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Native Americans

by xcusemeplz2009 » Wed Sep 02, 2009 9:28 pm
During the early years of European settlement on
a continent that was viewed as "wilderness" by
the newcomers, Native Americans, intimately
knowing the ecology of the land, were a help in
the rescuing of many Pilgrims and pioneers from
hardship, or even death.

(A) Native Americans, intimately knowing the
ecology of the land, were a help in the
rescuing of
(B) Native Americans knew the ecology and the
land intimately and this enabled them to
help in the rescue of
(C) Native Americans, with their intimate
knowledge of the ecology of the land,
helped to rescue
(D) having intimate knowledge of the ecology of
the land, Native Americans helped the rescue of
(E) knowing intimately the ecology of the land,
Native Americans helped to rescue
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by gauravgundal » Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:12 am
IMO-C
A- in rescuing of soungds awkward.
B-change the meaning of sentence.
C- correct.
D- having.. modifies the pervious clause.
E-same as D
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by tom4lax » Thu Sep 03, 2009 5:52 pm
Agree with C.
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by Shawshank » Fri Sep 04, 2009 2:34 am
IMO --D
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Re: Native Americans

by umaa » Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:08 am
xcusemeplz2009 wrote:During the early years of European settlement on
a continent that was viewed as "wilderness" by
the newcomers, Native Americans, intimately
knowing the ecology of the land, were a help in
the rescuing of many Pilgrims and pioneers from
hardship, or even D�@th.

(A) Native Americans, intimately knowing the
ecology of the land, were a help in the
rescuing of
(B) Native Americans knew the ecology and the
land intimately and this enabled them to
help in the rescue of
(C) Native Americans, with their intimate
knowledge of the ecology of the land,
helped to rescue
(D) having intimate knowledge of the ecology of
the land, Native Americans helped the rescue of
(E) knowing intimately the ecology of the land,
Native Americans helped to rescue
IMO C.

I agree with gauravgundal.
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by Optimus Prime » Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:26 am
Experts please explain highlighting the errors in each of the incorrect options.
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by Haaress » Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:18 pm
1 more for C.
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by manndip09 » Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:14 pm
I know C seems to be the write answer but have a doubt regarding "helped to rescue" as it does not fit with "and pioneers from hardship, or even death." Can someone explain.
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by jaymw » Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:33 pm
xcusemeplz2009 wrote:During the early years of European settlement on
a continent that was viewed as "wilderness" by
the newcomers, Native Americans, intimately
knowing the ecology of the land, were a help in
the rescuing of many Pilgrims and pioneers from
hardship, or even death.

(A) Native Americans, intimately knowing the
ecology of the land, were a help in the
rescuing of

The red portion is super wordy and awkward to say the least. Would you say: "Thanks for helping to rescue me" or "Thanks that you were a help in the rescuing of myself"?

(B) Native Americans knew the ecology and the
land intimately and this enabled them to
help in the rescue of

Same thing as in A. Awkward and very wordy structure.

(C) Native Americans, with their intimate
knowledge of the ecology of the land,
helped to rescue

This sentence is concise and does not contain any grammatical errors. Therefore, C is the correct answer.

(D) having intimate knowledge of the ecology of
the land, Native Americans helped the rescue of

Together with the non-underlined portion, you have two parts here modifying the same subject, which cannot be correct. "Helped the rescue of" is not a good option, either. English is a very verbal language, so whenever verbs can be used, they should be used!

(E) knowing intimately the ecology of the land,
Native Americans helped to rescue

Same as in D. Here, you have two phrases modifying one subject.
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by champmag » Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:39 am
+ 1 for C.
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by tanviet » Mon Feb 04, 2013 2:31 pm
this is og problem and should be studied carefully

middle modifier can be ambiguous

in D and E, "having" can modifies the previous clause or latter clause and so is wrong

experts, pls comment
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by Tommy Wallach » Mon Feb 04, 2013 9:32 pm
Hey All,

Lots of great work here. I think you hit all the big issues, but everybody likes a good wrap-up post!
During the early years of European settlement on a continent that was viewed as "wilderness" by the newcomers, Native Americans, intimately knowing the ecology of the land, were a help in the rescuing of many Pilgrims and pioneers from hardship, or even death.

(A) Native Americans, intimately knowing the ecology of the land, were a help in the rescuing of
(B) Native Americans knew the ecology and the land intimately and this enabled them to help in the rescue of
(C) Native Americans, with their intimate knowledge of the ecology of the land, helped to rescue
(D) having intimate knowledge of the ecology of the land, Native Americans helped the rescue of
(E) knowing intimately the ecology of the land, Native Americans helped to rescue
(A) "intimately knowing" is a weird use of the participle, because it generally implies something temporary/present, rather than something that was inherently and perpetually true. More problematic is the "were a help in the rescuing of..." This is simply wrong from an idiomatic perspective. You can say "They aided in the rescuing of many pilgrims," but you can't say "They helped in the rescuing of many pilgrims." There's no reason. It's just idiomatic. No can do.

(B) This has the idiom issue discussed above. Also, the verb "knew" is now being modified by the opening clause "During the early years..." This is wrong, because the Native Americans knew that stuff all the time, not just during those years. (In (A), the modifier is modifying the verb "were," which is okay, because they may only have helped during those years).

(C) Correct!

(D) The participial modifier has nothing to modify! Native Americans can't come later in the sentence. The only time you can get away with a participle modifier preceding the noun is at the beginning of the sentence: "Having run from the police for twenty years, Steve was finally captured on Columbus Day." Also "helped the rescue" doesn't make much sense.

(E) As in (D), the participial modifier can't precede the modified object. The idiom at the end is just fine.

Hope that helps!

-t
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by tanviet » Wed Feb 06, 2013 6:52 am
(D) The participial modifier has nothing to modify! Native Americans can't come later in the sentence. The only time you can get away with a participle modifier preceding the noun is at the beginning of the sentence: "Having run from the police for twenty years, Steve was finally captured on Columbus Day." Also "helped the rescue" doesn't make much sense.

(E) As in (D), the participial modifier can't precede the modified object. The idiom at the end is just fine.

Thank you Manhantan expert.
pls explain the preceding modifier above, I do not understand.
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by Tommy Wallach » Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:45 am
Hey Duong,

Sorry, but I'm not quite sure what it is you don't understand. What I'm saying is that participles shouldn't precede the noun they modify, except at the beginning of the sentence.

In (D), the participle "having" is meant to modify "Native Americans," which comes after it. (E) does the same thing with the participle "knowing".

Does that make sense?

-t
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