Choice A This sentence incorrectly pairs a singular subject, "Theodore Dreiser," with a plural verb, "rank." It should be noted that the subject of this sentence is singular. "Together with" does not form a compound subject, though you may be tempted to think so. For future reference, "along with" and "as well as" also do not form compound subjects.
The phrase between the commas describes Theodore Dreiser and has no effect on the following verb. Don't be confused by the fact that the plural noun "contemporaries" is next to the verb "rank" in the sentence; these words are in fact disconnected by the comma that comes between them.
Choice B is correct. This choice corrects the subject/verb disagreement in the original sentence. The subject "Theodore Dreiser" is singular, so the verb "rank" should also be singular. The singular form of the verb "ranks" is correct here.
Choice C is wordy and awkward. The word "rank" can be used as a verb (in the original sentence) or as a noun (in this choice), but the phrase "has the rank of" is usually only used to refer to specific rank, such as "general" or "grandmaster."
Choice D is not as concise and clear as choice B. There is no clear reason to change the verb "rank" into the noun "ranking;" in fact, the words have slightly different meanings.
Choice E transforms the sentence into a fragment-an incomplete sentence. A verbal (in this choice, the participle "ranking") cannot be the main verb of the sentence. In effect, this choice turns everything after the second comma into a phrase that describes Theodore Dreiser. However, Dreiser doesn't actually do anything-there is no main verb in this sentence.
Consider this simpler situation with the same problem:
Incorrect: John, the baker's son, dancing in the street... (No main verb! "Dancing" describes John's state).
Correct: John, the baker's son, dances in the street (Main verb: "dances").
Choice B is correct.
karthikpandian19 wrote:Theodore Dreiser, together with Edith Wharton and her contemporaries, rank as one of the nation's great pioneers of naturalism, a literary style based on the belief that social conditions and hereditary traits exert an inescapable force on human character.
(A) rank as one
(B) ranks as one
(C) has the rank of one
(D) has the ranking of one
(E) ranking as one
Regards,
Karthik
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