Sentence Correction

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully
coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on
her keen observation and love of the natural world.

(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully
coordinating them with her narratives,
(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating
them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully
coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix
Potter, in her book illustrations
(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully
coordinated them with her narratives and

The options B and c use the pronoun without an antecedent. Still, the OG has considered one of them as the correct answer. Isnt that a ground rule?. Please explain.

In answer choice B, in both of the modifying phrases pronoun 'her' refer back to the only logical noun of the independent clause 'Beatrix Potter'. However, the participial phrase 'carefully coordinating....' seems to illogically modify the book illustrations.
In answer choice C, both participial phrase and relative clause has pronoun that refer back to the only logical noun of the independent clause. Moreover, clause 'which she carefully...' modifies the illustrations.

Takeway - A pronoun inside of a modifying phrase must refer to the noun being modified.
In this case it does.

Hope that helps!!

[email protected] wrote:Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully
coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on
her keen observation and love of the natural world.

(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully
coordinating them with her narratives,
(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating
them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully
coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix
Potter, in her book illustrations
(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully
coordinated them with her narratives and

The options B and c use the pronoun without an antecedent. Still, the OG has considered one of them as the correct answer. Isnt that a ground rule?. Please explain.

A: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives
B: IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
E: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinated THEM
Each of these answer choices conveys a nonsensical meaning: that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.
Eliminate A, B and E.

In D, coordinated seems to modify Beatrix Potter, conveying a nonsensical meaning: that the author herself was carefully COORDINATED with her narratives.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.

The introductory modifier in the OA includes her and she, each a pronoun without an antecedent.
The referent for these pronouns is Beatrix Potter, the subject of the following clause.
This structure is correct.
When an introductory modifier in an answer choice includes a pronoun without an antecedent, the referent should be the SUBJECT OF THE FOLLOWING CLAUSE.
Consider the following examples from the OG12:

Q7: As ITS sales of computer products have surpassed those of measuring instruments, THE COMPANY...
Q28: Building on civilizations that preceded THEM in coastal Peru, THE MOCHICA...
Q31: Even though many of HER colleagues were convinced that genes were relatively simple and static, BARBARA MCCLINTOCK...

In each case, the introductory modifier includes a pronoun without an antecedent.
In each case, the referent is the subject of the following clause.

GMATGuruNY wrote: A: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives
B: IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
E: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinated THEM
Each of these answer choices conveys a nonsensical meaning: that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.
Eliminate A, B and E.

In D, coordinated seems to modify Beatrix Potter, conveying a nonsensical meaning: that the author herself was carefully COORDINATED with her narratives.
Eliminate D.

Please can you elaborate it further.
"that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations".
The above one looks fine but how can it be:
"that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS."

GMATGuruNY wrote:

imskpwr wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: A: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives
B: IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
E: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinated THEM
Each of these answer choices conveys a nonsensical meaning: that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.
Eliminate A, B and E.

In D, coordinated seems to modify Beatrix Potter, conveying a nonsensical meaning: that the author herself was carefully COORDINATED with her narratives.
Eliminate D.

Please can you elaborate it further.
"that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations".
The above one looks fine but how can it be:
"that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS."

A prepositional modifier beginning a sentence or enclosed by commas generally serves as an ADVERB modifying THE NEAREST ELIGIBLE VERB.
In 1999, John wrote his first book.
Here, in 1999 serves as an adverb modifying wrote, indicating WHEN John WROTE his first book.

In the answer choices above, in her book illustrations seems to modify coordinated/coordinating, the nearest eligible verb forms.
The implication is that in her book illustrations serves to indicate WHERE Beatrix Potter COORDINATED/WAS COORDINATING.
The result is a nonsensical meaning: that Beatrix Potter was coordinating her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.

as USUAL awesome.

Originally developed for detecting air pollutants, a
technique called proton-induced X-ray emission, which
can quickly analyze the chemical elements in almost
any substance without destroying it, is finding uses in
medicine, archaeology, and criminology.

Can I use the same CONCEPT for any ADVERBIAL MODIFIER?

imskpwr wrote:Originally developed for detecting air pollutants, a technique called proton-induced X-ray emission, which
can quickly analyze the chemical elements in almost
any substance without destroying it, is finding uses in
medicine, archaeology, and criminology.

Can I use the same CONCEPT for any ADVERBIAL MODIFIER?

An introductory VERBed modifier primarily serves as an ADJECTIVE modifying the SUBJECT of the following clause.
Here, developed describes a technique.
What KIND of technique?
A technique ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED FOR DETECTING AIR POLLUTANTS.

To an extent, this type of modifier also plays an adverbial role in that it provides CONTEXT for the main verb.
That the technique was originally developed for detecting air pollutants provides context for how it now IS FINDING uses in other areas.

On the GMAT, the adverbial role typically is of much less concern that the adjectival role.
When you see an introductory VERBed modifier, just be sure the past participle (VERBed) refers to the SUBJECT of the following clause.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

imskpwr wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: A: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives
B: IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
E: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinated THEM
Each of these answer choices conveys a nonsensical meaning: that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.
Eliminate A, B and E.

In D, coordinated seems to modify Beatrix Potter, conveying a nonsensical meaning: that the author herself was carefully COORDINATED with her narratives.
Eliminate D.

Please can you elaborate it further.
"that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations".
The above one looks fine but how can it be:
"that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS."

A prepositional modifier beginning a sentence or enclosed by commas generally serves as an ADVERB modifying THE NEAREST ELIGIBLE VERB.
In 1999, John wrote his first book.
Here, in 1999 serves as an adverb modifying wrote, indicating WHEN John WROTE his first book.

