10. Which is the best way to revise and combine the underlined portion of sentences 5 and 6? Things have recently changed: since 2006, the city has taken bike lanes to a whole new level. They installed more than 250 miles around the city's five boroughs.

Answer: D

Explanation:

The best way to revise and combine the underlined portion is "city has taken bike lanes to a whole new level, installing."

The revision effectively combines the two sentences by using a participial phrase to maintain a smooth flow while conveying both ideas clearly. The phrase "installing more than 250 miles around the city's five boroughs" succinctly indicates the action taken by the city following the statement about the bike lanes.

A) city has taken bike lanes to a whole new level, they installed

This option is incorrect because it uses a comma splice, which improperly joins two independent clauses without a conjunction. The lack of grammatical structure makes the sentence confusing and less cohesive.

B) city, which has taken bike lanes to a whole new level, installing

While this option introduces a relative clause, it does not properly connect the two ideas and leaves the phrase "installing" hanging without a clear subject. This results in a grammatically incorrect and awkward construction.

C) city has taken bike lanes to a whole new level and installing

This choice is incorrect because it mixes an independent clause with a gerund phrase without proper coordination. The structure is awkward and fails to maintain parallelism, which detracts from the clarity of the statement.

D) city has taken bike lanes to a whole new level, installing

This is the correct option as it combines the two ideas effectively. The use of the participial phrase "installing" connects the action of taking bike lanes to a new level with the specific action of installing more than 250 miles, thus providing a clear and concise revision.

Conclusion

Option D is the best choice as it creates a grammatically correct and fluid transition between the ideas expressed in the sentences. The other options fail due to issues such as comma splices, ambiguity, or awkward phrasing, demonstrating the importance of maintaining clarity and grammatical structure in writing.