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A syntax SC

by limestone » Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:26 pm
He play the violin with ease and with skill; hardly taking time to glance at the score.

A. skill; hardly taking time
B. skill, hardly tanking time
C. skill; scarcely taking time
D. skill. Hardly taking time
E. skill, he hardly takes time

[spoiler]OA : B[/spoiler]
"There is nothing either good or bad - but thinking makes it so" - Shakespeare.
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by gmat_perfect » Sat Oct 30, 2010 11:46 pm
limestone wrote:He play the violin with ease and with skill; hardly taking time to glance at the score.

A. skill; hardly taking time
B. skill, hardly tanking time
C. skill; scarcely taking time
D. skill. Hardly taking time
E. skill, he hardly takes time

[spoiler]OA : B[/spoiler]
The tricks:

Clause: A clause MUST have a subject and a verb.

Semicolon (;): Semicolon can join two independent clauses in the following ways:

1. Clause + Semicolon (;) + Clause.

Example:
The were playing in hockey; I was playing football.

2. Clause + Semicolon (;) + Conjunctive Adverb + COMMA (,) + Clause

Example:
They were playing hockey; however, I was playing football.

Two clauses cannot be joined by:
--> COMMA ONLY
--> WITHOUT ANY PUNCTUATION.

Now, look at the options:

A. skill; hardly taking time

--> Semicolon (;) + Clause should be there, but "hardly taking..." is not a clause.

B. skill, hardly tanking time

--> CORRECT

C. skill; scarcely taking time

--> Semicolon (;) + Clause: scarcely taking...is not a clause.

D. skill. Hardly taking time

--> Period + Clause should be correct, but Hardly taking time....is not a clause.

E. skill, he hardly takes time

---> COMMA + Clause has been used. It makes a run on sentence.

Answer is B.
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by Jim@Grockit » Mon Nov 01, 2010 8:29 pm
gmat_perfect wrote:
Two clauses cannot be joined by:
--> COMMA ONLY
--> WITHOUT ANY PUNCTUATION.
Your analysis of the question is correct, but the quoted part is only true of independent clauses. You can definitely say "Because I got home after she left, I had to eat dinner alone." (two dependent clauses with no punctuation between them at the beginning)
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