123(A) as written, this sentence is not parallel and is passive. “Concentrates” is a verb, “lets” is
a verb, and “my questions” gives us a pronoun and noun. We need to have a verb to make
the comma series parallel. My questions are answered by him is passive. He answers my
questions would be active, which is always the better choice.
(B) is definitely better than (A) but slightly changes the meaning of the sentence. The insertion
of the “as” indicates that everything is occurring simultaneously. The questions are
answered with the FINISHED piece of art, which indicates that things are not occurring
simultaneously, but chronologically.
(C) switches to the past tense. His brother is STILL making art, so it shouldn’t be past, but
present tense.
(D) fixes the parallelism error. “concentrates” is a verb, “lets” is a verb, and “seems to answer”
is a verb. He is answering so the sentence is active as well.
(E) Uses passive construction: my questions are answered by him... It also switches to future tense
“will let,” which is incorrect.
Correct Answer: (D)
31.Of the following, which is the best way to phrase
sentence 4 (reproduced below)?
He concentrates intensely, lets his brushstrokes
translate his thoughts, and my questions are seemingly
answered by him with his finished work of art.(A) (As it is now)
(B) As he concentrates intensely and lets his fingers
translate his thoughts, he seems to be answering
my questions with his finished work of art.
(C) He concentrated intensely and let his fingers
translate his thoughts, seeming to answer my
questions with his finished work of art.
(D) He concentrates intensely, lets his brushstrokes
translate his thoughts, and then seems to answer
all my questions with his finished work of art.
(E) Concentrating intensely, he will let his
brushstrokes translate his thoughts and then
my questions are seemingly answered by
him with his finished work of art.