Appositive Phrases Problem

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yvonne0923: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 96; Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:43 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 1 times

by yvonne0923 » Sun May 01, 2011 8:11 pm

Politicians and philosophers, early forms of democratic government and public discourse were pioneered by the ancient Greeks, laying the groundwork for much of modern society.

A. early forms of democratic government and public discourse were pioneered by the ancient Greeks, laying the groundwork for much of modern society
B. laying the groundwork for much of modern society, early forms of democratic government and public discourse were pioneered by the ancient Greeks
C. the ancient Greeks pioneered early forms of democratic government and public discourse, laying the ground work for much of modern society
D. there were pioneered, laying the groundwork for much of modern society, early forms of democratic government and public discourse by the ancient Greeks
E. were the ancient Greeks who, laying the groundwork for much of modern society, pioneered early forms of democratic government and public discourse

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[spoiler]O.A: C[/spoiler]
I have trouble to understand choices B and C, how can I recognize this SC actually applied to the knowledge of Appositive Phrases.

Thanks,
Yvonne

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun May 01, 2011 8:11 pm

smackmartine: Legendary Member; Posts: 516; Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:22 pmFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 112 times

by smackmartine » Sun May 01, 2011 10:55 pm

IMO C

If you were stuck between B and C, you could have easily gotten rid of option B because it's a fragment...and it doesn't makes any sense (a verb is required just after the second comma + sentence is passive,which is not preferred on GMAT )

As far as recognizing whether this SC actually needs the knowledge of Appositive Phrases is concerned, best way is look for better answer. After all a sentence can be written in different ways, and if an appositive is clearly qualifying a noun with no other errors in the sentence ,probably its correct.

Hope it helps.

yvonne0923 wrote:Politicians and philosophers, early forms of democratic government and public discourse were pioneered by the ancient Greeks, laying the groundwork for much of modern society.

A. early forms of democratic government and public discourse were pioneered by the ancient Greeks, laying the groundwork for much of modern society
B. laying the groundwork for much of modern society, early forms of democratic government and public discourse were pioneered by the ancient Greeks
C. the ancient Greeks pioneered early forms of democratic government and public discourse, laying the ground work for much of modern society
D. there were pioneered, laying the groundwork for much of modern society, early forms of democratic government and public discourse by the ancient Greeks
E. were the ancient Greeks who, laying the groundwork for much of modern society, pioneered early forms of democratic government and public discourse

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
[spoiler]O.A: C[/spoiler]
I have trouble to understand choices B and C, how can I recognize this SC actually applied to the knowledge of Appositive Phrases.

Thanks,
Yvonne

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bubbliiiiiiii: Legendary Member; Posts: 979; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 amFollowed by: 12 members; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 49 times; GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Sun May 01, 2011 11:06 pm

IMO C.

I have trouble to understand choices B and C

B. laying the groundwork for much of modern society, early forms of democratic government and public discourse were pioneered by the ancient Greeks

C. the ancient Greeks pioneered early forms of democratic government and public discourse, laying the ground work for much of modern society

This question tests the concept of modifiers.

Politicians and philosophers, ....

The sentence begins with a modifier, and when it does so, first thing that comes to my mind is what is it referring to/ or what it could probably refer to.

So when I tried to answer this question, I found that 'Politicians and philosophers' are a group of people which could probably modify another group of people given by ancient greeks in questions stem.

So the first thing, that I scanned in answer choices was that which sentence in options begin with ancient greeks and I picked up C and E. Thus, B eliminated.

Since, you already know the reason for elimination of E. I hope you have got how B is the answer.

how can I recognize this SC actually applied to the knowledge of Appositive Phrases

Appositive is a special kind of modifier which can act as a synonym for the noun that it refers to. Consequently, if the noun, to which a modifier refers, can be replace by that modifier and the modifier can be eliminated from the sentence without changing the meaning of sentence, then that modifier is an appositive.

Here in this case,

Politicians and philosophers, the ancient Greeks pioneered early forms of democratic government and public discourse, laying the ground work for much of modern society.

