Sentence Correction

The three volumes of the author's biography begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at Stanford University, one of the best universities in the United States.
(A) begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate
(B) that begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate
(C) beginning with his childhood in a small village and culminating
(D) have begun with his childhood in a small village and culminated
(E) are begun as a child in a small village and culminate

Answer:
As the sentence is in present tense, we can eliminate choices which are not in simple present tense.
C,D,E --- Eliminated

left with A and B,A is better than B.
OA is A.

I want to understand the reason which is given in book to eliminate B and C,reasons are:
B : is missing main verb.
C : this sentence is fragment because it is missing main verb.

Can someone please put some light on the above choices. (how B is missing main verb and C causes sentence fragment).

Thanks.

remove one of the best universities in the US as that is a modifier. So sentence remains
The three volumes of the author's biography begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at Stanford University.
in B) The three volumes of the author's biography that begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at Stanford University..... it seems that sentence is incomplete.
Similarly with C) , sentence remains incomplete

Hi Cans,

Thanks for the reply, but can you please provide an example.

If the second choice as, ....University,is one of the best universities..then i think 'use of that in the second sentence will be correct'..as verb (IS) is there.
Same reason for C.

Please let me know if I am correct, also please provide one example if u can. Thanks.

cans wrote:remove one of the best universities in the US as that is a modifier. So sentence remains
The three volumes of the author's biography begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at Stanford University.
in B) The three volumes of the author's biography that begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at Stanford University..... it seems that sentence is incomplete.
Similarly with C) , sentence remains incomplete

IMO:A

anubhavgulati wrote:The three volumes of the author's biography begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at Stanford University, one of the best universities in the United States.
(A) begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate
(B) that begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate
(C) beginning with his childhood in a small village and culminating
(D) have begun with his childhood in a small village and culminated
(E) are begun as a child in a small village and culminate

Answer:
As the sentence is in present tense, we can eliminate choices which are not in simple present tense.
C,D,E --- Eliminated

left with A and B,A is better than B.
OA is A.

I want to understand the reason which is given in book to eliminate B and C,reasons are:
B : is missing main verb.
C : this sentence is fragment because it is missing main verb.

Can someone please put some light on the above choices. (how B is missing main verb and C causes sentence fragment).

Thanks.

The three volumes of the author's biography begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at Stanford University, one of the best universities in the United States.

In this sentence A is perfect. The problem in B and C is as you mentioned, fragment without a main working verb.
In B : with "that" - that begin with.......becomes a essential modifier modifying author's biography. But where is the verb. The above construction is as follows:
a noun phrase + that + essential modifier, modifier ( modifying Stanford university )
In C : beginning and culminating are gerund and not verbs.

I hope this helps

anubhavgulati wrote:The three volumes of the author's biography begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate with his years at Stanford University, one of the best universities in the United States.
(A) begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate
(B) that begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate
(C) beginning with his childhood in a small village and culminating
(D) have begun with his childhood in a small village and culminated
(E) are begun as a child in a small village and culminate

Answer:
As the sentence is in present tense, we can eliminate choices which are not in simple present tense.
C,D,E --- Eliminated

left with A and B,A is better than B.
OA is A.

I want to understand the reason which is given in book to eliminate B and C,reasons are:
B : is missing main verb.
C : this sentence is fragment because it is missing main verb.

Can someone please put some light on the above choices. (how B is missing main verb and C causes sentence fragment).

Thanks.

IMO: A
choice B: "that begin with his childhood in a small village and culminate" is an dependent clause {that is subject and begin is its verb}which suppose to attach to an independent clause ((its preceding clause) but you can see that its preceding clause is not clause indeed and it is fragmented since it missed its main verb
choice c: put this choice in the above sentence and read the whole sentence please....... you can see it is incomplete sentence.. after finishing the sentence we are still waiting to hear the rest ==> this is incomplete sentence

hope it helps

Take this example --

The television program that is aired every Sunday. - INCOMPLETE -- This sentence gives an incomplete idea about the television programs. When you use 'that' you should supply the additional but important information about the subject you are talking about.

This sentence can be completed this way ...

The television program that is aired every Sunday is very informative - Complete


Same thing is happening in case of B.