OG2016 | Although Alice Walker published a number of essays,

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Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize - Both X and Y is correct. Hence this option is wrong.
(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim
(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim. Both X and Y is correct. Hence this option is wrong.

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by theCEO » Sun Jun 14, 2015 10:21 am

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By removing all the unnecessary words we have...

The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize - Wrong. "Both" and "and" go together.
(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Wrong. The color purple bringing her.... Wrong verb tense.
(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Correct
(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim. Wrong. And which,... different meaning
(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim. Wrong. "Both" and "and" go together.

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by src_saurav » Mon Jun 15, 2015 1:34 am

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What is the meaning of "Both" and "and" go together?

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by theCEO » Mon Jun 15, 2015 2:17 am

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src_saurav wrote:What is the meaning of "Both" and "and" go together?
And should be used when you use both in a sentence and you list the options for example
Both Tom and Jerry went to bed.
Both Mary and Jane are sleeping.

The following sentences are incorrect.
Both Tom as well as Jerry went to bed.
Both Mary as well as Jerry went to bed.

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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Jun 15, 2015 2:46 am

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bonbossamazing wrote:Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize
(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim
(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim.
A and E: both the National book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize
both X as well as Y is unidiomatic.
The correct idiom is both X AND Y.
Eliminate A and E.

B: her third novel, published in 1982, and bringing her the widest acclaim
Here, published and bringing are ADJECTIVES modifying her third novel.
What KIND of novel?
A novel PUBLISHED in 1982 and BRINGING her the widest acclaim.
Thus, her third novel (subject) lacks a verb.
The result is an incomplete sentence.
Eliminate B.

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
D: her third novel was published in 1982, and which brought her the widest acclaim
Here, her third novel and which are not parallel forms.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.
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by j_shreyans » Tue Jun 16, 2015 4:24 am

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Hi Mitch ,

Need to clear.

COMMA+VERBing modifier serves to express an action that is CONCURRENT with the nearest preceding action right?

so can we eliminate option B by using this rule? Because Bringing is not expressing a CONCURRENT action here right?

If I use this rule for option C , so how come winning , because wining is not a CONCURRENT here I guess.

Please advise and correct me if I am wrong.

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by src_saurav » Tue Jun 16, 2015 5:40 am

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Hi Shreyans,

If you check the option B ,there is only participle but no verb. The problem with this sentence is that it is missing verb.

for option C we have the verb in 'brought' which is modified by the last clause.

Hence,option c is correct.

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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:35 am

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COMMA+VERBing modifier serves to express an action that is CONCURRENT with the nearest preceding action right?

so can we eliminate option B by using this rule? Because Bringing is not expressing a CONCURRENT action here right?
You're correct that B is wrong, but I think you may have misunderstood Mitch's point here. If I write, "I studied for the test, USING every available resource," the modifier "using" is taking place at the same time as the main verb "studied," so the subject was "using every available resource" in the past. In other words, the main verb is dictating the time frame of the modifier, so we don't have mismatched tenses. (Just think of how flexible VERBing words are in general. I can write "I am using" or "I was using" or "I will be using.")

Or consider this OA: Five fledgling sea eagles LEFT their nests in western Scotland this summer, BRINGING to 34 the number of wild birds successfully raised since transplants from Norway began in 1975.

The sentence is correct. The main verb, "left," simply tells us that "bringing to 34" happened in the past.
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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:35 am

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j_shreyans wrote:Hi Mitch ,

Need to clear.

COMMA+VERBing modifier serves to express an action that is CONCURRENT with the nearest preceding action right?

so can we eliminate option B by using this rule? Because Bringing is not expressing a CONCURRENT action here right?

If I use this rule for option C , so how come winning , because wining is not a CONCURRENT here I guess.

Please advise and correct me if I am wrong.
C: Her third novel brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
Here, WINNING the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize took place when the novel BROUGHT the author acclaim.
Thus, the VERBing action (winning) and the main action (brought) are concurrent.

In B, there is no main verb -- and thus no main action -- so the question of concurrence is irrelevant.
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by Crystal W » Fri Apr 15, 2016 2:54 pm

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GMATGuruNY wrote:
bonbossamazing wrote:Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize
(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim
(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim.
A and E: both the National book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize
both X as well as Y is unidiomatic.
The correct idiom is both X AND Y.
Eliminate A and E.

B: her third novel, published in 1982, and bringing her the widest acclaim
Here, published and bringing are ADJECTIVES modifying her third novel.
What KIND of novel?
A novel PUBLISHED in 1982 and BRINGING her the widest acclaim.
Thus, her third novel (subject) lacks a verb.
The result is an incomplete sentence.
Eliminate B.

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
D: her third novel was published in 1982, and which brought her the widest acclaim
Here, her third novel and which are not parallel forms.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.
I understand you explanation of Choice D, but on OG, the explanation of Choice D is "The use fo which is inappropriate here; although it would still be rhetorically inferior to the correct answer (C), this version would be acceptable i fhte word which were deleted." If we delete the which, it will be "her third novel, The Color Purple, was published in 1982 and, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim." The sentence structure will be subject + modifier1 madifies subject + main verb1 + connection word (and)+ modifer2 modifies subject + main verb2 + object. Am I right? Do you think the structure is weird?

