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OG SC Q No 25

Expert replies
by ronnie1985 » Thu May 10, 2012 8:38 am
I do not find that the sentence is grammatically incorrect in first place. Also the official explanation could not convince me that there is grammatical mistake in the sentence.

Based on accounts of various ancient writers, scholars have painted a sketchy picture of the activities of an all-female cult that, perhaps as early as the sixth century B.C., worshipped a goddess known in Latin as Bona Dea, "the good goddess."

(B) Basing it on various ancient writers' accounts,
(C) With accounts of various ancient writers used for a basis,
(D) By the accounts of various ancient writers they used,
(E) Using accounts of various ancient writers,

Please explain. the OA is (E)
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by Birottam Dutta » Thu May 10, 2012 9:46 am
Probably you feel that the original clause modifies scholars just as well as the clause in E does. I just feel that E is a better choice than A.

Experts may please advise!
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Thu May 10, 2012 9:17 pm
A uses a participial phrase. If a participial phrase starts a sentence, it must modify the noun after the comma.

Who/what is based on accounts of various ancient writers? It's the sketchy picture, not the scholars.

E also uses a participial phrase, but it's a phrase that describes the scholars.

Who/what is using accounts of various ancient writers? The scholars are.
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