Which sentence uses a well-placed modifier?

• A. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", an article by Nicholas Carr, argues that the internet may be changing the way we read.
• B. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", written by Nicholas Carr, argues that the internet may be changing the way we read.
• C. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" argues that the internet may be changing the way we read, an article by Nicholas Carr.
• D. Is Google Making Us Stupid? an article by Nicholas Carr argues that the internet may be changing the way we read.

Answer: (A)

Focus on how to attach extra information to the thing you’re talking about without changing what that thing is. A nonessential (or nonrestrictive) appositive sits right after the noun phrase it renames and is set off with commas. That keeps the sentence clear: you name the title, then add what it is—an article by Nicholas Carr—without altering the main claim of the sentence.

In the correct sentence, the subject is the title Is Google Making Us Stupid?, and the phrase an article by Nicholas Carr renames that title. The commas signal that this information is supplementary, so the sentence reads smoothly: the title is the article, and the article argues that the internet may be changing the way we read.

Other structures place the modifier in awkward or ambiguous spots. A participial phrase like written by Nicholas Carr can feel less tight because it seems to modify the action or the clause as a whole rather than precisely naming the thing being discussed. Placing the modifier after the verb or after the main clause (without clean punctuation) makes the sentence harder to parse and can imply the modifier attaches to something other than the intended noun. The clean, natural choice is to put the identifying phrase immediately after the title, separated by commas.