Lincoln, discovering

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Lincoln, discovering

by heymayank08 » Sun May 06, 2012 5:41 pm
Lincoln, discovering in young manhood the secret that the Yankee peddler has learned before him, knew how to use a good story to generate good will.
(A) Lincoln, discovering in young manhood the secret that the Yankee peddler has learned before him, knew
(B) Discovering in young manhood the secret that the Yankee peddler has learned before him, Lincoln knew
(C) Lincoln, discovering the secret that the Yankee peddler had learned in young manhood before him, knew
(D) In young manhood Lincoln discovered the secret that the Yankee peddler had learned before him;
(E) Lincoln, discovered in young manhood the secret that the Yankee peddler had learned before him, knew


[spoiler]option A clearly stands by the property of modifiers and thus clearly states the meaning...my question is why the option A is wrong here...
pls explain yr IMO also[/spoiler]
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Sun May 06, 2012 5:50 pm
The use of present perfect "has learned" in A and B is incorrect.

C moves "in young manhood" so that it modifies the "Yankee peddler" instead of Lincoln.

D works, though I don't like the semicolon at the end; I believe it should be a colon.

E changes from "discovering" to "discovered", which makes it sound like Lincoln himself was discovered.

Where is this from?
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by ihatemaths » Mon May 07, 2012 4:47 am
can the main verb be in "Ing" form ?

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by Gaurav 2013-fall » Mon May 07, 2012 7:51 am
IMO C

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Mon May 07, 2012 7:56 am
ihatemaths wrote:can the main verb be in "Ing" form ?
It can, but you need a linking verb with it as well:

I was riding to the store when the storm began.
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by heymayank08 » Mon May 07, 2012 8:47 am
thanx bill..
but the OA given is B...
should i consider it as wrong??

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Mon May 07, 2012 9:09 am
Yes. The use of present perfect is blatantly wrong.
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by heymayank08 » Mon May 07, 2012 9:15 am