A Gift of Admiration

Question

The following is a rough draft and may contain errors.

(1) The Statue of Liberty is a renowned symbol of American patriotism throughout the world (Panati, Charles p.291). (2) This statue stands 152 feet tall on top of an 89 foot granite pedestal in New York Harbor. (3) It stands on Liberty Island, formerly called Bedloe's Island. (4) When people are in the harbor, they are near this marvelous symbol of liberty. (5) I saw this statue and will never forget it. (6) What they may not know is that creating the statue took many years and effort to complete.

(7) Auguste Bartholdi, the statue's sculptor, has always respected the United States for the liberty it gave to its people. (8) It became his dream to create a gift for the U.S. to express France's friendship and admiration. (9) His dream finally came true after nine years of production.

(10) The statue was done in Paris, France. (11) Gustave Eiffel, the structural engineer who created the Eiffel Tower, worked with Bartholdi. (12) In 1875, construction of the statue began. (13) The granite pedestal was not created in France; it was built in the U.S. by Richard Morris Hunt in 1877. (14) The statue had been completed in June 1884, and in 1885, it was dismantled into 350 pieces and shipped to the U.S. in 214 crates. (15) The Statue of Liberty was finally assembled on her pedestal in 1886. (16) On October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland accepted the gift on behalf of the people of the United States. (17) Today, the statue's title, "Liberty Enlightening the World," is known by people all over the world.

Multiple Choice Question
Read the following sentence from the passage "A Gift of Admiration."

What they may not know is that creating the statue took many years and effort to complete.

How should the sentence be revised to create a more formal tone?
A.
To many the creation of the statue was not known because it took many years and much effort to complete.

B.
What many do not know, is that creating the statue took many years and much effort to complete.

C.
Not known by them, is that the creation of the statue took lots of years and much effort to complete.

D.
Creating the statue, many do not know that it took many years and much effort to complete.

Answer 1

To create a more formal tone, the best revision of the sentence is:

A. To many the creation of the statue was not known because it took many years and much effort to complete.

This option maintains a formal structure and uses more formal language than the others, making it the most appropriate choice for a more formal tone.