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Classical guitar!!!

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Classical guitar!!!

by rakeshd347 » Wed Oct 02, 2013 4:27 am
Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was
revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the
instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was
revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the
instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor played often in concert halls until it was revived by
Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound
despite its relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar was not prestigious and was not often played in concert halls until Andres
Segovia revived it in the mid-twentieth century, after he was won over by the sound despite
the instrument's relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar did not have prestige nor was it performed often in concert halls until its
revival by Andres Segovia, who in the mid-twentieth century was won over by the instrument's
sound despite its relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until Andres
Segovia revived it in the mid-twentieth century, when he was won over by the sound of the
relatively obscure instrument.
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by theCodeToGMAT » Wed Oct 02, 2013 4:39 am
{A} - INCORRECT; "was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert " parallelism issue
{B} - INCORRECT; "having been" is modifying "Classical Guitar"
{D} - INCORRECT; "wrong meaning"
{E} - INCORRECT; "was neither prestigious nor was often played" parallelism issue

Answer [spoiler]{C}[/spoiler]
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by vinay1983 » Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:53 am
rakeshd347 wrote:Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was
revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the
instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was
revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the
instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor played often in concert halls until it was revived by
Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound
despite its relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar was not prestigious and was not often played in concert halls until Andres
Segovia revived it in the mid-twentieth century, after he was won over by the sound despite
the instrument's relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar did not have prestige nor was it performed often in concert halls until its
revival by Andres Segovia, who in the mid-twentieth century was won over by the instrument's
sound despite its relative obscurity.

"¢ Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until Andres
Segovia revived it in the mid-twentieth century, when he was won over by the sound of the
relatively obscure instrument.
"neither" prestigious nor"obscure" or "infamous" or "notorious" would have been appropriate, but sadly none of the options have it. So it is better we eliminate options not having such construction.In short parallelism issue

Also it was Andres Segovia who was won over and who revived the guitar. So any option that does this should be correct.In short modifier issue.

All this makes only option C correct.

Hope I was of help
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by michaels » Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:20 pm
Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

(A) Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until it was revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

(B) Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor played often in concert halls until it was revived by Andres Segovia in the mid-twentieth century, having been won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

(C) Classical guitar was not prestigious and was not often played in concert halls until Andres Segovia revived it in the mid-twentieth century, after he was won over by the sound despite the instrument's relative obscurity.

(D) Classical guitar did not have prestige nor was it performed often in concert halls until its revival by Andres Segovia, who in the mid-twentieth century was won over by the instrument's sound despite its relative obscurity.

(E) Classical guitar was neither prestigious nor was often played in concert halls until Andres Segovia revived it in the mid-twentieth century, when he was won over by the sound of the relatively obscure instrument.

When an entire sentence is underlined, or most of a long sentence, the most likely issues are parallelism and modifiers. In this case, the parallel marker neither...nor guarantees that we can eliminate at least some wrong answers by looking at parallelism. First, let's make sure that the elements coordinated by the neither and the nor are logically comparable (same sort of thing) and structurally similar (same part of speech). Look at the stuff after neither and the stuff after nor, and eliminate accordingly.

(A) compares the adjective prestigious to the clause was often played, so is wrong.

(B) compares the adjective prestigious to the adjective phrase played often. This is parallel.

(C) uses a different parallel marker, the word and, to compare the clause was not prestigious to the clause was not often played. This is parallel.

(D) is tricky, but it too is parallel. This structure is fine: did not verb, nor verb. If you are unsure about this, as you might well be, it would be best to accept this answer for now. Take another pass at (D) when we're done with parallelism.

(E) compares the adjective prestigious to the clause was often played, so is wrong.

We still have B, C, and D.

(B) is wrong because the modifier having been won over incorrectly describes classical guitar (or it) rather than Segovia. Generally, an -ing word after a comma is a present participle used as an adverb to modify the previous clause. It often modifies that clause by attributing action to its subject. In this sentence, the subject of the immediately prior clause is the pronoun it.

(D) is funny. People don't generally like this answer, and it is wrong, but it's hard to pin down exactly what is wrong with it. Here are a couple of issues: First, in the original sentence, Segovia revived the instrument in the mid-twentieth century, but in (D), Segovia is won over in the mid-twentieth century. Second, did not have prestige, among other expressions, is awkward. Not much to go on, but eliminate and move on.

(C) is all that's left. I'm not crazy about the sound--I'd prefer its sound--but we have to work with what we're given.
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by [email protected] » Thu Oct 03, 2013 7:16 pm
Hi rakeshd347,

It appears that everyone noticed the "parallelism" issue in this SC. It's really the only rule that you need to use to get the correct answer.

Each of the 5 answer choices uses some type of "2-part" phrase. Some use "neither....nor", some don't. Regardless, each option presents 2 ideas that MUST be parallel in structure.

The correct answer is C. It uses: "was not _____ and was not ______" AND provides 2 parallel descriptions. Each of the wrong answers provides 2 pieces that are NOT parallel.

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