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Meaning Issue

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by bharti.2010 » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:06 am
Source: Kaptest

Contemporary accounts of the life of Charlemagne, crowned emperor by the pope in 800, show that the founder of the Carolingian renaissance in literature and the arts was himself an illiterate driven by his desire for a civilized state to reform education in his kingdom.

A. that the founder of the Carolingian renaissance in literature and the arts was himself an illiterate driven by his desire

B. that the founder of the Carolingian renaissance in literature as well as in the arts was himself an illiterate and also driven by his desire

C. that the founder of the Carolingian renaissance in literature and the arts was himself an illiterate and that he was driven by his desire

D. that the founder of the Carolingian renaissance in literature as well as in the arts was himself an illiterate and that he was driven by his desire

E. that the founder of the Carolingian renaissance in literature and the arts was himself an illiterate and that his desire drove him
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by tuanquang269 » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:18 am
"the founder was himself illiterate" alone does not show the full meaning. In other way, "X is itself Y" looks very vague. It should be " the founder was himself illiterate driven by his desire".

So, the correct choice is A IMO
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by ColumbiaVC » Fri Dec 16, 2011 6:41 pm
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by GmatVerbal » Sun Dec 18, 2011 9:05 pm
IMO -E; Equal emphasis on the driven by desire;
A -- The required emphasis for driven by desire is not present in A; Also (A) appears to mean that founder as rest of the members is an illiterate driven by desire;
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by VivianKerr » Tue Dec 20, 2011 10:14 am
The first main difference among the answer choices is "as well as in" versus "and." Since the meaning is the same for both, "and" is preferable. Eliminate B and D.

Between C and E, C has the active voice "was driven by" as opposed to the passive "his desire drove him." So "style-wise," E is out.

Down to A and C.

A makes it clear that Charlemagne was the one "driven." C is slightly ambiguous. When it comes down to it, we just don't require the second "and that he." One relative clause is more concise.

IMO: A
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by shekhar.kataria » Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:29 am
Thank God, my observations matched with any of the instructors for the first time... i second Vivian in every single error she points out.
VivianKerr wrote:The first main difference among the answer choices is "as well as in" versus "and." Since the meaning is the same for both, "and" is preferable. Eliminate B and D.

Between C and E, C has the active voice "was driven by" as opposed to the passive "his desire drove him." So "style-wise," E is out.

Down to A and C.

A makes it clear that Charlemagne was the one "driven." C is slightly ambiguous. When it comes down to it, we just don't require the second "and that he." One relative clause is more concise.

IMO: A
Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.--Thomas A. Edison

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by GmatVerbal » Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:56 am
I feel that driven by is passive voice and drove him is active voice.
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