Choose the option that avoids a dangling modifier:
________, the experimental hypothesis was definitively rejected by the statistical review board.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. Upon a recalculation of the variance coefficients
Answer: Upon a recalculation of the variance coefficients. Why not the others: 'After recalculating...', 'Recalculating...', and 'Having recalculated...' are all participial phrases whose unexpressed subject defaults to 'the experimental hypothesis', creating blatant dangling modifiers.
- Step 1: Analyze the main clause subject: 'the experimental hypothesis' is an inanimate concept that cannot perform the action of recalculating.
- Step 2: Participial clauses ('Recalculating...', 'Having recalculated...') dangle because 'the experimental hypothesis' cannot recalculate anything. An abstract prepositional phrase with a nominalization ('Upon a recalculation of...') avoids attributing the action of a participle to the hypothesis.
Practise more Participle Clauses, Non-Finite Verb Forms, and Modifier Placement.
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