Answer: C. The group's rise was fast, but so was its fall.
Explanation: a qualifying word is a word or phrase that we can put before an adjective or adverb, to increase or decreasin the given excerpt the quality established by the word it modifies (the adjective or adverb). Some examples of qualifying words are: very, kind of, really, somewhat, etc. From the given options, the sentence that eliminates qualifying words and phrases, is option C, because it doesn't use the word "somewhat" or the phrase "kind of."