Identify the syntactic error in the sentence: 'Having analyzed the archaeological sediment, the discovery was announced to international reporters.'
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. dangling modifier
- Step 1: The introductory participial phrase 'Having analyzed the archaeological sediment' describes an action that requires a sentient researcher. Because the grammatical subject of the main clause is 'the discovery', the modifier dangles without a logical agent. Answer: dangling modifier. Why not the others: "subject-verb disagreement" occurs when the subject noun and finite verb mismatch in grammatical number; "faulty parallel structure" violates grammatical symmetry across items in a coordinated series; "comma splice error" improperly joins two independent clauses using only a comma.
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