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reversed order (o-v-s)

by vikram4689 » Mon Jul 09, 2012 5:19 pm
To Josephine Baker, Paris was her home long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate , and she remained in France during the Second World Was as a performer and an intelligence agent for the Resistance.
(A) To Josephine Baker, Paris was her home long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate
(B) For Josephine Baker, long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Paris was her home
(C) Josephine Baker made Paris her home long before to be an expatriate was fashionable
(D) Long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Josephine Barker made Paris her home
(E) Long before it was fashionable being an expatriate, Paris was home to Josephine Baker

I feel C is reversed order version of D. actually 'it' in D is standing for 'to be an expatriate' then why C is incorrect
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by eagleeye » Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:00 pm
vikram4689 wrote:To Josephine Baker, Paris was her home long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate , and she remained in France during the Second World Was as a performer and an intelligence agent for the Resistance.
(A) To Josephine Baker, Paris was her home long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate
(B) For Josephine Baker, long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Paris was her home
(C) Josephine Baker made Paris her home long before to be an expatriate was fashionable
(D) Long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Josephine Barker made Paris her home
(E) Long before it was fashionable being an expatriate, Paris was home to Josephine Baker

I feel C is reversed order version of D. actually 'it' in D is standing for 'to be an expatriate' then why C is incorrect
In terms of meaning, the following two sentences convey the same idea:
a. To be an expatriate was fashionable.
b. It was fashionable to be an expatriate.

Now, the sentence starting with the "introductory it" is preferable to the one starting with the infinitive.
Typically, we like to choose the active voice form over the passive voice form. When the first example, which uses a passive voice construction, is used in the sentence which contains active voice "Josephine Baker made Paris her home" and "she remained", the usage is awkward and skewed (non-parallel).

Since "to be.... was fashionable" is first, in the non-preferred form, and second, skewed grammatically from the rest of the sentence, we can't choose C.

Let me know if this helps :)
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:50 pm
My biggest problem with c is "before" followed by an infinitive (to be). The -ing form works better:

She called before arriving at my house.

Vs.

She called before to arrive at my house.
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by vikram4689 » Tue Jul 10, 2012 2:33 am
eagleeye wrote:
vikram4689 wrote:To Josephine Baker, Paris was her home long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate , and she remained in France during the Second World Was as a performer and an intelligence agent for the Resistance.
(A) To Josephine Baker, Paris was her home long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate
(B) For Josephine Baker, long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Paris was her home
(C) Josephine Baker made Paris her home long before to be an expatriate was fashionable
(D) Long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Josephine Barker made Paris her home
(E) Long before it was fashionable being an expatriate, Paris was home to Josephine Baker

I feel C is reversed order version of D. actually 'it' in D is standing for 'to be an expatriate' then why C is incorrect
In terms of meaning, the following two sentences convey the same idea:
a. To be an expatriate was fashionable.
b. It was fashionable to be an expatriate.

Now, the sentence starting with the "introductory it" is preferable to the one starting with the infinitive.
Typically, we like to choose the active voice form over the passive voice form. When the first example, which uses a passive voice construction, is used in the sentence which contains active voice "Josephine Baker made Paris her home" and "she remained", the usage is awkward and skewed (non-parallel).

Since "to be.... was fashionable" is first, in the non-preferred form, and second, skewed grammatically from the rest of the sentence, we can't choose C.

Let me know if this helps :)
can you please explain how 1) is in passive voice. 'was' is an intransitive verb and we don't have passive voice for intransitive verbs
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by eagleeye » Tue Jul 10, 2012 4:25 am
vikram4689 wrote: can you please explain how 1) is in passive voice. 'was' is an intransitive verb and we don't have passive voice for intransitive verbs
You are right vikram4689. Poor choice of words on my behalf. In the sentence under discussion, "was" is indeed intransitive, since it takes no direct object. And we can rarely, if at all, do a passive voice construction when intransitives are used.
That being said, the idea still remains the same. When dealing with sentences starting with infinitives, it is preferable to use the "It + verb + subject complement + infinitive phrase" rather than "infinitive+ verb + subject complement". Unless, of course, the sentence starting with the infinitive an adage or the focal point of the sentence.

