16Hit1600
Standard English ConventionsVery hardModifier placement: dangling participle with a passive main clause

Standard English Conventions practice question

Having been left in the rain for a week, ____

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  1. A. the tent had grown a coat of mildew.Correct
  2. B. mildew had grown on the tent.
  3. C. we found the tent covered in mildew.
  4. D. the campsite owner returned the tent covered in mildew.

Answer: A. the tent had grown a coat of mildew.

What was left in the rain is the tent, so the tent must be the subject.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. mildew had grown on the tent.
Makes the mildew the thing left in the rain.
C. we found the tent covered in mildew.
Makes 'we' the ones left in the rain.
D. the campsite owner returned the tent covered in mildew.
Makes the campsite owner the one left in the rain.

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