Founded by Anu Garg in 1989 – a computer science major at Case Western Reserve University – A Word A Day, now in its 30th year, is a digital repository, popular for allowing a plurality of voices, that contains more than 8 million definitions and famously houses all manner of cultural expressions and word origins.

Founded by Anu Garg in 1989 – a computer science major at Case Western Reserve University – A Word A Day, now in its 30th year, is a digital repository, popular for allowing a plurality of voices, that contains more than 8 million definitions and famously houses all manner of cultural expressions and word origins. 

A – Founded by Anu Garg in 1989 – a computer science major at Case Western Reserve University – A Word A Day, now in its 30th year, is a digital repository, popular for allowing a plurality of voices, that contains

B – Founded by Anu Garg – a computer science major at Case Western Reserve University –  in 1989, A Word A Day, now in its 30th year, a digital repository, popular for allowing a plurality of voices, contains

C – A Word A Day, founded in 1989 by Anu Garg – a computer science major at Case Western Reserve University – now in its 30th year, is a digital repository, popular for allowing a plurality of voices, that contains

D – A Word A Day, now in its 30th year, founded by Anu Garg – a computer science major at Case Western Reserve University – in 1989, is a digital repository, popular for allowing a plurality of voices, which contains

E – Founded in 1989 by Anu Garg – a computer science major at Case Western Reserve University – now in its 30th year, A Word A Day, is a digital repository, popular for allowing a plurality of voices, which contains

Right Answer: A

Error Identification

Identifier	Fix
now in its 20th year,	Modifier
– a computer science major at Case Western Reserve University –	Modifier
a digital repository	Misc / usage

Explanation: 

A – This sentence is correct. ‘A computer science major’ modifies Anu Garg (skips the prepositional phrase); ‘that contains’ correctly modifies ‘digital repository’ since it skips the non-essential modifiers that interrupt the flow. 

B – ‘a digital repository’ lacks the main verb ‘is’ and therefore changes the meaning. The sentence now reads “A Word A Day contains more than 8 million definitions…”. This also results in the phrase ‘a digital repository’ in becoming an ambiguous modification. 

C – ‘now in its 30th year’ wrongly modifies Case Western Reserve University. 

D – ‘ which contains’ is ambiguous since it could modify ‘voices’ or ‘repository’. 

E – The placement of the modifier ‘now in its 30th year’ is awkward and creates ambiguity in what it modifies; the clause  ‘which contains’ is ambiguous.