I guess 1 st one is the answer
D because all the others are much more formal but with D it’s contrasted.
Hope this helped :)
It’s a simile because it said as though
Answer:
Participial phrase.
Explanation:
A participial phrase is a phrase that modifies a noun and contains a participle, a modifier, and other words that complete the thought. Participial phrases contain the present or past participle of the verb at the beginning of the phrase.
In the given sentence, the phrase in parenthesis modifies the noun "candidate". And the participle "obtaining" begins the phrase<em> "obtaining the highest score"</em>.
Thus, the correct answer is a participial phrase.
