Can someone somehow shorten these sentences? thanks he became the first person to break the sound barrier on his own without the help of any machine.

Why was britain concerned about france's defeat by germany at the end of the 19th century? a. britain lost the economic support of the french governmentb. britain had wanted to attack france as wellc. british people thought they also might be attacked by the germansd. british people felt sorry for the former french king and his family

Read this sentence from "the wife's lament

Amy tried to write her essay but she was distracted by the phone ring the sentence above combines a. an independent clayse and a dependent clause b. two independent clauses c. a dependent clause d. none if the above