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Is this sentence correct ?

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Is this sentence correct ?

by goelmohit2002 » Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:36 am
Hi All,

Source:
https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentenc ... aylor.html

Can somebody please tell is this sentence correct ? I am not able to make much sense from the first part of the sentence.

Born Janet Miriam Taylor Caldwell near Manchester, England, on Sep. 7, 1900, her family moved to the U.S. when the future author was six.

a) her family moved to the U.S. when the future author was six
b) her family then moved, when the future author was six, to the U.S.
c) her family, when the future author was six, then moved to the U.S.
d) when the future author was six, her family moved to the U.S.
e) the future author moved with her family to the U.S. at age six.

Thanks
Mohit
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by Courtney » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:47 pm
The answer is E.

A, B, C, and D are all saying that the family was born near Manchester with the name Janet, which makes no sense. A phrase like "Born Janet Miriam Taylor Caldwell near Manchester, England, on Sep. 7, 1900" needs to be followed immediately with the subject. In this case, the subject is "the future author."
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by goelmohit2002 » Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:48 am
What is the meaning of the modifier

"Born Janet Miriam Taylor Caldwell near Manchester"

if Janet is name of place...then shouldn't it be followed by "in" or "near" after "Born" ?
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by gmat740 » Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:46 am
Hello everyone,
I did this question by eliminating the wrong answers;
a) her family moved to the U.S. when the future author was six
This is a passive voice.better to avoid in GMAT.
b) her family then moved, when the future author was six, to the U.S.
c) her family, when the future author was six, then moved to the U.S.
a Case of misplaced modifier

Now confusion prevails over D and E

Even,
A phrase like "Born Janet Miriam Taylor Caldwell near Manchester, England, on Sep. 7, 1900" needs to be followed immediately with the subject. In this case, the subject is "the future author."
In both the case the phrase is followed by subject "the future author"

please explain
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by goelmohit2002 » Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:58 am
Hi All,

Please also share your opinion whether this is indeed a correct sentence. We are solving the problem. But my original doubt remains ...whether the problem is correct or not :-)

Thanks
Mohit
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by gmat740 » Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:16 am
Even I do have the same confusion.
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by kris_hansy » Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:04 pm
I think E.

Have you ever heard:
Born in December, Maria's face had a scar?
No. Why? Because "Born" tells about Maria, not Maria's face. Now, doesn't "her" (a relative pronoun) sound the same as" Maria"'s? Hence, "her" can't open the second clause.
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Her

by gmat740 » Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:23 pm
Have you ever heard:
Born in December, Maria's face had a scar?
No. Why? Because "Born" tells about Maria, not Maria's face. Now, doesn't "her" (a relative pronoun) sound the same as" Maria"'s? Hence, "her" can't open the second clause.
In both the cases D and E her is not opening the Second Clause,so can you explain please
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Re: Her

by kris_hansy » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:48 am
[quote="gmat740"][quote]Have you ever heard:
Born in December, Maria's face had a scar?
No. Why? Because "Born" tells about Maria, not Maria's face. Now, doesn't "her" (a relative pronoun) sound the same as" Maria"'s? Hence, "her" can't open the second clause.[/quote]

In both the cases D and E her is not opening the Second Clause,so can you explain please[/quote]

E is correct. 'D', "when the future author was six," just distances "her from the first clause. So, "Born...." is still modifying "her", not "she" or "the author".
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by goelmohit2002 » Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:17 am
Hi All,

Can somebody please tell what is the meaning of the following modifier in the above sentence:

"Born Janet Miriam Taylor Caldwell near Manchester"

Thanks
Mohit
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by Jatinder » Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:05 am
goelmohit2002 wrote:Hi All,

Can somebody please tell what is the meaning of the following modifier in the above sentence:

"Born Janet Miriam Taylor Caldwell near Manchester"

Thanks
Mohit
The red one's are modifier, and the bold one is the subject, which is indeed a long name :-)
So leave all the modifier, and concentrate on the subject.
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by goelmohit2002 » Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:07 am
Thanks. But don't you find this separation of modifier to be awkward....or this is correct as per ETS style ?
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by lunarpower » Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:00 am
goelmohit2002 wrote:Hi All,

Can somebody please tell what is the meaning of the following modifier in the above sentence:

"Born Janet Miriam Taylor Caldwell near Manchester"

Thanks
Mohit
this is not a "separated modifier".

this means that her name at birth was j.m.t.c.
presumably her name changed later, most likely at marriage, but possibly as the result of a deliberate name change.

you see this all the time. example:
bob dylan, born robert zimmerman in 1941, is an american singer-songwriter.

you can think of this as a shorthand version of "born with the name _____", if that helps, but it's perfectly standard formal written english.
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by lunarpower » Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:05 am
in any case, the answer to this question is clear: the initial modifier must modify the woman herself, so the noun coming after the comma must be the author herself. (e), the only answer choice that does this, is the correct answer.

still, the writing is just ... awful.
SC sentences are supposed to stand alone and not require context. this one can't stand alone, because it doesn't give the name by which j.m.t.c. is now known; additionally, "the future author" is awkward in a single sentence, although it could fit quite naturally into the rhythm of an entire paragraph about this author (whatever her name might be!).

more sloppy writing - i'd beware of whatever source you got this from.
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by goelmohit2002 » Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:41 am
Thanks Ron for clearing the confusion abt the name change....i was not aware of this....

Actually the source is from one of the very reputed coaching institute's material in India.....

I also searched on the net earlier....please see the link below for this question:

https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentenc ... aylor.html
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