Which sentence is the clearest?
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A
I saw the criminals who were arrested on the TV news.
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B
I saw the criminals on the TV news who were arrested.
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C
On the TV news, the criminals who were arrested were seen by me.
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D
On the TV news, I saw the criminals who were arrested.
Sentence “On the TV news, I saw the criminals who were arrested.” is the clearest because it places the prepositional phrase "on the TV news" immediately after the verb "saw," eliminating ambiguity about where the sighting occurred.
A) I saw the criminals who were arrested on the TV news.
Creates ambiguity—"on the TV news" could modify "arrested" (they were arrested on TV, absurd) or "saw" (intended meaning). Misplaced modifier risks serious misinterpretation.
B) I saw the criminals on the TV news who were arrested.
Still creates ambiguity—"who were arrested" now illogically modifies "TV news" due to proximity, suggesting the news program was arrested rather than the criminals.
C) On the TV news, the criminals who were arrested were seen by me.
Passive voice ("were seen by me") creates awkward, stilted phrasing. While modifier placement is clear, passive construction weakens sentence impact unnecessarily.
D) On the TV news, I saw the criminals who were arrested.
Eliminates all ambiguity by placing "on the TV news" at sentence beginning modifying "saw," with relative clause "who were arrested" immediately following "criminals" (its logical antecedent). Active voice enhances clarity and directness.
Conclusion
Clear modifier placement requires positioning descriptive phrases immediately adjacent to the words they modify while maintaining active voice where possible. Sentence D achieves both by placing location modifier with the viewing verb and arrest modifier directly with "criminals," creating unambiguous, efficient syntax.