<p>Can you guys help me with the following? Thanks in advance!</p>
<ol>
<li>Many of blues great Bessie Smith's songs describe the experiences of southern Black migrants, especially [the struggles of black women to adjust] to urban life in the northern United States.</li>
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<p>(A) the struggles of Black women to adjust
(B) how Black women struggled at adjusting</p>
<ol>
<li>The Bretons who began emigrating to the United States from the Brittany region of France in the early twentieth century were distinguished from other French citizens by their Celtic origin, [but about 40 percent of those who emigrated spoke] a Celtic language closely related to Welsh.</li>
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<p>(A) but about 40 percent of those who emigrated spoke
(B) about 40 percent of whom spoke
(C) about 40 percent of which were speaking
(D) with about 40 percent of those who emigrated speaking
(E) where 40 percent of them were speaking</p>
<ol>
<li>[Most] ships move [through] the Suez Canal under their own power, [so] extremely large ships must be [assisted by] a tugboat.</li>
</ol>
Answer is A. The phrase after the comma, “especially the struggles,” is adding on to “the experiences.” A struggle is an experience. “How Black women struggled” is NOT an experience, because the how is just a description of an experience, not an actual experience.</p>
<p>CORRECT: In my life, there have been many complications, including depression. (Depression is a complication.)
INCORRECT: In my life, there have been many complications, including when I was depressed. (“When I was depressed” refers to a time period, not a complication. If you change “many complications” to “many rough times,” then “when I was depressed” would work.)
Answer is D. The sentence mentions “Bretons” and “other French citizens,” two plural nouns, so the use of any pronoun like “them” would be ambiguous (what would “them” be referring to? it isn’t clear). A is wrong because the use of “but” doesn’t make sense: there’s no relevant contrast or contradiction going on in the sentence.
The use of “so” doesn’t make sense here. It implies that the first part (“most ships move . . . under their own power,” i.e., that most ships are independent) leads to the second part (“extremely large ships must be assisted,” i.e., that these ships are dependent). These two parts contradict each other, so a word like but should replace “so.” Here’s an example of how so is used:
I drank a lot of liquor, so I could not drive.</p>