In the answer choices above, in her book illustrations seems to modify coordinated/coordinating, the nearest eligible verb forms.
The implication is that in her book illustrations serves to indicate WHERE Beatrix Potter COORDINATED/WAS COORDINATING.
The result is a nonsensical meaning: that Beatrix Potter was coordinating her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.

that Beatrix Potter was coordinating her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.
Hi,instructor,I don't understand why "that Beatrix Potter was coordinating her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS." is nonsense,in the correct answer,BP capitalized on her keen and blablabla in her book illustration.please clarify,thanks a lot!

GMATGuruNY wrote:

imskpwr wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: A: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives
B: IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
E: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinated THEM
Each of these answer choices conveys a nonsensical meaning: that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.
Eliminate A, B and E.

In D, coordinated seems to modify Beatrix Potter, conveying a nonsensical meaning: that the author herself was carefully COORDINATED with her narratives.
Eliminate D.

Please can you elaborate it further.
"that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations".
The above one looks fine but how can it be:
"that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS."

A prepositional modifier beginning a sentence or enclosed by commas generally serves as an ADVERB modifying THE NEAREST ELIGIBLE VERB.
In 1999, John wrote his first book.
Here, in 1999 serves as an adverb modifying wrote, indicating WHEN John WROTE his first book.

In the answer choices above, in her book illustrations seems to modify coordinated/coordinating, the nearest eligible verb forms.
The implication is that in her book illustrations serves to indicate WHERE Beatrix Potter COORDINATED/WAS COORDINATING.
The result is a nonsensical meaning: that Beatrix Potter was coordinating her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.

Hi,instructor,I don't understand why "that Beatrix Potter was coordinating her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS." is nonsense,in the correct answer,BP capitalized on her keen and blablabla in her book illustration.please clarify,thanks a lot!

GMATGuruNY wrote:

[email protected] wrote:Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully
coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on
her keen observation and love of the natural world.

(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully
coordinating them with her narratives,
(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating
them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully
coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix
Potter, in her book illustrations
(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully
coordinated them with her narratives and

The options B and c use the pronoun without an antecedent. Still, the OG has considered one of them as the correct answer. Isnt that a ground rule?. Please explain.

A: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives
B: IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinating THEM with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
E: Beatrix Potter, IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, carefully coordinated THEM
Each of these answer choices conveys a nonsensical meaning: that Beatrix Potter coordinated her book illustrations IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS.
Eliminate A, B and E.

In D, coordinated seems to modify Beatrix Potter, conveying a nonsensical meaning: that the author herself was carefully COORDINATED with her narratives.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.

The introductory modifier in the OA includes her and she, each a pronoun without an antecedent.
The referent for these pronouns is Beatrix Potter, the subject of the following clause.
This structure is correct.

Hi GMATGuruNY - I can understand how this interpretation is WRONG in A,B,E : IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, Beatrix Potter coordinated her [book] illustrations(=THEM) with her narratives --- it clearly conveys a nonsensical meaning.

BUT, let's take this example : In her book ,Beatrix Potter coordinated book illustrations with her narratives. This should be perfectly fine. Right ?

Mitch - could you please quickly share your feedback on my above query ?

Much thanks in advance!

RBBmba@2014 wrote: Hi GMATGuruNY - I can understand how this interpretation is WRONG in A,B,E : IN HER BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, Beatrix Potter coordinated her [book] illustrations(=THEM) with her narratives --- it clearly conveys a nonsensical meaning.

BUT, let's take this example : In her book ,Beatrix Potter coordinated book illustrations with her narratives. This should be perfectly fine, I guess. Right ?

@ GMATGuruNY - could you please provide a quick clarification on the ABOVE ?

Looking forward to hear from you...Much thanks in advance.

RBBmba@2014 wrote: In her book ,Beatrix Potter coordinated book illustrations with her narratives. This should be perfectly fine, I guess. Right ?

This revision is not viable.
Here, the repetition of book is redundant.
Whereas the original sentence conveys what Beatrix Potter achieved in her ILLUSTRATIONS (she capitalized on her keen observation of the natural world), your sentence conveys what Beatrix Potter did in her BOOK (she coordinated).
The two meanings are quite different.

Please do not attempt to revise incorrect answers.
Many wrong answers are not easily corrected.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

RBBmba@2014 wrote: In her book ,Beatrix Potter coordinated book illustrations with her narratives. This should be perfectly fine, I guess. Right ?

This revision is not viable.
Here, the repetition of book is redundant.
Whereas the original sentence conveys what Beatrix Potter achieved in her ILLUSTRATIONS (she capitalized on her keen observation of the natural world), your sentence conveys what Beatrix Potter did in her BOOK (she coordinated).
The two meanings are quite different.

Please do not attempt to revise incorrect answers.
Many wrong answers are not easily corrected.

Sorry for the confusion...actually I just wanted to know whether the following analogy is what the SC tries to convey (INTENTION was ONLY to understand the meaning of the SC through an easier example, NOT to attempt to revise incorrect answers) -

In his [application] ESSAYS, carefully coordinating [application] ESSAYS with his narratives, Richie capitalized on his leadership roles -- THIS IS NONSENSICAL as the option A,B & E are. Right ?

BUT, In his APPLICATION, carefully coordinating his [application -- OPTIONAL] ESSAYS with his narratives, Richie capitalized on his leadership roles -- does this LOGICALLY make sense SIMPLY as a STANDALONE sentence ?

Now if yes, then is the meaning similar to what the SC at hand conveys (or is it STILL slightly distorted from the original OG SC meaning because of the VERY FIRST prepositional modifier - In his APPLICATION )?

Would be curious to know your feedback...Much thanks advance!