Question

2) He spread out his professional equipment, which consisted of a dozen cowrie

shells.

(Choose correct alternative to rewrite the given sentence as a compound

sentence)

i. He spread out his professional equipment but it consisted of a dozen cowrie

shells.

ii. He spread out his professional equipment and it consisted of a dozen cowrie

shells.

iii. He spread out his professional equipment that it consisted of a dozen cowrie

shells.

iv. He spread out his professional equipment and it had consisted of a dozen

cowrie shells.​

Answer 1

The correct answer is option ii. He spread out his professional equipment and it consisted of a dozen cowrie shells.

Let us analyse all the options:

i. He spread out his professional equipment but it consisted of a dozen cowrie shells- Here, the word ‘but’ changes the meaning of the sentence. Therefore, it cannot be the correct answer.

iii. He spread out his professional equipment that it consisted of a dozen cowrie shells- The words ‘that’ and ‘it’ do not make sense when they are used together. Together they make the sentence grammatically incorrect. Therefore, this cannot be the right answer.

iv. He spread out his professional equipment and it had consisted of a dozen cowrie shells- Here the words ‘had consisted’ makes unnecessary changes to the tenses, and the sentence is also not grammatically sound. Hence, this option is also incorrect.

That leaves us with option ii that:

• Has two clauses
• The subject is mentioned twice ('professional equipment’ and ‘it’)
• Is a grammatically correct sentence

Thus, option ii. He spread out his professional equipment and it consisted of a dozen cowrie shells,  is the right answer.