Question:
Alexander Pushkin, one of Russia 's great poets, had a great-grandfather who rose from slavery to becoming a Russian general and favorite advisor of Czar Peter the Great .
Choices:
The original is incorrect because an infinitive must follow the verb rose. (C) would be correct usage only if a comma separated it from the first clause of the sentence. Without the comma, it forms a run-on sentence. (D) is incorrect because of incorrect parallelism; it equates the noun slavery with the verb being. (E) is incorrect because it changes the emphasis of the sentence, indicating that some information is missing.