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by [email protected] » Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:54 pm

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Hello Everyone!

We've had some great discussion on this already, but let's see if we can break down HOW to answer this question in the quickest and easiest way we can! Before we dive in, here is the original question with the main differences between each option highlighted in orange:

Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize
(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim
(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim

After taking a quick glance over the options, a few key differences stand out:

1. which was published / was published / published
2. and / as well as
3. brought / bringing


The best place to start is anything that will knock out either 2 or 3 answers right away, so let's work our way backwards on our list and start with #3: brought vs. bringing. This is clearly an issue with verbs, so let's determine which one is the best to use here.

To begin, we need to find the subject and verb. Here is the original sentence:

Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

If we cross out all of the modifiers (and there are a few), we're left with this:

The Color Purple brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

Once you take out the modifiers, which are mainly there to confuse readers, it's clear that the subject of the sentence is "The Color Purple." And what did The Color Purple do? It brought Alice Walker acclaim! Let's look over each option more carefully to figure out which ones use the right verb to match the subject.

(A) The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize --> OK

(B) The Color Purple, published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize --> WRONG
("The Color Purple bringing" isn't the right verb.)

(C) The Color Purple, published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize --> OK

(D) The Color Purple, was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim --> WRONG
(While this does use the correct verb "brought," it also tries to add another verb "was published" inside a modifier, which is a big no-no because it creates a comma splice! So, let's rule this one out too.)

(E) The Color Purple, was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim --> WRONG
(This one is wrong because it uses the incorrect "bringing" and it has a comma splice before "was published.")

We can eliminate options B, D, & E because they use the wrong verbs or have comma splices. Now that we're left with only 2 options to choose from, let's tackle #2 on our list: as well as vs. and.

Whenever we see the word "both" joining two objects, those two objects MUST be joined by the word and:

Both X and Y = CORRECT
Both X as well as Y = WRONG


(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize
(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize

There you go - option C is the correct choice because it uses the correct verb "brought" and uses the idiom "both X and Y" correctly!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

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by vietnam47 » Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:47 am

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DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:
COMMA+VERBing modifier serves to express an action that is CONCURRENT with the nearest preceding action right?

so can we eliminate option B by using this rule? Because Bringing is not expressing a CONCURRENT action here right?
You're correct that B is wrong, but I think you may have misunderstood Mitch's point here. If I write, "I studied for the test, USING every available resource," the modifier "using" is taking place at the same time as the main verb "studied," so the subject was "using every available resource" in the past. In other words, the main verb is dictating the time frame of the modifier, so we don't have mismatched tenses. (Just think of how flexible VERBing words are in general. I can write "I am using" or "I was using" or "I will be using.")

Or consider this OA: Five fledgling sea eagles LEFT their nests in western Scotland this summer, BRINGING to 34 the number of wild birds successfully raised since transplants from Norway began in 1975.

The sentence is correct. The main verb, "left," simply tells us that "bringing to 34" happened in the past.
thank you.
I know "five fledgling sea eales ..." is OA from old questions in og. but this sentence has a problem.
"bringing to 34" is in the past, how it can go with "since ...". since must go with present perfect. this is old question and we should not discuss more. but is it a problem?

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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:46 am

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vietnam47 wrote:thank you.
I know "five fledgling sea eales ..." is OA from old questions in og. but this sentence has a problem.
"bringing to 34" is in the past, how it can go with "since ...". since must go with present perfect. this is old question and we should not discuss more. but is it a problem?
OA: the number of wild birds successfully raised since transplants from Norway began in 1975
Here, the since-modifier in blue is an adverb serving to modify raised, while raised is an ADJECTIVE serving to modify birds.
Question: What KIND of birds?
Answer: birds RAISED SINCE TRANSPLANTS FROM NORWAY BEGAN IN 1975
Since raised is functioning as an adjective, it does not have a tense.
Thus, the present-perfect rule does not apply.
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by gui_guimaraes » Thu Jan 09, 2020 11:30 am

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GMATGuruNY wrote:
bonbossamazing wrote:Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize
(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim
(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim.
A and E: both the National book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize
both X as well as Y is unidiomatic.
The correct idiom is both X AND Y.
Eliminate A and E.

B: her third novel, published in 1982, and bringing her the widest acclaim
Here, published and bringing are ADJECTIVES modifying her third novel.
What KIND of novel?
A novel PUBLISHED in 1982 and BRINGING her the widest acclaim.
Thus, her third novel (subject) lacks a verb.
The result is an incomplete sentence.
Eliminate B.

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
D: her third novel was published in 1982, and which brought her the widest acclaim
Here, her third novel and which are not parallel forms.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.
Hi Mitch! @GMATGuruNY

Does the 'it' in answer choice A is wrong (meaning)? Shouldn't be Alice who won the Pulitzer price rather than the book? Am I right? tks!