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when you have X of Y, then X is the subject? see OG problem

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when you have X of Y, then X is the subject? see OG problem

by Redhorsep » Sat Nov 26, 2011 7:54 pm
Hi,

Please tell me if my guess is right:
When you have "X of Y, (modifier)" type of situation, then the modifier is supposed to modify X?
This question pops up as I went through this OG problem:

In 1713, Alexander Pople began his translation of the Illiad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced the greatest translation in any language.

Setting aside the fact that original sentence is wrong, it got the "his translation of the Illiad, a work that, etc." right.

Whereas in this one, the meaning is distorted because of modifier meaning error:
translating the Illiad, a work that took seven years until etc.


Thanks!
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by avik.ch » Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:09 am
Alexander People began his translation of the Illiad - here "a work" refer to the noun phrase "translation of the Illiad". In your words "X of Y" and not X or Y alone.

Please note that here "his" is a very important word.

Alexander Pople began translating the Illiad, a work.... - here the "a work" refer only to the Illiad and not "his translation of the illiad". This is not something that we want to imply ( meaning error)
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by darwin » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:07 pm
I still have question regarding "pronounced it as". To me, I seems that in C, "that somebody pronounced greatest..." is still not correct. Shouldn't it be "pronounced it as"? Please explain
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by e-GMAT » Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:41 am
darwin wrote:I still have question regarding "pronounced it as". To me, I seems that in C, "that somebody pronounced greatest..." is still not correct. Shouldn't it be "pronounced it as"? Please explain
Hi,
@darwin: I guess you want to say that you feel in choice B somebody "pronounced the greatest" does not seem right to you. It should rather be "pronounced it as" as in choices C and D. If that's the case then here is the explanation.

Let us first take choice C: In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, a work that had taken seven years to complete, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it as the greatest translation in any language.

If we break this sentence to understand the role of the modifier better, then it will read: In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, a work that literary critic Samuel Johnson pronounced it as the greatest translation in any language.

Notice that "a work" is modifying "translation of the Iliad" that has already been directed to by the word "that". In other words, Pope's "translation of the Iliad" is the work that critic Samuel Johnson pronounced the greatest translation in any language. In that case, use of pronoun "it" to refer to the same work again is ungrammatical.

For example: Joe recently bought iPhone 4S, a phone that the techies label the best in the market right now.
It will not be correct if we say: Joe recently bought iPhone 4S, a phone that the techies label "it" the best in the market right now.

As far as the use of "as" after "pronounced" goes, it is actually optional. Use of "as" is not necessary after "pronounced". This does not affect the meaning of the sentence.

For example:
1. Williams College, in Williamstown, Mass., was rated the best liberal-arts college in the U.S., followed by Amherst College in Massachusetts and then Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. (https://online.wsj.com/article/SB125071411648744047.html)

2. Cooper Lighting's product was rated as the best performing LED fixture after measuring light levels and was ultimately chosen for its low profile, superior energy savings and payback. (https://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-201 ... 07437.html)

Hope this helps.
Shraddha

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