Sentence Correction

Like many others of his generation of Native American leaders, Joseph Brant lived in two worlds; born into an Iroquois community and instructed in traditional Iroquois ways, he also received an education from English-speaking teachers.

(A) Like many others of his generation of Native American leaders, Joseph Brant lived in two worlds;
(B) Like many others of his generation of Native American leaders, living in two worlds, Joseph Brant was
(C) Like many another of his generation of Native American leaders, Joseph Brant, living in two worlds, was
(D) As with many others of his generation of Native American leaders, living in two worlds, Joseph Brant was
(E) As with many another of his generation of Native American leaders, Joseph Brant lived in two worlds;

[spoiler]In A don't you feel that second part of the sentence after semi-colon is wrong because it starts with a modifier "born into an Iroquois community and instructed in traditional Iroquois ways" modifying "he" but this "he" is dependent on first part of the sentence. As far as I am aware is that the sentence after a semi-colon should be an independent sentence...........what do u suggest[/spoiler]

IMO A.

Look at Op A

Like many others of his generation of Native American leaders, Joseph Brant lived in two worlds; born into an Iroquois community and instructed in traditional Iroquois ways, he also received an education from English-speaking teachers.

A semicolon should be used to connect two complete sentences means on the both sides of a semicolon two Independent clauses has to be there...in above Op A, the green colored parts are IC's and both sides of the semicolon are complete sentences.

Also, in a complete sentence, it doesn't matter, where the modifier comes in, i mean in the start or in the middle or at the end it doesn't matter...the only thing that does matter is it must contain an IC.

Op B and Op C has a run-on sentence error or comma splice error as two IC's are connected improperly by a comma.

atulmangal wrote:IMO A.

Look at Op A

Like many others of his generation of Native American leaders, Joseph Brant lived in two worlds; born into an Iroquois community and instructed in traditional Iroquois ways, he also received an education from English-speaking teachers.

A semicolon should be used to connect two complete sentences means on the both sides of a semicolon two Independent clauses has to be there...in above Op A, the green colored parts are IC's and both sides of the semicolon are complete sentences.

Also, in a complete sentence, it doesn't matter, where the modifier comes in, i mean in the start or in the middle or at the end it doesn't matter...the only thing that does matter is it must contain an IC.

Op B and Op C has a run-on sentence error or comma splice error as two IC's are connected improperly by a comma.

Great explanation!

Hi Atul,

my doubt is this that in the second part of the sentence the usage of "he" is coming but this "he" refers to "Joseph Brant" which is there in the first part of the sentence. So, is this "he" not dependent on first part??????If yes then how can second part after semi colon be an IC????..........please correct me if I am wrong

aspirant2011 wrote:Hi Atul,

my doubt is this that in the second part of the sentence the usage of "he" is coming but this "he" refers to "Joseph Brant" which is there in the first part of the sentence. So, is this "he" not dependent on first part??????If yes then how can second part after semi colon be an IC????..........please correct me if I am wrong

Okay i got your doubt. I had this doubt 2-months back, then i got this concept.

here is the concept: remember this for ever.

If a sentence has 2-independent clauses that are LOGICALLY CONNECTED but INDEPENDENT IN STRUCTURE, then the semi colon must be used to join them.

Example:

Jack and Joan are inseparable; They do everything together.

As u notice, BOTH the clauses are independent (structurally as each one has sub+acting verb) and they are logically connected (as pronoun THEY referring to the sub of preceding clause), but its fine no problem. This is acceptable

Same concept u can apply in this question.

I hope this help.

thanks atul

What is IC?

gaurav19 wrote:What is IC?

IC stands for Independent Clause .

which has a subject and a verb of its own..........

aspirant2011 wrote:which has a subject and a verb of its own..........

just to add on - and also which can stand by itself (even a dependent clause has subjet and verb)

"Like many others of his..." can modify only a person and hence, "Joseph Brant" must come after the coma. Therefore, B and D are incorrect because of placing "living in two worlds" after the coma.
C: If "Joseph Brant" (within the comas) is removed, the sentence does not make any sense.
E: "many another" is not idiomatic.
A: "Joseph Brant" is correctly modified by the introductory phrase. Both "Like many others...two worlds" and "born into an...English speaking teachers" are independent clauses and hence, rightly separated by semi colon. Hence, A is the answer.