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by reply2spg » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:28 am
Source - 1000 SC

I searched on net but everywhere people are confused between C and A. However, I am confused between A and D.

What is the role played by below two red parts?

Although films about the American West depict coyotes as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills, in reality these gregarious creatures live in stable groups that occupy the same territory for long periods.

(A) films about the American West depict coyotes as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills

(B) in films about the American West coyotes are depicted to be solitary animals that howl mournfully on the tops of distant hills

(C) coyotes are depicted as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills in films about the American West

(D) films about the American West depict coyotes as if they were solitary, mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills

(E) films about the American West depict coyotes to be solitary and mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills
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by shovan85 » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:44 am
Answer is A Right!!

Just an Opinion - I dont expect my below reasoning to be correct but if it does help then let me know ;)

As per red parts I have little to say but the Basic error what I felt in D is the presence of ALTHOUGH outside the underlined part which makes the usage of AS IF obscure. "If... were" usage is meant for Hypothetical situation but the first clause of the sentence is already in Film world (distinguished from Reality), so the usage of were does not seem valid.

As per the high-lighted sections I am not able to explain (even to myself) how the adjectives, adverbs are playing role.
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by rsvaishu » Tue Oct 12, 2010 9:40 pm
imo A

in D 'as if' and comma separates the characterization of the animal and differs from the original meaning.

And about the red parts "howling mournfully'" is the right usage which means "wailing in sorrow" and never say like "sorrowfully wailing". it sounds bit awkward.

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by niksworth » Wed Oct 13, 2010 10:02 am
A is perfect.

Sometimes, simpler parallel constructions help. E.g.

1) The new film on Nazis depicts Hitler as a sympathetic dictator. - Right
2) The new film on Nazis depicts Hitler as if he were a sympathetic dictator. - Wrong

depict X as Y is the idiomatic expression. depict X as if X were Y is unidiomatic.
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by Isaac@EconomistGMAT » Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:15 pm
Niksworth is absolutely correct about the idiomatic non-idiomatic usage. The correct idiom is to depict X as Y

Besides this, think of the logic and meaning: When we add a conditional (with 'if' in this case), it changes the meaning as well and is wrong because there is no condition versus result. In terms of logic, to depict the coyotes as if they were solitary animals signifies that they are not those solitary animals, that they are 'faking' so to speak.

In addition, as concerns the highlighted phrases (adverb and adjective) both offer a proper construction but there is a change in meaning there as well. In A as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills it is clear that the animals howl on top of the hills, but in D solitary, mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills , this nuance is gone as the place of the howling is no longer clear as it is in A. Normally, with adverbs (and modifiers generally), you also need to check whether there is a change in meaning.
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