Choose the correct option to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so.
The magician took pity on the mouse. He turned it into a cat.
Topic: Synthesis — participial phrase
Try it
Pick an option and check your answer. The full worked answer is below either way.
Answer
(d) Taking pity on the mouse the magician turned it into a cat..
Two things must both be right here, and the second is the one candidates miss.
FIRST, the idiom: one TAKES pity, one does not SHOW pity in this construction. That eliminates option (a).
SECOND, and more importantly, the DANGLING PARTICIPLE rule. When a sentence opens with a participial phrase, the subject that follows must be the one performing that action. In option (b) the phrase "Taking pity on the mouse" is followed by "he" — and at that point in the sentence the reader does not yet know who "he" is. Option (d) names the magician, so the participle attaches correctly.
Option (c) reverses the logic, suggesting the pity was the METHOD of transformation rather than the reason.
RULE TO CARRY AWAY: in "Having done X, Y did Z", the subject Y must be the doer of X. Naming the subject rather than using a pronoun is always the safer choice.
Taking pity on the mouse the magician turned it into a cat..