vikram4689 wrote:Thanks Mike. Few queries
1. B/ has 2 modifiers Appositive(a form of ownership of the pre-Columbians) and participle(respected by the Spaniards) As you mentioned that Appositive NEED to be || and hence need preposition "to" in this case. IS IT SAME with PARTICIPLE modifier. I mean if a participle modifier is modifying a subject of preposition and object of preposition does not make sense then would it be correct or incorrect.
Construction i am talking is "sub. of prep" "prep" "object of prep", participle modifier
Mitch &
bubbliiiiiiii already addressed many of these concerns, but because you asked me by name, I feel obliged to respond.
First of all, apposition is a special case of parallelism and needs to have parallel structure. Apposition also is a kind of modifier.
Most modifiers (adjective, relative pronoun phrases, participles, etc.) do
not have parallel structure. Rather, they just tag on to the noun they modify as is, without any adjustment to their structure. Apposition is very special --- what's true for apposition is not true for most modifiers.
Correct:
I lent my chemistry book to Maria, who is studying for her exam.
Incorrect:
I lent my chemistry book to Maria, to who/whom is studying for her exam.
vikram4689 wrote:2. If i were to make B correct whether following sentence would work OR what would be correct way. At the time of the Mexican agrarian revolution, the most radical faction, that of Zapata and his followers, proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to a form of ownership of the pre-Columbians and respected by the Spaniards
At the time of the Mexican agrarian revolution, the most radical faction, that of Zapata and his followers, proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to a form of ownership of the pre-Columbians and respected by the Spaniards
As is often the case, GMAT SC incorrect answers have more than one thing wrong with them. Adding the "to" brings the apposition into parallel, correcting that mistake, but that last phrase is a trainwreck. When we see "and respected by the Spaniards", that's verb or particle crying out for matching element in parallel, and it's just not there. If the end of the sentence had been something like "...
a form of ownership practiced in the pre-Columbian period and respected by the Spaniards"--- then you would have the parallelism needed. Thus, even if you toss in the "to", (B) is still incorrect.
vikram4689 wrote:3. Using the analysis you provided, All but E can be eliminated. How to eliminate E. I have read that although "that" is a restrictive modifier it can modify subject of preposition if is it clear from meaning of sentence that object of preposition does not make sense (as in my example below)
E/ "that" refers to "communal ownership of land" and NOT "land" because latter does not make sense as land cannot be "pre-columbian form ownership" ONLY one form of ownership can be equal of .
e.g. Baby came from egg of snake that was broken during earthquake. Here "that" unambiguously refers to "egg"
You are analyzing logically what the modifier should modify, but on the GMAT SC, if the modifier doesn't touch what it logically should modify, it's wrong.
One of the only exceptions is when there's a
vital noun phrase --- a phrase absolutely necessary to clarify the meaning of the noun. A vital noun phrase can come between a noun and its modifier.
In the phrase "communal ownership of land", the prepositional phrase "of land" is not vital --- "communal ownership" is pretty clear on its own, and "of land" merely clarifies a little more precisely. That's not a vital noun phrase, and therefore it cannot legitimately come between the noun ("communal ownership") and its modifier.
Yes, you are right, the phrase in (E) beginning with the word "that" unambiguously refers to "communal ownership." That is the ineluctable logical conclusion --- there's no doubt about that. The problem is: in (E)'s current phrasing, the grammar does not reflect the logic.
Grammar must reflect the logic in every way. If grammar indicates one thing and logic indicates something else, you have a faulty sentence. That's what you have in (E).
Does that make sense? Let me know if you have any further question.
Mike
