ltidltid wrote:Once a while, I can see the although clause as the opening modifer in OG problems, sentences like"Although he is rich, Tom lives an economical life. " However, is it legitimate to say:

1. Although rich, Tom lives an economical life.

2. Although a rich man, Tom lives an economical life.

Are they both correct? Could anyone please explain?

Thanks a lot!

Hi, I am happy to help. The difference between "Although he is rich, Tom lives an economical life", and the two examples you have mentioned is that in the first case "Although" acts as a conjunction and is being used to connect two clauses - that is, two independent noun and verb constructions. This is the most common usage on the GMAT, and is perfectly correct.

In the following examples:

ltidltid wrote: 1. Although rich, Tom lives an economical life.
2. Although a rich man, Tom lives an economical life.

The phrase containing "Although" - that is, the first half - acts as a modifying phrase (almost like an adjective), and hence after the comma, we need to have the subject immediately after the comma. Note that there is no verb in either sentence in the first half. It is similar to this example below:

Coming out of the store, John dropped his wallet

In this case, the highlighted portion acts as an adjectival phrase - i.e., something that describes a noun - and hence we must have "John" immediately after the comma. The noun after the comma answers the question of "Who is coming out of the store?" Similarly, in the above cases, the noun immediately after the comma must answer the question of "Who is (a) rich (man)?" - that is, the phrase starting with "Although" must describe the noun it touches (after the comma). This doesn't have to be true in case of sentences where "Although" simply connects two contrasting clauses.

For example:

Although John (noun) was (verb) sick, his principal did not exempt him from the test: we are simply connecting two clauses "John was sick" and "his principal did not exempt". Note that the two subjects on either side - John and his principal - are different

Although sick, John was not exempt from the test: Here we need "John" to answer the question of "Who was sick?" since there is no verb in the first half, and the entire phrase acts as an adjective.

Hope this clears things up.

Thanks for your detailed explanation! Akrita@Jamboree

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You use although to introduce a subordinate clause which gives some information that is relevant to the main clause but modifies the strength of that statement.

Although is used to introduce a subordinate phrase that provides information that is related to the main sentence but weakens the assertion.

They use though to introduce a subordinate clause that contains information relevant to the main clause but modifies the meaningfulness of this declaration.