Which phrase begins with a present participle?
a. at the onset
b. from her house to the theater
c. trying to be funny
d. subject to some conditions
e. on her bookshelf

the correct answers are:

c. “never in the history of his people had a man married a woman who spoke a different tongue.”

d. “‘it has never been heard,’ was the verdict of an old man speaking a few weeks later.”

e. “this man had come with others to commiserate with okeke.”

c. with one finger is the answer

a low four-wheeled open carriage of a kind formerly used in russia.

my best guess would be: d allusion

makes the most sense