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."