Lily Bart

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 777
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:02 am
Location: Mumbai, India
Thanked: 117 times
Followed by:47 members

Lily Bart

by komal » Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:52 am
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

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 69
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:18 pm
Thanked: 3 times

by nox104 » Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:05 am
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.

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 526
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:47 pm
Location: India
Thanked: 68 times
GMAT Score:680

by harshavardhanc » Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:07 am
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.
Regards,
Harsha

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 106
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 3:16 am
Thanked: 4 times
GMAT Score:700

by samarpan_bschool » Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:10 am
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'.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 114
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:51 am
Thanked: 8 times
GMAT Score:680

by Fiver » Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:35 am
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.
Last edited by Fiver on Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:13 pm
Location: Greater NYC
Thanked: 14 times

by prinit » Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:37 am
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.