<div>We can read this question sentence as:<br></div><div><p><strong style="font-weight: 600;">Because the department store is situated right in downtown, </strong><strong style="font-weight: 600;">the department store is always busy during the weekend</strong><strong style="font-weight: 600;">.</strong></p><p>This sentence is a complex sentence with a main clause and an adverbial clause. The adverbial clause is "<span style="font-weight: 600;">Because the department store is situated right in downtown</span>". The main clause is "<span style="font-weight: 600;">the department store is always busy during the weekend</span>"</p><p><strong style="font-weight: 600;">Reducing the adverbial clause to the adverbial phrase.</strong></p><p>An adverb clause can be reduced to an adverbial phrase by removing the subject and the be-verb when they are not essential to the meaning of the sentence.</p></div><div><p>Here's a step-by-step breakdown:</p><ol><li><p><strong style="font-weight: 600;">Identify the Subject and Verb in the Adverb Clause</strong>: The subject is "<span style="font-weight: 600;">the department store</span>" and the verb is "is situated"</p></li><li><p><strong style="font-weight: 600;">Identify Redundancy</strong>: In the main clause, "<span style="font-weight: 600;">the department store</span>" is also the subject. So, when reducing the adverb clause, the subject "<span style="font-weight: 600;">the department store</span>" in the adverb clause is redundant and can be omitted.</p></li><li><p><strong style="font-weight: 600;">Change the Verb</strong>: The verb "is situated" is a passive voice, so it should be transformed into its past participle form "situated" to create an adverbial phrase.</p></li><li><p><strong style="font-weight: 600;">Omit the Subordinating Conjunction</strong>: The subordinating conjunction "Because" is also often omitted when the adverb clause is reduced to a modifying phrase.</p></li></ol><p>Resulting Adverbial Phrase: "<span style="font-weight: 600;">Situated right in downtown</span>,".</p><p>The correct answer is (C) Situated.</p></div>