Sentence Correction

Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, because he was excited with the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls for producing electric power, he predicted in the mid-1890's that electricity generated at Niagara would one day power the streetcars of London and the streetlights of Paris.

(A) Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, because he was excited with the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls for producing electric power, he
(B) The prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power was exciting to Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, and so he
(C) Excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power, Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current,
(D) Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls for the production of electric power and
(E) The inventor of alternating current, excited with the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls for producing of electric power, Nikola Tesla

Please explain.

Why D and E are wrong? [Without "excited with".]

Thanks.

gmat_perfect wrote:Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, because he was excited with the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls for producing electric power, he predicted in the mid-1890's that electricity generated at Niagara would one day power the streetcars of London and the streetlights of Paris.

(A) Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, because he was excited with the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls for producing electric power, he
(B) The prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power was exciting to Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, and so he
(C) Excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power, Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current,
(D) Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls for the production of electric power and
(E) The inventor of alternating current, excited with the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls for producing of electric power, Nikola Tesla

Please explain.

Why D and E are wrong? [Without "excited with".]

Thanks.

In A and E, excited with is not idiomatic. Eliminate A and E.

In B, was (singular) does not agree with its subject prospects (plural). Eliminate B.

In D, predicted (verb) is not parallel with excited (adjective). Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.

Another error in D and E:
It is unclear whether excited is modifying inventor or Nikola Testa. If it's unclear what a modifier is modifying, eliminate the answer choice.

I have found the use of "excited with" in some standard writings:

You're always very excited with the kids who are crying on graduation day.
Some kids got a bit excited with the drums.
I'm excited with the way this has turned out.

These three sentences are from nytimes.com.

Would you please explain why "excited with" is not correct.

Should i just memorize this idiom?

Thanks.

gmat_perfect wrote:I have found the use of "excited with" in some standard writings:

You're always very excited with the kids who are crying on graduation day.
Some kids got a bit excited with the drums.
I'm excited with the way this has turned out.

These three sentences are from nytimes.com.

Would you please explain why "excited with" is not correct.

Should i just memorize this idiom?

Thanks.

Excited with is not idiomatic. Seeing this construction in print does not make it correct. The correct idioms are excited by and excited about.

Many Thanks GuruNY for your explanation, but i still have one question

in (C) Excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power, Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current,

Where ", Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, " are between two commas, if we remove them from the sentence this will give us : "Excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power predicted in the mid-1890's"


this sentence is nonsensical , i'm asking this because i thought that when a sentence contains a group of words between commas the sentence itself is correct as long as we can remove them without any harmful incidences, and this isn't the case here.

Please correct me if i'm wrong.

Thanks again.

amaelle wrote:Many Thanks GuruNY for your explanation, but i still have one question

in (C) Excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power, Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current,

Where ", Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, " are between two commas, if we remove them from the sentence this will give us : "Excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power predicted in the mid-1890's"


this sentence is nonsensical , i'm asking this because i thought that when a sentence contains a group of words between commas the sentence itself is correct as long as we can remove them without any harmful incidences, and this isn't the case here.

Please correct me if i'm wrong.

Thanks again.

You're misinterpreting how the commas are functioning:

The comma before Nikola Testa sets off the introductory modifying phrase:

Excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power,...

The commas that follow Nikola Testa set off the phrase that is an apposition to Nikola Testa:

...., the inventor of alternating current,...

The phrase above, which is set off by commas, can be removed from the sentence:

Excited about the prospects of harnessing Niagara Falls to produce electric power, Nikola Testa predicted....

Nikola Testa is the subject of the sentence and cannot be removed.

Wonderful explanation, it is clear now!!