Question 11

To teach the customer a lesson, Crum allegedly sliced a new batch of potatoes as thinly as he possibly could, fried the slices until they were hard and crunchy, and then he doused them with salt.

The best revision maintains the grammatical structure of the sentence while ensuring clarity. By adding "he" before "doused," the sentence flows more smoothly and clearly indicates that Crum performed the action.

A) and then he doused

This option is correct because it maintains a parallel structure with the previous actions (sliced and fried) by including the subject "he" before "doused." This ensures that the reader understands that Crum is the one performing all the actions in the series, enhancing clarity and readability.

B) and then doused

This choice is incorrect as it lacks a subject for the verb "doused," which could lead to confusion about who performed the action. The absence of "he" makes it less clear that Crum is the subject of all actions in the list.

C) doused them

While this option conveys the same action, it removes the necessary conjunction "and then," disrupting the flow of the sentence. It also doesn't maintain the parallel structure established with the other verbs in the series, making it less suitable.

D) and finally dousing

This option is incorrect because it uses the gerund form "dousing," which does not match the previous verbs "sliced" and "fried" that are in the past tense. This inconsistency in verb form creates a lack of cohesion within the sentence.

Conclusion

Option A is definitively the best choice as it preserves the grammatical integrity and clarity of the sentence. The other options either disrupt the flow, lack clarity, or fail to maintain parallel structure, thereby making them less effective in conveying the intended meaning.