Influenced by shifting consumer preferences toward sustainability, _____

Sentence Structure

• Influenced by shifting consumer preferences toward sustainability,
• _____ [choices vary on what subject follows]

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'Influenced by shifting consumer preferences toward sustainability,'

This opening phrase is describing something. It tells us that something has been influenced – shaped or affected – by how consumers increasingly want sustainable products.

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank. The key question is: What has been influenced by these consumer preferences?

Let's look at our choices and see what would come right after this describing phrase:

• Choice A: major fashion retailers
• Choice B: the sourcing of fabrics
• Choice C: fabrics from recycled materials and organic cotton
• Choice D: a 2024 industry report

Here's what we need to understand: When you start a sentence with a describing phrase like this (ending with a comma), whatever comes immediately after that comma must be the thing being described.

So which of these can logically be 'influenced by consumer preferences'?

• Major fashion retailers?
  • Yes – retailers are businesses that respond to what consumers want. They can definitely be influenced by consumer preferences.
• The sourcing (an abstract action)?
  • This is awkward – the action of sourcing itself isn't influenced. Rather, the retailers are influenced to DO the sourcing.
• Fabrics (physical materials)?
  • No – fabrics themselves can't be influenced. They're just materials.
• A report (a document)?
  • No – a report isn't influenced by preferences. A report documents or finds things, but it's not what's being influenced.

What do we notice here?

• The describing phrase 'Influenced by shifting consumer preferences' needs to connect logically to whatever comes right after the comma.
• Only 'major fashion retailers' makes sense as something that can be influenced by what consumers want.

So we need Choice A.

Let's read the complete sentence to verify:

'Influenced by shifting consumer preferences toward sustainability, major fashion retailers have begun sourcing fabrics from recycled materials and organic cotton.'

This flows naturally:

• Retailers were influenced by consumer preferences →
• As a result, they began sourcing sustainable materials.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Introductory Describing Phrases with What They Describe

When a sentence begins with a describing phrase (called a modifier in grammar terms) that ends with a comma, that phrase must logically describe the subject that comes immediately after the comma. The subject right after the comma must be the thing the modifier is talking about.

The Pattern:

• Describing phrase, [subject being described] + rest of sentence
• The subject right after the comma = what the describing phrase is about

Example 1:

• Wrong: 'Exhausted from the long journey, the hotel bed looked inviting.'
• 'Exhausted from the long journey' describes someone who is tired
• But 'the hotel bed' comes after the comma
• A bed can't be exhausted – this doesn't match!

• Correct: 'Exhausted from the long journey, the travelers found the hotel bed inviting.'
• 'Exhausted from the long journey' describes someone who is tired
• 'The travelers' comes after the comma
• Travelers CAN be exhausted – this matches!

Example 2:

• Wrong: 'Built in 1850, tourists visit the historic mansion every day.'
• 'Built in 1850' describes something that was constructed
• But 'tourists' comes after the comma
• Tourists weren't built in 1850 – this doesn't match!

• Correct: 'Built in 1850, the historic mansion receives tourists every day.'
• 'Built in 1850' describes something that was constructed
• 'The historic mansion' comes after the comma
• The mansion WAS built in 1850 – this matches!

In this question:

• 'Influenced by shifting consumer preferences toward sustainability' describes something that was influenced
• Only 'major fashion retailers' (Choice A) can logically be influenced by consumer preferences
• Fabrics, sourcing actions, and reports cannot be influenced in this way
• Choice A correctly places the logical subject right after the describing phrase