Due to lack of parallelism, we can eliminate A, B and D

In C, only modifies "published" which is incorrect.

E is parallel and has the modifier "only" at the correct place.

Thank you Jay for your response.

If there was not "and" after Black women, I think "the first book by a Black women" and "only the second published by an American woman" are pararell, but the exsistence of "and" made me think that verb will be required after and.

Or do you think it actually is Black women, only the second.... ? If so, that makes sence to me.

Thanks!
Rina

A&B violate the rules of parallelism; we can't use the word "it" in the underlined part of the sentence especially when the first half refers to book by using the article "the"
C & D likewise alter the meaning of the sentence. I would root for E

I think C would be the correct choice.

the first book by a Black woman and
the second one only published by an American woman

in this sentence only you can find the correct parallesim.

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770's, the first book by a Black woman and it was only the second published by an American woman.


(A) it was only the second published by an American woman
Eliminate. It pronoun is not required. In this sentence "it"seems to refer to the first book rather than " a collection of 38 poems". Also "and" is joining two phrases that is describing " a collection of 38 poems"



(B) it was only the second that an American woman published
Eliminate. Same reason as above


(C) the second one only published by an American woman
Eliminate
Word placement error. "only" changes the meaning of the sentence.
Also there is no requirement for "one" redundancy


(D) the second one only that an American woman published
Eliminate. Same reason as C


(E) only the second published by an American woman
Correct. It is a phrase that modifies the " first book by black woman"

Cheers
TJ

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770's, the first book by a Black woman and it was only the second published by an American woman.

(A) it was only the second published by an American woman
(B) it was only the second that an American woman published
(C) the second one only published by an American woman
(D) the second one only that an American woman published
(E) only the second published by an American woman

Option A: 'It' is not required as the whole part 'the first book by a black woman and then the underlined part' is a modifier. That whole thing modifies 'a collection of 38 poems'.

Option B: same reason as A also the underlined part here should be a passive construction because the first part of this is passive.

Option C: Incorrect place of 'only'. It changes the meaning of the sentence.

Option D: 'one' unnecessary and also that it is not passive construction.

Option E: Perfect: Passive + correct place of only + no 'it' + absence of 'one'.

Hope this helps, thank you.

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770's, the first book by a Black woman and it was only the second published by an American woman.

Isn't it supposed to be "A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley,a slave, were published....

TIA

MuMboJuMbo wrote:A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770's, the first book by a Black woman and it was only the second published by an American woman.

Isn't it supposed to be "A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley,a slave, were published....

TIA

No. The verb 'was' refer to 'collection' which is singular.