THE CORRECT ANSWER IS D. THE OPENING MODIFIER OF THE ORIGINAL SENT...

30. The correct answer is D. The opening modifier of the original

sentence, "though it had about 11 inches of snow," incorrectly

describes "the aviation officials" instead of "the runway." We need

to find an answer choice in which "runway" is the subject of the

opening modifier. Additionally, the original sentence contains a

subject-verb error in that the plural "conditions" does not agree with

the singular "was acceptable."

Choice A is incorrect because of the modifier and subject-verb

agreement issues.

Choice B incorrectly changes the subject of the modifier to "runway

conditions" instead of "runway." The runway, not the runway

conditions, had 11 inches of snow.

Choice C incorrectly uses the redundant phrase "during the

time" instead of "during." Further, the placement of "according to

aviation officials" makes it unclear whether the officials stated

that the runway "had about 11 inches of snow" or that the runway

"was in acceptable condition."

Choice D is correct. The opening modifier correctly describes the

runway, the sentence contains proper subject-verb agreement, and

this choice does not introduce any new errors.

Choice E incorrectly uses "aviation officials" as the subject of the

opening modifier, though it does correct the original subject-verb

issue by replacing "was" with "were."