Plz clarify - how to deal such questions

[Natashangmat]

Can anyone plz help me out in understanding how to deal with such questions?

What do we call such sentences? like below (that are between '-')

The lack of such medals — by comparison, two were awarded for fighting in Somalia — reflects today's unconventional warfare and the superior weaponry of U.S. forces


More than fifty years after the Second World War, a number of African American soldiers were awarded―some of them posthumously―[u]with the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was the nation’s highest military award, and which was long overdue in[/u] recognition of their outstanding bravery.
A. with the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was the nation’s highest military
award, and which was long overdue in
B. with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for
long-overdue
C. the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was the nation’s highest military
award, long-overdue in
D. the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for longoverdue
E. the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, in longoverdue



[/b]

[acecoolan]

These are essentially modifiers and they modify (or describe) the subject clause. So in your first example
"by comparison, two were awarded for fighting in Somalia" - just further describes or enhances the main subject clause (The Lack of medals).

I would say the best way to deal with them is to ignore them

So u read the sentence as
The lack of such medals reflects today's .....

As for the answer to the question you posted, well I am stuck between 'A' and 'C'.

I think I would go with 'A' though.

Whats the OA?

[Natashangmat]

it's E....

is there anything wrong with 'awarded with'?

[acecoolan]

Wow ....well in hindsight 'E' also looks ok and is actually better.

Idiomatically I think 'awarded the medal' is better than 'awarded with the medal' - though in written English, I have seen both usages

Also 'E' has 'in recognition of' which is again the correct usage. What confused me there was the word 'longoverdue', shouldnt that be 'long-overdue' or 'long overdue' and not those 2 words together?

I guess some grammar expert can explain this better - I might not be doing justice here.

[rohangupta83]

We say ''Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.'' and not 'awarded with'.

[Bidisha800]

I'm finding it hard to deal with this type of unedited, messy posts.

[kris610]

I'm not sure if E is right..."in long overdue" is not right...

C seems a better option of the given choices..In OA, "awarded with" is a wrong idiom.

[andy9590]

I'm not sure if E is right..."in long overdue" is not right...

C seems a better option of the given choices..In OA, "awarded with" is a wrong idiom.

I am with you on this one. C seems to be right. What is the correct answer?

[uttara]

More than fifty years after the Second World War, a number of African American soldiers were awarded―some of them posthumously―with the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was the nation’s highest military award, and which was long overdue in recognition of their outstanding bravery.
A. with the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was the nation’s highest military
award, and which was long overdue in
B. with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for
long-overdue
C. the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was the nation’s highest military
award, long-overdue in
D. the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for longoverdue
E. the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, in longoverdue

'awarded with' is wrong idiom, so A & B are ruled out.
C somehow doesnot feel right. i dont know why

So the choice boils down to between D and E.
D - lack of comma leads to faulty cause-effect modification. ie "the nation’s highest military award" (is the effect) for "longoverdue recognition of their outstanding bravery"( which is the cause)

E - commas are used to introduce modifier clause "the nation’s highest military award" which is preceded and followed by the commas. Removing this modifier clause from the sentence wont change the overal meaning of the sentence.

Hence E

[uttara]

C may not be right because "long-overdue" needs to modify "recognition" so it should precede "recognition" ie "in long-overdue recognition of their outstanding bravery"

[NSNguyen]

IMO: B

[vivek.kapoor83]

IMO C.OA pls.

[rohangupta83]

rewarded 'with'
awarded 'the'

[nervesofsteel]

IMO E

A - awarded with is not the right usage
B - same as A

C - use of was is not correct as the medal is still an honor
D- changes the meaning that the medal was awarded FOR a delay.. instead the medal is awarded for services...

E - should be correct

[4meonly]

Why D and E lost hyphens?

They should be
D. the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for long-overdue
E. the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, in long-overdue

Until this D and E use grammatically incorrect words and cannot be the right answers.

Correct idiom:
award a medal to

that's why A & b are cancelled

C. the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was the nation’s highest military award, long-overdue in - cancel
D. the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for long-overdue - cancel
E. the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, in longo-verdue - take it