Which sentence is the clearest?
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A
Resting in its well-built cage, I admired the lovely parrot.
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B
Resting in its well-built cage, the lovely parrot was admired by me.
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C
I admired the lovely parrot resting in its well-built cage.
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D
I admired in its well-built cage the lovely parrot that was resting.
Sentence “I admired the lovely parrot resting in its well-built cage.” is the clearest because it eliminates the dangling modifier that incorrectly suggests the speaker was resting in the cage.
A) Resting in its well-built cage, I admired the lovely parrot.
Creates a dangling modifier: the participial phrase "Resting in its well-built cage" illogically modifies "I," suggesting the speaker, not the parrot, was in the cage.
B) Resting in its well-built cage, the lovely parrot was admired by me.
Passive voice creates awkward phrasing ("was admired by me") while correctly attaching the modifier to "parrot." Grammatically acceptable but stylistically weak compared to active voice alternatives.
C) I admired the lovely parrot resting in its well-built cage.
Eliminates ambiguity by placing the participial phrase directly after "parrot," its logical subject. Active voice enhances clarity and eliminates modifier misattachment.
D) I admired in its well-built cage the lovely parrot that was resting.
Creates awkward, unnatural word order by separating the verb "admired" from its direct object "parrot" with a prepositional phrase, violating standard English Subject-Verb-Object flow.
Conclusion
Modifier clarity requires placing participial phrases immediately after the nouns they modify. Sentence C achieves this by positioning "resting in its well-built cage" directly after "parrot," while maintaining active voice and natural word order for maximum readability