Sentence Correction

The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers," spoken as a bouquet consisting of roses just picked from his garden were arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.


a. as a bouquet consisting of roses just picked from his garden were arranged

b. as a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden, were arranged

c. as a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden was being arranged

d. during the arrangement of a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden

e. while they arranged a bouquet of roses that had just been picked, from his garden

what is wrong with option D ?

edited......the typo..

from where did u get this question ? the non underlined portion seems incorrect :"The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers," spoke as"
it should be "spoken"
as for D :comma +just picked from his garden in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.---->it gives a weird meaning that that "garden" is in a vase on his bedroom windowsill

abhasjha wrote:The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers," spoken as a bouquet consisting of roses just picked from his garden were arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.


a. as a bouquet consisting of roses just picked from his garden were arranged

b. as a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden, were arranged

c. as a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden was being arranged

d. during the arrangement of a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden

e. while they arranged a bouquet of roses that had just been picked, from his garden

what is wrong with option D ?

edited......the typo..

In A and B, were arranged (plural) does not agree with bouquet (singular).
Eliminate A and B.

D: the arrangement of a bouquet
A bouquet is an ARRANGEMENT of flowers.
Thus, the arrangement of a bouquet is redundant.
Eliminate D.

In E, they lacks a clear referent.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is C.

Thank you Mitch .

a. as a bouquet consisting of roses just picked from his garden were arranged

b. as a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden, were arranged

c. as a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden was being arranged- correct

d. during the arrangement of a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden - redundancy

e. while they arranged a bouquet of roses that had just been picked, from his garden

Considering option B : Is the verb 'were' referring to bouquet or flowers ?

The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers,"
spoken as a bouquet of roses, --> Modifier 1
just picked from his garden, --> Modifier 2
were arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.

I see this statement as IC, modifier1,modifier2,fragment.
Modifier 1 is modifying the "flowers"
Modifier 2 is modifying the "bouquet of roses"

Why can't the verb "were" modify the plural flowers.

DivGmat wrote:Considering option B : Is the verb 'were' referring to bouquet or flowers ?

Why can't the verb "were" modify the plural flowers.

B: A bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden, were arranged.
Here, the main verb is were arranged, while of roses is a MODIFIER serving to describe a bouquet.
Question: What KIND of bouquet?
Answer: A bouquet OF ROSES.
The subject of the main verb of a clause CANNOT be in a modifier.
Thus, the subject of were arranged cannot be roses.
As noted in my post above, the subject of were arranged is a bouquet:
A bouquet...were arranged.
Since were arranged (plural) does not agree with a bouquet (singular), eliminate B.

Hi Mitch,

Thanks for replying. But I meant flowers from the main clause.

The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers,"

spoken as a bouquet of roses, --> Modifier 1
just picked from his garden, --> Modifier 2
were arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.



Can the verb modifies the flowers from the main clause?

Isn'nt the structure IC,fragment?

DivGmat wrote:Can the verb modifies the flowers from the main clause?

Isn'nt the structure IC,fragment?

One purpose of as is to introduce a SUBORDINATE CLAUSE.
A subordinate clause serves as a modifier and has its own subject and verb.
B: The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers," spoken as a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden, were arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.
Here, as serves to introduce the subordinate clause in red.
This clause is an ADVERB serving to modify spoken, expressing WHEN when the word "flowers" was spoken.
Since this clause must have ITS OWN SUBJECT AND VERB, flowers cannot be the subject of this clause.

Hi Mitch,

This makes perfect sense to me . Thanks a lot for clarifying this.

Thanks,
Divya