Four interesting problems.
1. During free fall, ______ up to a full minute, a skydriver will fall at a constant speed.
a. it is
b. which is
c. being
d. is
You said: My answer is B. However, actually, I'm a little bit confused. What is the meaning of "up to a full minute". And what does the "up to a full minute" explain? the "free fall" or the "skydriver"? If skydriver, can we use the connector "which"?
You are correct. The answer is B. "Up to a full minute" is an amount of time. It is a description of the duration of the "free fall". If it referred to the skydiver (which it doesn't - and couldn't!) we couldn't use "which".
2. Radioactive ______ provides a powerful way to easure geologic time.
a. it
b. dates
c. dating
d. can
You said: My answer is C. Can an adjective stand by itself? I mean the radioactive here as the subject and it's explained by the word "dating"?
You are correct. The answer is C. An adjective cannot stand by itself and cannot act as the subject.
3. Until _____ incorrect, astronomers had assumed that the insides of white dwarfs were uniform.
a. they
b. their proof
c. the astronomers recently proven
d. recently proven
You said: My answer is D, and I'm really sure of it.. But, I can't get the meaning. What is the meaning of "the insides of white dwarfs were uniform"? What is uniform in this sentence?
You are correct. The answer is D. What is "uniform" in this sentence? It's clear: "the insides of white dwarfs" are uniform (only they're not, because that theory has been disproven!) If you have difficulty because of the technical words like "white dwarfs" and "uniform", just replace them with other words, like this: "[the bathroom walls in all the guest rooms] were [painted the same colour]".
4. In Hailey, the best known lecturer was women's rights activist Abigail Scott Duniway of Portland, Oregon, who could usually be persuaded to speak ______ town visiting her son.
a. she was in
b. while in
c. while she was in
d. was in
You said: My answer is B. Not sure, though. What is the main subject and verb in this sentence? the best known lecturer and was???? Why isn't there comma in front of Abigail Scott Duniway? I mean, it is an appositive.
You are correct. The answer is B. "The best known lecturer" is the main subject in this sentence. Let's strip away some 'unnecessary' words and paraphrase others and see what the sentence then looks like:
The lecturer was Abigail, who usually spoke when in town.
A comma before "Abigail Scott Duniway" would make a mess! It would mean we ought to be able to remove "Abigail Scott Duniway of Portland, Oregon" from the sentence and still be left with something that made (less detailed) sense. But would we? "The best known lecturer was women's rights activist who could usually be persuaded to speak". But "activist" has no article - neither indefinite nor definite. This is because "activist" is, here, part of a three word phrase that descibes Abigail.
Phew!
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