Good question!

Let us try by process of elimination:

Firstly, you definitely need a comma after herself, or else the sentence seems to indicate that "herself" sold for 5.1 million and not the representation of herself, in other words the Self-Portrait.

Absence of comma eliminates A and D.

We do not require "which" here because using the comma after herself automatically connects "sold for 5.1 million" with self potrait.

So, B gets eliminated.

So, now we are left with C and E.

And is incorrect in E because the conjunction separated the two clauses and what we want is a connection.

C is the only one left and is correct grammatically.

Hence, C!

Thanks Birottam Dutta for you reply.

Regarding A and E, i was thinking that we can eliminate these two options on the usage of commas.
In A, there are two independent clauses "Frida Kahlo's early representation of herself sold for $5.1 million and it was the highest price... "
comma is missing here. Comma is needed to join two independent clauses. This is subtle, but i think we can eliminate on this base.

Second, E. herself, sold for $5.1 million, and was
Comma is not required here because there is no subject.

Really want to know what others say about this error.

Regards
Vinni

vinni.k wrote:Thanks Birottam Dutta for you reply.

Regarding A and E, i was thinking that we can eliminate these two options on the usage of commas.
In A, there are two independent clauses "Frida Kahlo's early representation of herself sold for $5.1 million and it was the highest price... "
comma is missing here. Comma is needed to join two independent clauses. This is subtle, but i think we can eliminate on this base.

Second, E. herself, sold for $5.1 million, and was
Comma is not required here because there is no subject.

Really want to know what others say about this error.

Regards
Vinni

In A - if you consider "Frida Kahlo's early representation of herself sold for $5.1 million" as the main clause the what is the significance of "self-potrait" ?

the correct structure is :

in july 2011 ( adverb of time), "self-portrait" ( subject), modifier, was sold for x million, modifier.

E - though E eliminate the error as in A by making the "self portrait" as the subject of the core sentence - "slef-portrait" sold for x million.

but here "and was" is incorrect.
1. lack of subject ( as you have mentioned)
2. "and" signifies two independent events, while here both are linked from meaning perspective.

there was a traffic jam on the highway, and I got late.
as there was a traffic jam on the highway, I got late. -- this is far better than the first one.

Moreover, passive construction "was sold" is better here - as the "self-portrait" cannot do the selling by itself. This itself eliminate both A,B and E.


Hope this helps !!

Thanks avik.ch.

Vinni

A--we need a comma with "and" to link two independent clauses

B--seems to say "Self-Portrait...was the highest price ever paid..." which is nonsensical

C--works well. "Self-Portrait...was sold for $5.1 million, the highest price..."

D--needs a comma after "herself" to close off the modifying phrase, and the use of "being" in the modifying phrase at the end is awkward

E--by using "and was", the sentence creates an incorrect compound predicate: "Self-Portrait...sold for...and was the highest price..."

Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:A--we need a comma with "and" to link two independent clauses

Bill, thanks for your reply.
I eliminated choice A for the same reason and choice E for using the comma.

Vinni