OG-12.47

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rishijhawar: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 138; Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:24 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by rishijhawar » Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:45 am

48. In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, 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.
(A) his translation of the Iliad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced
(B) his translation of the Iliad, a work that took him seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced
(C) 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
(D) translating the Iliad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it as
(E) translating the Iliad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it

[spoiler]OA-D. Would be great if you could please explain rationale for all the options
[/spoiler]

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:45 am

deep.amangmat: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 86; Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 7:54 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 8 times

by deep.amangmat » Sat Jun 25, 2011 4:29 pm

In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, 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.
(A) his translation of the Iliad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced - NO verb for subject - "that"

(B) his translation of the Iliad, a work that took him seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced - CORRECT

(C) 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 - Incorrect verb tense - had taken. The action "took" completed at a point in time in the past so no need of perfect tense. Also, no need to use past perfect.

(D) translating the Iliad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it as - Extra "it". No need of "it". "until completion" is awkward. Incorrect modifier - work modifies Iliad instead of the translation of Iliad.

(E) translating the Iliad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it - same as D with verb tense error as well.

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Calvin123: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 63; Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:25 pm; Thanked: 3 times

by Calvin123 » Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:11 am

rishijhawar wrote:48. In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, 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.
(A) his translation of the Iliad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced
(B) his translation of the Iliad, a work that took him seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced
(C) 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
(D) translating the Iliad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it as
(E) translating the Iliad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it

[spoiler]OA-D. Would be great if you could please explain rationale for all the options
[/spoiler]

Hi Rishi,
Buddy you should check your answer it should be B only, it cant be D, because D has issues many issues as marked by deep.amangmat.

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rishijhawar: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 138; Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:24 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by rishijhawar » Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:43 am

Thanks All. Sure Calvin, will do.

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rishijhawar: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 138; Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:24 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by rishijhawar » Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:13 am

Aman, in D, you mentioned work modifies Iliad instead of the translation of Iliad. Doesn't the same logic applies in B. I see B makes more sense, but not 100% sure in this context. Thanks

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deep.amangmat: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 86; Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 7:54 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 8 times

by deep.amangmat » Mon Jun 27, 2011 7:54 am

Hmm I see what you are asking. Well I myself was stuck with this initially. But even if you cannot get to this error in Choice D, there is one another error - "it" pronoun. So you would have eliminated this choice based on pronoun error.

Now your question why the difference in modifier reference between the two expressions
- translating the Iliad
- translation of the Iliad

I can reason this in my mind. But I am not sure if I can explain this well enough in grammatical terms. I will give it a shot anyways.

When I say translating the Iliad, I am refering to an action
translating
translating what
translating the Iliad.
so Iliad is a separate entity here

On the other hand, when I say translation of the Iliad, I have one single noun phrase - translation of the Iliad. This is considered as a single entity.

Hope this makes sense. As I said earlier, I can reason it in my mind and see how these two are different, but I may not have been able to communicate the difference in terms of grammatical terms.

Would be great if someone else or an expert could chip in here.

Thanks,

Aman

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rishijhawar: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 138; Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:24 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by rishijhawar » Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:45 am

Hi, can we have an expert comment here. thx

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