Question

During the Cold War, scientists competed in the "space race."

Which revision changes the sentence to draw attention to the object of the action rather than the people or things performing the action?

A. The "space race" by competing scientists occurred during the Cold War.
B. During the Cold War, scientists led the "space race" competition.
C. During the Cold War "space race", scientists competed.
D. The "space race" was a Cold War competition by scientist.

Answer 1

The revision that could change the sentence and draw the attention to the object rather than the people performing the action is the “space race” was a Cold War competition by scientist. Here, “space race” which was the object from the original sentence was given emphasis.

Answer 2

D. The "space race" was a Cold War competition by scientists.

D is the best option because it puts "space race" as the subject of the sentence. The subject is the main focus of the sentence. Option A does this as well, but the sentence is very wordy and does not do enough to draw attention to "the space race". Option B keeps the scientists as the subject of the sentence. Option C makes the "space race" part of a prepositional phrase which can be eliminated.