Which choice represents the best improvement to the underlined part of the sentence? If the sentence is fine as it is, choose (A).
Mary was bored at the beginning of the movie, having shown great interest once the story picked up momentum.
A. having shown great interest once the story picked
B. but showing great interest once the story picked
C. and she showed great interest once the story picked
D. but she showed great interest once the story picked
E. however she is showing great interest once the story picked
The phrase after the comma does not work in its current form. “Having shown” is wrong here. The way it’s worded here, it makes it sound like her boredom was the result of her great interest in the story once it picked up. This makes no sense. Which choice will fix this? Well, we know (A) is already out. (B) doesn’t help anything. Read it and you’ll see! (C) would not work because we’re looking for a contrasting conjunction; “and” doesn’t logically flow here. (E), if chosen, would create a comma splice. (D) is the only choice that works here. The answer is (D).
