ShmoopTube

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Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by a miniature reenactment of Moby Dick.

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Need we say more?

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Check out the following passage and answer the question below.

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How would you correct the following underlined portion from the passage? Does it need correcting at all?

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This one requires us to find the correct introductory phrase for the sentence in question.

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Having the wrong introductory phrase can throw a sentence out of whack.

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These types of phrases are supposed to set the stage for the sentence to come,

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and if they set the stage in a confusing way, nobody knows what’s going on.

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Choice (A) is a good example of an introductory phrase gone wrong.

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“Unwilling to accept the truth”

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fails because the sentence doesn’t reference any truth that the writer is unwilling to accept.

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The author is well aware that the cat hates bathing, but bathes it anyway.

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Harsh, but necessary we suppose.

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Choice (B) gives us the modifier “sympathizing,” which supposedly describes the way the author

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feels as he or she washes the cat despite its protests. Unless the writer is some kind

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of sadist, there’s a good chance that he or she does feel bad for the cat.

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However, “sympathizing” doesn’t groove with the rest of the sentence. If the writer

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were overwhelmed with sympathy, he or she would probably stop bathing the cat. Instead,

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the author continues the hated bath. Hm, maybe he or she is a sadist.

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Next, we’ll take a look at choice (C), which offers the phrase “feeling cowed.”

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In case anybody is wondering, the word “cowed” has nothing to do with our bovine friends--unless

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they’re being bullied by the big cow on the block.

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When someone has been “cowed,” it means that they’ve been intimidated into submission.

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This, of course, doesn’t describe the author’s disposition. The author is making this bath

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happen even though the cat is putting up a serious fight.

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The correct answer is (D). The phrase “refusing to accept defeat” sets us up to hear the

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rest of the sentence, and it functions as a transition from the cat's extreme reaction

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to the writer's own fairly drastic action of turning on the shower.

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We could think of a few more drastic actions, but the Humane Society would probably disapprove.

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