Question

(1) The only marsupial native to North America is the Virginia opossum. (2) Like all opossums, it crawls into its mother’s pouch shortly after birth. (3) There, it is nourished until it is about 10 weeks old. (4) A newborn opossum is extremely helpless. (5) It is very small. (6) It is furless. (7) It is sightless. (8) Though youngsters leave the pouch after about 10 weeks, they continue to follow their mother on feeding expeditions for some time. Which is the most effective way to vary the length of the sentences in the passage? Rewrite sentence (4) to make it into a subordinate clause. Divide sentence (1) into two shorter sentences. Insert more detail into sentence (8) to lengthen it. Combine sentences (5), (6), and (7) to create a series.

Answer 1

Perhaps by combing some of the sentences so that it is not have too many run on sentences
so that would be to combine sentences 5,6,7

Answer 2

This small text concerns Virgina opossum, the member of marsupials found in North America.  All the eight sentences contain information regarding to that animal. So that, by working through answers we can answer to the question which our aim is to find the most suitable way to represent this text with one sentence or in some other way shown in the options. First 3 options give information about the animal, but partly. However, the last one full describes the animal in regards with the core information for the text. Therefore, the correct answer is the last option - combination of the sentences (5), (6) and (7).