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seen vs saw

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by pakaskwa » Sat Mar 07, 2009 5:19 pm
A thoroughly frightened child was seen by her cowering in the corner of the room.

A. A thoroughly frightened child was seen by her cowering in the corner of the room.
B. Cowering in the corner of the room a thoroughly frightened child was seen by her.
C. She saw, cowering in the corner of the room, a thoroughly frightened child.
D. A thoroughly frightened child, cowering in the corner of the room, was seen by her.
E. She saw a thoroughly frightened child who was cowering in the corner of the room.

OA is
C. I chose E.
Can someone tell me why it was wrong?
(Source: Barron's GMAT, 2007-2008)
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by PAB2706 » Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:53 pm
I think E shud be the answer. In E "who" bcomes and essential modifier an talks bout the frightened child cowering in the corner.

In option C i can interpret tht she was cowering in the corner of the room when she saw a frightened child.
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Re: seen vs saw

by karmayogi » Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:03 am
pakaskwa wrote:A thoroughly frightened child was seen by her cowering in the corner of the room.

A. A thoroughly frightened child was seen by her cowering in the corner of the room.
B. Cowering in the corner of the room a thoroughly frightened child was seen by her.
C. She saw, cowering in the corner of the room, a thoroughly frightened child.
D. A thoroughly frightened child, cowering in the corner of the room, was seen by her.
E. She saw a thoroughly frightened child who was cowering in the corner of the room.

OA is
C. I chose E.
Can someone tell me why it was wrong?
(Source: Barron's GMAT, 2007-2008)
First, option A, original sentence, is in passive form. Second, in "...her cowering in ther corner...," 'cowering' is near to 'her', so she was cowering and not the child. An option that is in active form and maintains the meaning of original sentence will be the right option. Hence, option C is correct. E changes the meaning by saying child was cowering.
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by pakaskwa » Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:12 am
Yes I boiled down to C and E, and I chose E, because I think C is awkward.

Besides, the child was cowering, because he/she was thoroughly frightened. Isn't it?
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by dgr8onerip » Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:37 am
IMO-E
it is close to being completely correct.
who was cowering .. is placed near the child hence it is correct

my only logical counter to the point raised by karmayogi is that if A is wrong then it may convey a wrong message.
I agree that it is only grammatically wrong but shuffling the words changes the meaning of a sentence. Hence wrong words can convey wrong messages

moreover, if the child is frightened then he or she should cower, There is no logic in she cowering.

Anyway it is ambiguous and also i personally do not like the quality of questions in barrons.

I just hope that such questions do not pop up in front of me during gmat :)
target score- anything above 700
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by karmayogi » Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:57 am
dgr8onerip wrote: ...
moreover, if the child is frightened then he or she should cower, There is no logic in she cowering.
...
I agree with you dgr80nerip on the logical front, but the rule of thumb is we should maintain the meaning of original sentence.

Thoroughly confused :?
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by mals24 » Sun Mar 08, 2009 4:20 am
karmayogi wrote:
dgr8onerip wrote: ...
moreover, if the child is frightened then he or she should cower, There is no logic in she cowering.
...
I agree with you dgr80nerip on the logical front, but the rule of thumb is we should maintain the meaning of original sentence.

Thoroughly confused :?
Even I agree with dgr8onerip's logic. C totally changes the 'intended' meaning. Answer should be E.
Karma the rule is if your stuck between the original sentence and another option and you cannot find any grammatical error between the 2 options, then you should maintain the meaning of the original sentence. Its not a general rule that you should always stick with the original meaning. It is important to see if the sentence makes sense logically as well.
You can't say: A hen was seen by a dog laying eggs!!! :)
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by karmayogi » Sun Mar 08, 2009 8:59 am
mals24 wrote:
karmayogi wrote:
dgr8onerip wrote: ...
moreover, if the child is frightened then he or she should cower, There is no logic in she cowering.
...
I agree with you dgr80nerip on the logical front, but the rule of thumb is we should maintain the meaning of original sentence.

Thoroughly confused :?
Even I agree with dgr8onerip's logic. C totally changes the 'intended' meaning. Answer should be E.
Karma the rule is if your stuck between the original sentence and another option and you cannot find any grammatical error between the 2 options, then you should maintain the meaning of the original sentence. Its not a general rule that you should always stick with the original meaning. It is important to see if the sentence makes sense logically as well.
You can't say: A hen was seen by a dog laying eggs!!! :)
"A hen was seen by a dog laying eggs!!!" example is really good. It makes the issue cristal clear :) Thanx
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by pakaskwa » Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:02 pm
"A hen was seen by a dog laying eggs!!!" lol that makes me laugh. Good example! The dog must be wondering, "what the heck is the hen doing?"

Thank you guys for your discussion! I think it's fair to say that E is correct and Barron's OA is wrong.
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by bend_the_rulz » Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:41 am
I agree that Barron's E is wrong..
And the way they have expalined it is that since Child is the object of suspense in this sentence, it should be kept at the end of the sentence...
What CRAP???/ :D
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by lilu » Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:03 am
"A hen was seen by a dog laying eggs!!!" :lol: great example!!!
Def. E is better than C :!:
The more you look, the more you see.
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