102- Rushing through the wind chimes, today’s morning
A
gale chimed more louder jingles as it passed by our
B C D
house. No error
E
Your ear might catch this one right away. We have a Redundancy Error caused by an Absolute Word.
(A) “rushing through the wind chimes” is a modifying phrase that is modifying today’s morning
gale. That checks fine. Also check the preposition “through.” Can you rush THROUGH
something? Yes. He rushed through the crowds.
(B) “chimed” is a simple past tense verb. The sentence is occurring at a specific time in the past
(the morning) so it checks out fine.
(C) “more louder” violates a grammar rule. You can’t modify an “er” word (louder) with “more.”
Remove the “more” and change to the adjective loud, which correctly modifies the noun
jingles.
(D) “as” is a preposition. chimed as it passed. That is correct.
Revised sentence:
Rushing through the wind chimes, today’s morning
A loud Redundancy / Absolute Word
gale chimed more louder jingles as it passed by our
B C D
house. No error
E
Correct Answer: (C)
- After working for a few years in a corporate job,
A
the young woman decided that working at a small
B
boutique firm was better than a large corporation.
C D
No error
E
Unclear Comparisons are sometimes difficult to spot in a first read. Let’s check one by one.
(A) we have an introductory phrase modifying the young woman, so that checks. Can the young
woman decide AFTER working? Yes.
(B) “decided” is a simple past tense verb and we are in a specific time in the past, so that checks.
(C) “was” is a past tense verb and we’ve already established we are in the past. Check SVA.
What “was better”? Working, which is singular, so SVA checks.
(D) Notice the “than” right before “a large corporation.” This tips us off to a possible comparison
error. What two things are being compared? Working at a small boutique firm is being compared
to a large corporation, when it should be compared to WORKING at a large corporation. We
have an unclear comparison.