E

We need a comma after Lily Bart as it is modifying "The House of Mirth". Further, B / D are wrong because of was / which.

komal wrote:In 1905, The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton's novel about the blighted aspirations of Lily Bart was published by Scribner's and it was a reputable press in the early twentieth century.

(A) Lily Bart was published by Scribner's and it was
(B) Lily Bart, published by Scribner's, and was
(C) Lily Bart was published by Scribner's, being
(D) Lily Bart, which was published by Scribner's, was
(E) Lily Bart, was published by Scribner's,

OA E Source kaplan 800

The House of Mirth was published by Scribner's is the message which needs to be conveyed.

Edith Wharton's novel about the blighted aspirations of Lily Bart should modify The House of Mirth, and should be within commas.

a reputable press in the early twentieth century refers to Scribner's and should modify it. Most concise construction would be to write this clause after Scribner's with a comma in between.

Hence E.

It is a case of modifier issue here.


In 1905, The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton's novel about the blighted aspirations of Lily Bart was published by Scribner's and it was a reputable press in the early twentieth century.

(A) Lily Bart was published by Scribner's and it was
(B) Lily Bart, published by Scribner's, and was
(C) Lily Bart was published by Scribner's, being
(D) Lily Bart, which was published by Scribner's, was
(E) Lily Bart, was published by Scribner's,

Here there are two modifiers -
- Edith Wharton's novel about the blighted aspirations of Lily Bart which should modify 'The house of Mirth'
- a reputable press in the early twentieth century which should modify scribner's

Option A -> IT refer to 'The house of mirth' and hence wrong
Option B -> The subject of 'was' is 'The house of mirth' and hence wrong
Option C -> The usage of 'being' itself is awkward and 'being' refers to 'The house of mirth' !! WRONG
Option D -> same as option B

Option E -> clear - notice the pair of commas before and after this phrase - Edith Wharton's novel about the blighted aspirations of Lily Bart . It clearly modifies 'The house of mirth'.

Agree with nox104.
We need a comma after the modifier.

The primary thing to notice here is that the modifier 'a reputable press...' needs to be placed next to 'Scribner's', which appears to be the name of the press.

E is good.

komal wrote:In 1905, The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton's novel about the blighted aspirations of Lily Bart was published by Scribner's and it was a reputable press in the early twentieth century.

(A) Lily Bart was published by Scribner's and it was
(B) Lily Bart, published by Scribner's, and was
(C) Lily Bart was published by Scribner's, being
(D) Lily Bart, which was published by Scribner's, was
(E) Lily Bart, was published by Scribner's,

OA E Source kaplan 800

My pick is E. One more comma splice question...
>>Correct usage of comma to establish the necessary relationship with antecedent.
E wins clearly.