vishal.pathak wrote:
Hmm interesting.
I. Misquoting facts: I have put the link to the post where the expert has answered. One has to be really bad at basic logic to say that I misquoted fact. The link to the post was there for people to READ the expert's comments and then judge what he has said. Gat your facts right on this
II. What 2 different contexts. There is 1 post and there is one context. Anyways, I dont even want to know what you were thinking when you wrote that. It hardly makes any difference to my GMAT preparations so ugly words like those should better be ignored
III. If you are not capable enough to understand that good English holds the key to success in GMAT SC then I don't even what to waste my time to explain you it's importance.
PS: You are a member of the forum. Please don't try to become an administrator
Regards,
Vishal
I will start with prepostional modifier and by the end of this post I think your doubt will be cleared.
Prepositional modifier can act as a noun modifier aka adjective and as a verb modifier aka adverb. This is dependent on the placement and on the logical meaning of the sentence.
I killed Joe in 1988. Here the prepositional phrase "in 1988" is a adverb of time and hence an adverb modifier.
The school board gave a rise to the teachers. - "to the teachers" is a prepositional phrase acting as an adverb of reception.
He acted like an expert - like an expert is an adverb of manner.
Apart from a adverb, preposition can also act as an noun modifier - This is the only point of discussion here. It is only in this case where the prepositional modifier is placed close to the noun it modifies and this is not the case when it is verb modifier.
I ate the brownie which was in the box. -- "which was in the box" is a relative clause, and GMAT do not use this construction as this is wordy. The better way to write this is to remove "which was" - this will be now : I ate the brownie in the box. - here "in the box" is acting as an adjective.
The refrigerator in the centre of the room..............---- If you want to test whether the prepositional phrase is acting as an adjective or an adverb - apply which/relative pronoun test.
The refrigerator which is in the centre of the room.... - yes " in the room " is an adjective and not an adverb of place.
Now refer the sentence above : I killed Joe in 1988 - you may argue here that "in 1988" is a adjective phrase but apply the test here to know whether it is a adverb or a adjective. I killed joe which is in 1988. -- illogical.
But if there is any ambiguity, you can consider this sentence as wrong in GMAT. Consider this :
I wrote a book in the table. - what is "in the table" modifying, it can be both adverb of place or adjective.
Please refer OG-12, # 38. Please refer Mitch explanation, as he have used this same concept to solved this problem :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/please-help- ... 81781.html
Now coming to your problem :
Early medieval monasteries, while clearly less accessible to outsiders, often served as repositories for texts, like modem libraries.
Here : "Like" is also a preposition.
I acted like X. - Like X is an adverb here and acted is an Intransitive verb.
But I dont understand how you are drawing an analogy for prepositional phrase when it is acting as an verb modifier to noun modifier. Mitch have explained this from comparison point of view - Yes regarding prepositional modifier, as "like X" generally act as an adverb modifier, it doesnt mater where you place it as long as there is a clear and unambigious comparison. Lets consider the example I stated above :
I acted in the XXXXX located in YYYY like AA. - here there are two adverb phrase : " in the XXXXX located in YYYY" and "like AAA" -- it doesnt mater where you locate like AA - as long as there is a clear comparison or reference. This close placement is valid for noun modifier and not for verb modifier. Here its an verb modifier. Your are correct that :
I acted like AA in the XXXXX located in YYYY. - is better than - I acted in the XXXXX located in YYYY like AA. But I would say better and not correct/incorrect.
Here the comma is not making any difference - as non restrictive adverb clause are derived from the restrictive adverb clause. Consider this :
I killed joe in 1988. Converting it into Non restrictive one : In 1988, I killed joe. So in case of adverb clause, there is no difference with and without comma. But this is only applicable for all types of verbs ( linking, be, transitive) but not for intransitive.
here :
Early medieval monasteries - subject
while clearly less accessible to outsiders - adjective modifying the subject
often served as repositories for texts - main clause
like modem libraries - non restrictive adverb.
P.S : I am too a member of this forum and not an expert. I would second GmatVerbal's view that we have to choose the best out of the five. In this question all except this are blatantly wrong.
Hope this helps !!
