The parks of San Antonio, Texas, seem to be making...

Question

The parks of San Antonio, Texas, seem to be making people happier. In a 2022 study, researchers __________ for a relationship between the physical location in which a social media post was created and the content of that post analyzed geotagged social media posts from San Antonio. The team found that posts from the city’s parks contained more words associated with happiness than other posts did.

Question:

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

(A) looking
(B) had looked
(C) were looking
(D) looked

Thought

Fixing sentence structure

The sentence seems to be missing a word that would fit the flow. It could be something like "looked" or "searched" to complete the thought. It also feels like there might be an issue with punctuation. I think adding a comma could make it clearer: "In a 2022 study, researchers [blank] for a relationship... and analyzed geotagged social media posts from San Antonio."

Adjusting sentence structure

The sentence feels a bit off without the proper conjunction. I think the best fix is to use a participial phrase: "In a 2022 study, researchers looking for a relationship between the physical location... analyzed geotagged social media posts..." This keeps everything grammatical and still clearly communicates the intended meaning.

Choosing the right tense

I’m considering different options: (A) "looking" makes sense as a participial phrase. (B) "had looked" would be a problem because it needs a conjunction and could make the

Thought for 9s

Answer

A) looking

Reason: The sentence needs a participial phrase modifying “researchers”:
“In a 2022 study, researchers looking for a relationship … analyzed geotagged social media posts …”
The other choices make two finite verbs (“were/had looked” and “analyzed”) without a conjunction, creating a run-on.