p>I honestly got confused in this one! where's the main verb first of all?! So I chose E which turned out to be wrong and the correct answer is A</p>
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2- A military coup , A-(the country's first), finally removed B-(out of) power the political party that C-(had ruled) the country D-(with increasing) heavy-handedness for decades, (No Error)</p>
<p>Answer: B (out of)
I chose B (out of) because i thought it should be (by) but i can't fully understand the real problem . I'm glad if you let me know.
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3- A-(Despite) many animals gather and store seeds B-(and other) foodstuffs, humans C-(are) unique in D-(deliberately) planting and harvesting crops. E-No Error.</p>
<p>Answer is A (Despite)
i had chosen D , because i thought planting is a gerund and thus (deliberately) as an adverb can't modify it. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>“Alternate” is the main verb. “Periods of synchronized singing alternate with periods of silence” is the independent clause. Think of it as “periods of A alternate with periods of Y.” “A type of insect chiefly famous for its long hibernation” is an appositive noun phrase that modifies “cicada.” Appositives are usually surrounded by commas, unless they fall at the end of a sentence. Once you recognize this one as an appositive, you can exclude any answer that does not contain punctuation that “closes” the appositive phrase.</p></li>
<li><p>“removed out of” is redundant and unidiomatic. You don’t need to think about it further. A revised sentence would be “A military coup, the country’s first, finally removed the political party blah blah blah.”</p></li>
</ol>
<p>3.“Despite” is a preposition. It must be followed by a noun phrase, not a clause. This sentence tries to use it as a conjunction. “Although” would be a suitable replacement.</p>
<p>ahhhaa thank you ,
about Q2 , i have read also that it could be “remove from power” is that right?
and for Q3 , i wanted to also know can an adverb can modify a gerund ? </p>
<p>For Q2, the correction is remove " from "
Q3, if the gerund isn’t followed by an object, use an adjective; if it’s, use adverb.
ex : unique in deliberately planting and harvesting " crops" - unique in deliberate planting. </p>
@WasatchWriter I’m sorry but I can’t understand the explanation of the third question. what’s the difference between a noun phrase and a clause? can u give an example please?
@wanting1000 - a noun phrase is based on a noun and doesn’t include a predicate (verb/verb phrase), like “the man in the traditional Scottish kilt.” A clause has a subject and a predicate, like “the man in the traditional Scottish kilt farted” or “I served McGonigal too many bean burritos.”
So for “despite,” you can’t write “Despite Beijing has unhealthy air quality” because the stuff after “despite” is a clause. Instead you can write “despite the fact that Beijing has unhealthy air quality” or “despite Beijing’s unhealthy air quality.”