Sentence Correction

In A.D. 391. resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria, later generations lost all but the lliad and Odyssey among Greek epics, most of the poetry of Pindar and Sappho, and dozens of plays by Aeschylus and Euripides.

(A) resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria,

(B) the destroying of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria resulted and

(C) because of the result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world,

(D) as a result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world,155

(E) Alexandria's largest library of the ancient world was destroyed, and the result was

OA : D

OE : D, the best choice, uses the idiomatic as a result o/and conveys information unambiguously. In A, the phrase that begins resulting from cannot properly modify later generations. The word order of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria generates ambiguity: one possible reading is that the ancient world was located at Alexandria. Choice B is incorrect. Although an "-ing" verb such as destroying can sometimes act as a noun, in this case the usage is strained. Again, at Alexandria is ambiguous (as in choice A). Choice B also uses resulted ungrammatically and produces a run-on sentence (In A.D. 391, the destroying... resulted and later generations lost). In C, the phrase because of the result of is unidiomatic as well as redundant. The structure of E illogically suggests that there was more than one largest library of the ancient world and that only Alexandria's was destroyed. Furthermore, the result was should instead be the result was that.

Doubt:- I picked B, and please correct me about the follwoing doubts,

1. WHy is " the largest of the ancient world" modifier is not wrong in D. It is modifying Alexendria whereas it should modify Library.

What is the rule in case of X of Y, modifier , where both x ad y are nouns.

2. How can the sentence "the destroying... resulted and later generations lost" in B is a fragment. COnfused here.

Sorry for the long post guys.

Hi,

Refer to the following thread for detailed discussion about modifier. It contains couple of links about vital modifiers and non-vital modifiers. Hope it helps.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/sc-phrase-co ... a91d046c76

Thanks Vinayak

DOubts cleared.

vk_vinayak wrote:Hi,

Refer to the following thread for detailed discussion about modifier. It contains couple of links about vital modifiers and non-vital modifiers. Hope it helps.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/sc-phrase-co ... a91d046c76

shekhar.kataria wrote:In A.D. 391. resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria, later generations lost all but the lliad and Odyssey among Greek epics, most of the poetry of Pindar and Sappho, and dozens of plays by Aeschylus and Euripides.

(A) resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria,

(B) the destroying of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria resulted and

(C) because of the result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world,

(D) as a result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world,155

(E) Alexandria's largest library of the ancient world was destroyed, and the result was

OA : D

OE : D, the best choice, uses the idiomatic as a result o/and conveys information unambiguously. In A, the phrase that begins resulting from cannot properly modify later generations. The word order of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria generates ambiguity: one possible reading is that the ancient world was located at Alexandria. Choice B is incorrect. Although an "-ing" verb such as destroying can sometimes act as a noun, in this case the usage is strained. Again, at Alexandria is ambiguous (as in choice A). Choice B also uses resulted ungrammatically and produces a run-on sentence (In A.D. 391, the destroying... resulted and later generations lost). In C, the phrase because of the result of is unidiomatic as well as redundant. The structure of E illogically suggests that there was more than one largest library of the ancient world and that only Alexandria's was destroyed. Furthermore, the result was should instead be the result was that.

Doubt:- I picked B, and please correct me about the follwoing doubts,

1. WHy is " the largest of the ancient world" modifier is not wrong in D. It is modifying Alexendria whereas it should modify Library.

What is the rule in case of X of Y, modifier , where both x ad y are nouns.

2. How can the sentence "the destroying... resulted and later generations lost" in B is a fragment. COnfused here.

Sorry for the long post guys.

Issues in B:

-- the destroying of the library resulted conveys an incomplete meaning: FROM WHAT ACTION did the destroying result?
-- at Alexandria is misplaced: the ancient world AT ALEXANDRIA implies that there were MANY ancient worlds but that only the ancient world AT ALEXANDRIA is being discussed. Not the intended meaning.
-- Generally, when the answer choices include both the DEDICATED NOUN FORM of a verb (destruction) and the GERUND form of the verb (destroying), the dedicated noun form will be preferable. A good reason to be skeptical of B.