When the modifier is replaced,

The ancient Greeks pioneered early forms of democratic government and public discourse, laying the ground work for much of modern society.

This sentence still holds meaning.

Politicians and philosophers pioneered early forms of democratic government and public discourse, laying the ground work for much of modern society.

This one too makes sense.

Thus, Politicians and philosophers acts as an appositive here.

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Pranay

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force5: Legendary Member; Posts: 582; Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:48 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 61 times; GMAT Score:740

by force5 » Mon May 02, 2011 1:49 am

Thanks bubbliii for explaining appositives.. i want to know if there is any specific rule concerning appositives? what is their significance?

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bubbliiiiiiii: Legendary Member; Posts: 979; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 amFollowed by: 12 members; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 49 times; GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Tue May 03, 2011 10:49 pm

Hi Force5,

Glad that the post helped you.

I put together the concepts that immediately strike me while typing the post.

If you wanna explore more, you can google about appositives.

Moreover, here is a link that could help you.

https://www.chompchomp.com/terms/appositive.htm

Please let me know incase you have any further questions.

Regards,

Pranay

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ankurmit: Legendary Member; Posts: 516; Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:42 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Mumbai; Thanked: 14 times; GMAT Score:710

by ankurmit » Wed May 04, 2011 11:42 pm

I am confused between C and E.

Whats wrong with E

--------
Ankur mittal

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bubbliiiiiiii: Legendary Member; Posts: 979; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 amFollowed by: 12 members; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 49 times; GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Thu May 05, 2011 12:55 am

In my opinion, E has is wrong because it has misplaced modifier.

Politicians and philosophers, were the ancient Greeks who, laying the groundwork for much of modern society, pioneered early forms of democratic government and public discourse

The words, were and who placed in a modifier makes the sentence awkward.

Moreover, I also feel that the meaning of sentence changes as,

Politicians and philosophers while laying out the modern society pioneered early forms of X and Y.

whereas,

I perceived the original meaning to be,

they pioneered early forms of X and Y which resulted in laying of modern society.

2. Incase, you are confident that this question tests the concept of appositive modifier, the concept of appositives doesnot fit here.

However, I feel that the sentence,

Politicians and philosophers, laying the groundwork for much of modern society, ...

is proper since 'laying', verb+ing preceeded by comma, is supposed to modify either a preceedng noun or a noun phrase which is correctly done.

Please share your thoughts incase my approach is wrong.

Yvonne, would like to see on what basis you eliminated E.

Regards,

Pranay

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bubbliiiiiiii: Legendary Member; Posts: 979; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 amFollowed by: 12 members; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 49 times; GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Thu May 05, 2011 2:26 am

Hey Ankur,

Politicians and philosophers, were the ancient Greeks who, laying the groundwork

I guess this link should help you understand why E is wrong more precisely while focussing more on what I intended by the above quote.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-prep-sc-4-t81923.html

Regards,

Pranay

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ankurmit: Legendary Member; Posts: 516; Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:42 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Mumbai; Thanked: 14 times; GMAT Score:710

by ankurmit » Thu May 05, 2011 7:16 am

Thanks Pranay..

I will check out this link.

--------
Ankur mittal

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Target2009: Legendary Member; Posts: 574; Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:47 pmFollowed by: 5 members; Location: USA; Thanked: 29 times

by Target2009 » Thu May 05, 2011 8:18 am

IMO - C

Regards
Abhishek
------------------------------
MasterGmat Student

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Target2009: Legendary Member; Posts: 574; Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:47 pmFollowed by: 5 members; Location: USA; Thanked: 29 times

by Target2009 » Thu May 05, 2011 8:40 am

force5 wrote:Thanks bubbliii for explaining appositives.. i want to know if there is any specific rule concerning appositives? what is their significance?

Bubbliii info about Appositive is correct but kind of incomplete. Go thru below link for more info.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/kaplan-practice-t73431.html

Regards
Abhishek
------------------------------
MasterGmat Student

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