Question

Read the following sentence, which needs revising, editing, and proofreading: I can’t think until I’ve had some coffee in the morning, I don’t know if its the smell or the caffeine or the habit of making it every day or what. Which revision below is most effective?

a) "Is it the smell? The caffeine? The effort of making it every day? Something else? I don’t know, but I can’t think until I’ve had my morning coffee."
b) "I don’t know if it’s the smell, the caffeine, or the act of making it that wakes me up, but I can’t think until I’ve had my morning coffee."
c) "I love my morning coffee. I can’t think until I’ve had coffee."
d) "I don’t know if its the smell, the caffeine or the habit of making it every day."

Answer 1

The most effective sentence revision is option B "I don’t know if it’s the smell, the caffeine, or the act of making it that wakes me up, but I can’t think until I’ve had my morning coffee.", as it corrects grammar, maintains the original complexity, and improves clarity.

Step-by-step explanation:

When revising a sentence, the most effective choice is the one that corrects any grammatical issues and clarifies the message, while also making it more engaging and reader-friendly with the appropriate combination of doers and actions.

Among the given revision options, b) "I don’t know if it’s the smell, the caffeine, or the act of making it that wakes me up, but I can’t think until I’ve had my morning coffee." is the most effective.

This revision corrects the possessive its to it's, breaks up the run-on sentence, and maintains the original sentence's complexity by discussing the various potential reasons the coffee is needed in the morning, thus providing clarity and fixing grammatical errors.