Question

When the lead crime scene investigator of the city's police department gave a public demonstration, everyone watched carefully as he showed us how to dust for fingerprints and collect blood samples.

What is the best way to write the underlined part of the sentence?
A.
Leave as is
B.
he collects blood samples
C.
blood samples collected
D.
collecting blood samples

Answer 1

A. Leave as is.

Explanation: "how to dust for fingerprints and collect blood samples" is parallel—the infinitive "to" applies to both verbs. The other choices break the parallel structure or create a grammatical mismatch.