The adverb "sharply" is awkwardly placed in the sentence, creating confusion and ambiguity in the phrase. An adverb should be placed immediately next to the word it is describing, which in this case is "down." The only answer choice that  puts "sharply" correctly in the sentence is "corporate profits will go down sharply over the final quarter of the year."

The adverb "measly" is awkwardly placed in the middle of this sentence; it is confusing because its placement does not make it clear which noun the adverb is modifying. As a qualification of an amount, it makes the most sense to associate "measly" with the subject, "five dollars." "A measly five dollars was the largest amount the scouts were able to collect" is the only answer choice which places "measly" in the correct location.

The phrase "overly soggy with too much dressing" describes the salad that the young woman was eating, but is placed within the sentence in a way that it could describe the woman herself. The phrase needs to be set apart from the main sentence structure and more directly linked to the salad. As the only answer choice to make these changes, "the salad, which was overly soggy with too much dressing, during" is the correct answer choice.

The example sentence contains a misplaced modifier. The structure of the example sentence suggests that the guests are "in expensive crystal glasses" rather than the refreshments they are being served. The error can be corrected by placing the modifier as close as possible to the object with which it is meant to be associated, in this case by moving "the guests" to precede the mention of the refreshments, thus clarifying what is in the expensive crystal glasses.

The example sentence contains a misplaced modifier. "Only" in this context works best when applied to the encryption program's effects. The "only"  thing the software did was confuse the programmers. The modifier should be placed as closely to the action, idea, or thing it modifies. The best version of this sentence reads, "The addition of the encryption program only served to confuse the programmers."

The credited response shows with the greatest clarity what is being modified by "most commonly" by placing it within the verb phrase "is associated." The response also omits the unnecessary use of the pronoun "one," which makes the sentence clearer, especially later on when the pronoun "it" refers back to "nominalism" as the subject of the adjusted sentence.

The credited response is the only one in which every modifier is clearly paired with its object. In this instance, "Donatist crisis" is treated as a singular object modified by "bloody," rather than "Donatist" and "crisis" treated as equally important (and interchangeable) modifiers of "crisis," as "bloody" refers not to a crisis that happened to be "Donatist," but to a specific incident in history. "Belated" modifies "conclusion"; placing it after "conclusion" implies that the efforts delayed the conclusion, rather than that the belated conclusion was reached due to the efforts. While it is common to speak of "tireless efforts," properly speaking, it would be the officials who do not tire, rather than their inanimate efforts.

The credited response is the only one that correctly matches each modifier with the person, idea, or group that it modifies. "Forceful" is not usually used to describe people, for instance, and so must be paired with "injunction" rather than "the Western Emperor." "Diminished" is paired with "influence," and "mainstream" with "Donatists"; it was the influence of the most usual sort of Donatism that declined, not this more usual sort itself nor the Donatists (the individual people) themselves. Finally, "more radical" modifies "Circumcellions," as the Circumcellions were more radical than the Donatists, rather than the Circumcellions taking some predetermined place set aside for the "more radical."

The underlined phrase has a problem with the phrase "most learning." The phrase is describing the word "scholars." While the scholars might have "the most learning," this would make them "the most learned." The correct answer is "even the most learned of scholars."

The insertion of "that" between "studies" and "have" makes the sentence unclear and strangely incomplete, as the sentence essentially becomes a dependent clause. By placing "that" after "shown," the sentence becomes much more clear and appropriately makes the dependent clause after the main body of the sentence. The correct answer choice is "Studies have shown that pets can help people with problems such as depression and anxiety."