Question

read the sentence.

the group of friends came to a consensus about which movie they would agree to see together.

what is the best way to rewrite the sentence to avoid repetition?

• the group of friends came to a consensual agreement to see a movie together.
• together the group of friends came to a consensus about which movie they would agree to see.
• the group of friends came to an agreement about the movie they would see together.
• together they agreed as consenting friends about which movie to see.

Explanation:

Identify the redundant elements in the original sentence

The original sentence is: "The group of friends came to a consensus about which movie they would agree to see together."
The phrase "came to a consensus" means to reach a general agreement. Therefore, using both "consensus" and "agree" in the same sentence is repetitive and redundant.

Evaluate the answer choices for redundancy

• Choice 1: "The group of friends came to a consensual agreement..." contains "consensual" and "agreement," which is still redundant.
• Choice 2: "Together the group of friends came to a consensus about which movie they would agree to see." contains "together" twice in meaning (with "group of friends") and retains both "consensus" and "agree."
• Choice 3: "The group of friends came to an agreement about the movie they would see together." replaces "consensus" with "agreement" and removes the second instance of agreement ("would agree to see" becomes "would see"), successfully eliminating the redundancy.
• Choice 4: "Together they agreed as consenting friends..." is awkward and repetitive with "together," "agreed," and "consenting."

Select the best revision

Choice 3 is the most concise, grammatically correct, and completely eliminates the repetitive ideas.

Answer:

• The group of friends came to a consensual agreement to see a movie together.
• Together the group of friends came to a consensus about which movie they would agree to see.
• The group of friends came to an agreement about the movie they would see together. (Correct answer)
• Together they agreed as consenting friends about which movie to see.