Sentence Correction

Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

A Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.
B Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor played often in concert halls until it was revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

I have two quick queries with it,

1. mid-twentieth century, having been ... here ,ing is modifying entire presiding clause then the following explanation is obscure
"A is incorrect because having been is modifying the 20th century. The 20th century cannot be won over by anything. That makes no logical sense. Only living things can be won over. For example, one could say "Patricia was won over by the lovely flowers John gave her." The 20th century or the flowers from my example cannot be won over.
2
in B is it "neither prestigious nor played often" wrong //sm

OA C

A COMMA + having + VERBED modifier must refer to the PRECEDING SUBJECT.
An OA from GMAC:
Some patients who do not respond therapies of depression may simply have received inadequate treatment, having been prescribed a drug at a dosage too low to be effective.
Here, having been prescribed correctly refers to some patients (the subject of the preceding clause).

mid-twentieth century, having been ... here ,ing is modifying entire presiding clause then the following explanation is obscure
"A is incorrect because having been is modifying the 20th century. The 20th century cannot be won over by anything. That makes no logical sense. Only living things can be won over. For example, one could say "Patricia was won over by the lovely flowers John gave her." The 20th century or the flowers from my example cannot be won over.

In A and B, having been won over seems to refer to classical guitar (the subject of the preceding clause), implying that CLASSICAL GUITAR was WON OVER by the instrument's sound.
This meaning is nonsensical.

in B is it "neither prestigious nor played often" wrong //sm

Your analysis is correct.
neither X nor Y must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
B: was neither prestigious nor played
Here, played seems to serve as a participle for the verb was played.
Since prestigious (adjective) and played (verb) are not parallel forms, eliminate B.

Hi Mitch,
Can you tell why D is wrong?
I think nor is used here correctly
According to my understanding,
-->nor when used alone essentially connects two negative sentences--> condition satisfied in SC under discussion
-->Nor when used alone should follow inverted subject format i.e nor + helping verb+ subject --> this condition is also satisfied

What am i missing
Kindly comment.
thanks

Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor played often in concert halls until it was revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.
Classical guitar was not prestigious and was not often played in concert halls until Andres Segovia revived it in the mid-twentieth century, after he was won over by the sound despite the instrument's relative obscurity.
Classical guitar did not have prestige nor was it performed often in concert halls until its revival by Andres Segovia, who in the mid-twentieth century was won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.
Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until Andres Segovia revived it in the mid-twentieth century, when he was won over by the sound of the relatively obscure instrument.

aflaam wrote:Hi Mitch,
Can you tell why D is wrong?
I think nor is used here correctly
According to my understanding,
-->nor when used alone essentially connects two negative sentences--> condition satisfied in SC under discussion
-->Nor when used alone should follow inverted subject format i.e nor + helping verb+ subject --> this condition is also satisfied

D: Classical guitar did not have prestige nor was it performed.

not...nor should serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
An ACTIVE VERB should be connected to another ACTIVE VERB.
A PASSIVE VERB should be connected to another PASSIVE VERB.
Here, did not have (active) and was performed (passive) are not sufficiently parallel.
Eliminate D.

GMATGuruNY wrote: neither X nor Y must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
B: was neither prestigious nor played
Here, played seems to serve as a participle for the verb was played.
Since prestigious (adjective) and played (verb) are not parallel forms, eliminate B.

Can you please explain this slightly. You mention that "played" is a "participle" and then later say that "played" is a "verb".

When I look up participles on net, it seems to suggest that participles are actually noun modifiers and hence, they are adjectives.

iongmat wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: neither X nor Y must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
B: was neither prestigious nor played
Here, played seems to serve as a participle for the verb was played.
Since prestigious (adjective) and played (verb) are not parallel forms, eliminate B.

Can you please explain this slightly. You mention that "played" is a "participle" and then later say that "played" is a "verb".

When I look up participles on net, it seems to suggest that participles are actually noun modifiers and hence, they are adjectives.

Generally, a past participle (VERBed) following a NOUN serves as an ADJECTIVE.
The GUITAR PLAYED in the concert was red.
Here, played is an ADJECTIVE serving to describe the guitar.
What KIND of guitar?
THE GUITAR PLAYED in the concert.

Generally, a past participle preceded by a helping verb such as was serves as a VERB.
neither X nor Y means NOT X AND NOT Y.
B implies the following meaning:
Classical guitar WAS not PRESTIGIOUS and WAS not PLAYED often.
Here, was...played constitutes a verb, as in the following sentence:
Classical guitar WAS NOT PLAYED often.

Thanks GMATGuru.

This is slightly confusing. For example:

The task was done.

Here,"done" is a verb or an adjective.

When I look at https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/done?s=t (not a GMAT source, but something I found on Google), it states that "done" in "Our work is done" is an adjective. So, that's the reason for confusion.