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punctuation,pronoun-- slightly tough

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by nandy1984 » Fri Mar 30, 2012 5:32 pm
Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved from the previous year, only look less appetizing than their round and red supermarket cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are more flavorful.
A. cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are
B. cousins, often green and striped, or with plenty of bumps and bruises, although
C. cousins, often green and striped, or they have plenty of bumps and bruises, although they are
D. cousins; they are often green and striped, or with plenty of bumps and bruises, although
E. cousins; they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but they are

Cannot decide between A and E...
We don't use A as we are talking about the Heirloom tomatoes not the other ones so need to include a semicolon?...Please explain...thanks
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by patanjali.purpose » Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:40 am
nandy1984 wrote:Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved from the previous year, only look less appetizing than their round and red supermarket cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are more flavorful.
A. cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are
B. cousins, often green and striped, or with plenty of bumps and bruises, although
C. cousins, often green and striped, or they have plenty of bumps and bruises, although they are
D. cousins; they are often green and striped, or with plenty of bumps and bruises, although
E. cousins; they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but they are

Cannot decide between A and E...
We don't use A as we are talking about the Heirloom tomatoes not the other ones so need to include a semicolon?...Please explain...thanks
Btn A and E both appears ok, but when we look closely in A "often green and striped" seems to modify 'round and red supermarket cousins'. But this meaning is absurd - how can RED tomatoes be GREEN as well?. Drop A

E - use of SEMICOLON avoid this confusion over whether "often green and striped" refers to RED TOMATOES or HEIRLOOM TOMATOES. IMO use of THEY is ok (as it refers to SUBJECT PRONOUN of the previous clause ie HEIRLOOM TOMATOES. IMO E
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:32 am
patanjali.purpose wrote:
Btn A and E both appears ok, but when we look closely in A "often green and striped" seems to modify 'round and red supermarket cousins'. But this meaning is absurd - how can RED tomatoes be GREEN as well?. Drop A

E - use of SEMICOLON avoid this confusion over whether "often green and striped" refers to RED TOMATOES or HEIRLOOM TOMATOES. IMO use of THEY is ok (as it refers to SUBJECT PRONOUN of the previous clause ie HEIRLOOM TOMATOES. IMO E
Nailed it. We know "often green and striped" is supposed to refer to heirloom tomatoes, so placing it after "round and red supermarket cousins" is incorrect. Thus, we go with E.

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by [email protected] » Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:18 am
Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved from the previous year, only look less appetizing than their round and red supermarket cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are more flavorful.
A. cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are
B. cousins, often green and striped, or with plenty of bumps and bruises, although
C. cousins, often green and striped, or they have plenty of bumps and bruises, although they are
D. cousins; they are often green and striped, or with plenty of bumps and bruises, although
E. cousins; they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but they are

Yes exactly, Bill and patanjali are right... options A,B and C get cancelled out then and there as 'often green and striped' modifies the Heirloom tomatoes' cousins i.e the red and round ones.

So we are left with the options D and E. Option E is more parallel and hence option E.

But remember one thing that even after the semi-colon is used, the pronoun 'they' does not have a clear antecedent until and unless you read the whole sentence. the last part 'but they are' gives you an idea that 'they' refers to the Heirloom tomatoes and not the red ones...


So always be cautious in the pronouns part as the clear antecedent is always hidden...

Hope this helps...
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