Hence,
"It is great to be here" is preferred to "To be here is great."
"It is dangerous to play with fire" is preferred to "To play with fire is dangerous".

Again, if the context required so, the non-"it" form may be used to emphasize the infinitive phrase.
Example:
To err is human.
To beat the GMAT was his only goal.
In these sentences, we want to emphasize the infinitive, hence the context makes it prudent to use the "Infinitive+verb+subject complement" form.

In the Josephine Baker sentence, "To be an expatriate" was not the focal point of the sentence. Hence it was preferable to use "It was fashionable...." in this case. I agree with Bill's comment as well that using "long before+ to be...." is inappropriate, and the verb+ing works better. Let me know what you think :)
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by vikram4689 » Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:00 am
eagleeye wrote:
vikram4689 wrote: can you please explain how 1) is in passive voice. 'was' is an intransitive verb and we don't have passive voice for intransitive verbs
You are right vikram4689. Poor choice of words on my behalf. In the sentence under discussion, "was" is indeed intransitive, since it takes no direct object. And we can rarely, if at all, do a passive voice construction when intransitives are used.
That being said, the idea still remains the same. When dealing with sentences starting with infinitives, it is preferable to use the "It + verb + subject complement + infinitive phrase" rather than "infinitive+ verb + subject complement". Unless, of course, the sentence starting with the infinitive an adage or the focal point of the sentence.

Hence,
"It is great to be here" is preferred to "To be here is great."
"It is dangerous to play with fire" is preferred to "To play with fire is dangerous".

Again, if the context required so, the non-"it" form may be used to emphasize the infinitive phrase.
Example:
To err is human.
To beat the GMAT was his only goal.
In these sentences, we want to emphasize the infinitive, hence the context makes it prudent to use the "Infinitive+verb+subject complement" form.

In the Josephine Baker sentence, "To be an expatriate" was not the focal point of the sentence. Hence it was preferable to use "It was fashionable...." in this case. I agree with Bill's comment as well that using "long before+ to be...." is inappropriate, and the verb+ing works better. Let me know what you think :)
Thanks, your reasoning makes sense to me. As far as Bill's comment is concerned, i have one query. 'BEFORE' is acting as conjunction. why -ing form is preferred. 'to be an expatriate' is a noun phrase ... what is wrong with it
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by mv12 » Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:41 am
Should be D.
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by mv12 » Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:44 am
in C before to be an expatriate is awkward.
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:46 pm
vikram4689 wrote:
eagleeye wrote:
vikram4689 wrote: can you please explain how 1) is in passive voice. 'was' is an intransitive verb and we don't have passive voice for intransitive verbs
You are right vikram4689. Poor choice of words on my behalf. In the sentence under discussion, "was" is indeed intransitive, since it takes no direct object. And we can rarely, if at all, do a passive voice construction when intransitives are used.
That being said, the idea still remains the same. When dealing with sentences starting with infinitives, it is preferable to use the "It + verb + subject complement + infinitive phrase" rather than "infinitive+ verb + subject complement". Unless, of course, the sentence starting with the infinitive an adage or the focal point of the sentence.

Hence,
"It is great to be here" is preferred to "To be here is great."
"It is dangerous to play with fire" is preferred to "To play with fire is dangerous".

Again, if the context required so, the non-"it" form may be used to emphasize the infinitive phrase.
Example:
To err is human.
To beat the GMAT was his only goal.
In these sentences, we want to emphasize the infinitive, hence the context makes it prudent to use the "Infinitive+verb+subject complement" form.

In the Josephine Baker sentence, "To be an expatriate" was not the focal point of the sentence. Hence it was preferable to use "It was fashionable...." in this case. I agree with Bill's comment as well that using "long before+ to be...." is inappropriate, and the verb+ing works better. Let me know what you think :)
Thanks, your reasoning makes sense to me. As far as Bill's comment is concerned, i have one query. 'BEFORE' is acting as conjunction. why -ing form is preferred. 'to be an expatriate' is a noun phrase ... what is wrong with it
Suboordinating conjunctions usually take the -ing form rather than the infinitive. After running, not after to run, for example.
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