C) The only time that they were defeated that season, Wisconsin beat
Kentucky.
D) In the Final Four, Wisconsin beat Kentucky, who was not defeated
by any other team it played that season.The correct choice is B. As we mentioned, in general, the active voice
(“Kentucky beat every team”) is preferable to the passive voice (“every team
that Kentucky played was defeated”). Choice B is the only option that
consistently uses the active voice. It is also the sentence with the most
specificity; it says exactly when and to whom Kentucky lost.
Lastly, you want to be sure that your pronouns are not vague. If a pronoun
could plausibly refer to two nouns, then it is vague. Try this out:
The Space Marine and the alien both fired their guns at the same
time, but only he survived.Which of the following would best replace the underlined portion?
A) NO CHANGE
B) and only he survived.
C) but only the Space Marine survived.
D) but survival was enjoyed only by the Space Marine.The error is that the pronoun he could refer plausibly to either the Space Marine
or the alien. We need to choose, then, between answer choices C and D. D
sounds terrible, so our answer is C.
I’ve got my bets on the Space Marine.
—Samantha