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Text Solution:

While the five answer choices in this question are somewhat similar to each other, there are key differences between the choices. By carefully reading the sentence version produced with each choice, we can see that only one of the sentence versions both is grammatically correct and conveys a meaning that makes sense.

(A) Public confidence in the promises made by politicians are at an all-time low, yet turnout at the polls are higher than ever.

The version created with this choice is not grammatically correct because the singular subject “public confidence” is paired with the plural verb “are,” and the singular subject “turnout” is paired with the plural verb “are.”

“Public confidence … are” and “turnout … are” are not correct.

What would be correct is “Public confidence … is” and “turnout … is.”

If you have a hard time seeing this issue, one powerful strategy you can use is to cross off the phrases between the nouns and verbs:

Public confidence in the promises made by politicians are

turnout at the polls are

By crossing off the intervening phrases, we are able to more clearly see which nouns are supposed to pair with which verbs, and then assess whether the pairing is grammatical. 

(B) Public confidence in politicians who make promises are at an all-time low, yet it has higher turnout at the polls than ever.

The version created with this choice is not grammatically correct because the singular subject “public confidence” is paired with the plural verb “are.”

If you have a hard time seeing this issue, one powerful strategy you can use is to cross off the phrase between the noun and verb:

Public confidence in politicians who make promises are

Additionally, the singular pronoun “it” could only possibly refer to either the singular noun “public confidence” or the singular noun “all-time low”; all of the other nouns in the sentence are plural and thus cannot be paired with a singular pronoun. After all, neither “public confidence has higher turnout at the polls” nor “all-time low has higher turnout at the polls” makes any sense. People, not a quality such as “confidence” or an amount such as “low,” go to the polls. 

CORRECT ANSWER(C) Public confidence in promises made by politicians is at an all-time low, yet turnout at the polls is higher than ever.

In this version, “Public confidence … is” and “turnout … is” are grammatically correct.

Notice also that, when we read this version, there is no question in our minds regarding what the sentence is meant to convey. Because the singular nouns are properly paired with singular verbs, we can clearly see which “action” belongs to which thing in the sentence. We see that “public confidence” is the thing that “is at an all-time low,” and that “turnout” is the thing that “is higher than ever.”  

Since this version is grammatically correct and effectively conveys a meaning that makes sense, it is the correct answer. 

(D) Public confidence in the promises politicians make are at an all-time low, yet its turnout at the polls is higher than ever.

This version is not grammatically correct because the singular subject “public confidence” is paired with the plural verb “are.”

If you have a hard time seeing this issue, one powerful strategy you can use is to cross off the phrase between the noun and verb:

Public confidence in the promises politicians make are

Additionally, the singular “its” could only possibly refer to the singular “public confidence,” but saying that the “turnout” of “public confidence” is higher makes no sense. People, not a quality they have such as “confidence,” go to the polls.  

(E) Public confidence in promises politicians make is at an all-time low, yet with turnout at the polls, it is higher than ever.

In this version, the pronoun “it” in “it is higher than ever,” could refer only to either “public confidence” or “turnout at the polls.” So, this version conveys either of the following:

with turnout at the polls, public confidence is higher than ever

with turnout at the polls, turnout is higher than ever

Notice that it doesn’t make sense to say that public confidence is higher than ever with turnout at the polls. After all, public confidence is not “with” turnout.

Also, it certainly doesn’t make sense to say that turnout is higher than ever with turnout at the polls.

Thus, the meaning of the version created with this choice does not make sense.

Key Concept: Check to be sure that singular nouns are paired with singular verbs and that plural nouns are paired with plural verbs. 

Key Concept: When checking for subject-verb agreement, cross off any prepositional phrases that appear between the subject and finite verb.

Key Concept: Be sure that the noun to which a pronoun refers makes sense as the person or thing performing the action associated with that pronoun.

Key Concept: Don't select answer choices that produce sentence versions that convey illogical meanings.