Sentence Correction

To Henry David Thoreau, harmony with nature was his ideal a century
and a half before it became popular to be an environmentalist, and he
retained his fascination with and respect for nature as essential elements of his
lifestyle until his death.

A: ...
B: For Henry David Thoreau, a century and a half before it became popular to
be an environmentalist, harmony with nature was his ideal

C: Henry David Thoreau idealized harmony with nature a century and a half
before to be an environmentalist became popular

D: A century and a half before it became popular to be an environmentalist,
Henry David Thoreau idealized harmony with nature

E: A century and a half before it became popular being an environmentalist,
harmony with nature was ideal to Henry David Thoreau

IMO (D)


A: To Henry David Thoreau, harmony with nature was his ideal a century and a half before it became popular to be an environmentalist

B: For Henry David Thoreau, a century and a half before it became popular to be an environmentalist, harmony with nature was his ideal

C: Henry David Thoreau idealized harmony with nature a century and a half before to be an environmentalist became popular

D: A century and a half before it became popular to be an environmentalist, Henry David Thoreau idealized harmony with nature

E: A century and a half before it became popular being an environmentalist, harmony with nature was ideal to Henry David Thoreau[/quote]

Is it A?

IMO D ...
What's the OA ?

reply2spg wrote:Is it A?

I think this is Grockit Question.

I wanted to post it too. How can "IT" be used to refer to Henry David??

kvcpk wrote:I think this is Grockit Question.

I wanted to post it too. How can "IT" be used to refer to Henry David??

"it" does not refer to Thoreau - the pronoun "it" is tricky because it can also be used as a subject in a clause which has no natural subject, and in this capacity does not (and is not required) to refer to anything. Think of "it is raining" to see what I mean: the sentence has no subject (nothing that does the action "is"), so the pronoun "it" acts as a subject, and does not refer to anything.

I believe the answer is D. A pronoun cannot refer to a noun which immediately precedes it in the same clause ("sentence correction, it is a bitch" is awkward and not as good as a simple "sentence correction is a bitch"), a rule which eliminates A and B - "his" cannot refer to David Thoreau. Another way of looking at the same is that the possessive "his ideal" is redundant because the idea is already expressed by the use of the prepositional phrase "for Henry David Thoreau". If a had used "for H.D.T, harmony was an ideal", then we'd be talking.

C is eliminated by the awkward use "to be an environmentalist" as a subject.

E is eliminated by the unnecessary use of passive.

What's the OA?

Two questions :

1. Is it a good question to study ?
2. Does not D communicate meaning an obstructed way and it is not as good as it is in A ?

and of course, what is OA ?

The way D uses He in not underlined clause, GMAT ,generally, never repeats subject unless it is too far away and lost among modifiers in between .

Geva Stern wrote:

kvcpk wrote:I think this is Grockit Question.

I wanted to post it too. How can "IT" be used to refer to Henry David??

"it" does not refer to Thoreau - the pronoun "it" is tricky because it can also be used as a subject in a clause which has no natural subject, and in this capacity does not (and is not required) to refer to anything. Think of "it is raining" to see what I mean: the sentence has no subject (nothing that does the action "is"), so the pronoun "it" acts as a subject, and does not refer to anything.

I still dont get the intended meaning of the Sentence in option D.
What is "A century and half before" modifying?
what is "to be an environmentalist" modifying?

As I understand, Became popular to be an environmentalist should modify Henry David.
It seems to modify IT here.

kvcpk wrote:

Geva Stern wrote:

kvcpk wrote:I think this is Grockit Question.

I wanted to post it too. How can "IT" be used to refer to Henry David??

"it" does not refer to Thoreau - the pronoun "it" is tricky because it can also be used as a subject in a clause which has no natural subject, and in this capacity does not (and is not required) to refer to anything. Think of "it is raining" to see what I mean: the sentence has no subject (nothing that does the action "is"), so the pronoun "it" acts as a subject, and does not refer to anything.

I still dont get the intended meaning of the Sentence in option D.
What is "A century and half before" modifying?
what is "to be an environmentalist" modifying?

As I understand, Became popular to be an environmentalist should modify Henry David.
It seems to modify IT here.

There is a similar sentence in the OG.

"before it becmae fashionable,....

See that explanation.

gmat_perfect wrote:
There is a similar sentence in the OG.

"before it becmae fashionable,....

See that explanation.

Thanks Perfect, I Understand the intended meaning now. The language looked shabby to me in this question. I was able to get to the answer in OG question.

Thanks Once again.