Last visit was: 25 Apr 2024, 19:55 It is currently 25 Apr 2024, 19:55

Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
SORT BY:
Date
Tags:
Difficulty: 705-805 Levelx   Meaning/Logical Predicationx   Modifiersx                           
Show Tags
Hide Tags
Manhattan Prep Instructor
Joined: 22 Mar 2011
Posts: 2642
Own Kudos [?]: 7775 [0]
Given Kudos: 55
GMAT 2: 780  Q50  V50
Send PM
Intern
Intern
Joined: 10 Feb 2019
Posts: 1
Own Kudos [?]: 0 [0]
Given Kudos: 183
Send PM
Manhattan Prep Instructor
Joined: 22 Mar 2011
Posts: 2642
Own Kudos [?]: 7775 [0]
Given Kudos: 55
GMAT 2: 780  Q50  V50
Send PM
Manager
Manager
Joined: 24 Dec 2011
Posts: 71
Own Kudos [?]: 31 [0]
Given Kudos: 212
Location: India
GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V39
GPA: 4
WE:General Management (Health Care)
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
GMATNinja wrote:
Quote:
(A) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including

The first issue is that the phrase beginning with "who" is right next to "the American theater", and that doesn't really make sense. "The American theater" isn't a person, and it didn't train generations of actors. Sure, you could maybe argue that "who trained several generations of actors..." reaches back to modify the entire phrase "one of the most influential artists in the American theater", but that's far messier than just modifying "Stella Adler", who is actually the one who trained the actors. We can argue about whether this is definitively WRONG, but at the very least, we can do better than this.

The second issue is that "including" seems to modify "several generations of actors", and that doesn't really make sense: Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro are examples of actors, not "generations of actors." It's subtle -- and probably not the worst error we've ever seen on a GMAT SC question -- but it makes (A) worse than at least one of the alternatives below.

So we can get rid of (A).

Quote:
(B) Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include

There's still a minor problem with the very last part of the underlined portion: "several generations of actors who include Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro" sounds OK, because those two fellows are examples of actors, but then why are we saying "generations of actors"? Brando and De Niro are examples of actors, not "generations of actors." And there's another problem: "include" is present tense, and it's hard to justify the use of present tense here when the other action related to the actors occurred in the past tense ("trained").

And if you aren't completely sold by that last paragraph, there's something else at the beginning of the sentence: "as an actress... Stella Adler... trained several generations of actors." No, she only "trained generations of actors" as a "teacher of acting" -- not "as an actress." Subtle and nasty. But (B) is out.

Quote:
(C) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included

That opening modifier makes sense now: "as an actress and... as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists..." Cool, that's great. The modifier "training several generations of actors..." also makes sense: it modifies the previous clause, telling us more about Stella Adler and her life as "one of the most influential artists in the American theater.

Superficially, that last part of the underlined portion looks wordy: "several generations of actors whose ranks included..." But adding the phrase "whose ranks included" actually makes the phrase clearer than in (A) or (B): Brando and De Niro were among the ranks of those generations of actors. Fair enough.

So we can keep (C).

Quote:
(D) one of the most influential artists in the American theater was Stella Adler, who trained several generations of actors including

The underlined portion is preceded by "as an actress and... as a teacher of acting", a phrase that really needs to modify "Stella Adler." It's ridiculously indirect for that phrase to modify "one of the most influential artists in the American theater." So (D) is much less clear than (C) in that part of the sentence.

Plus, we have the same minor issue with the phrase "generations of actors including..." as we did in (A). See above for more on that issue.

So (D) is gone.

Quote:
(E) one of the most influential artists in the American theater, Stella Adler, trained several generations of actors whose ranks included

(E) has the same problem as (D): the beginning of the sentence needs to modify "Stella Adler." More broadly, "Stella Adler" really needs to be the subject of the sentence, since she's the one that trained the generations of actors -- and it's an indirect mess to use "one of the most influential artists..." as the subject of the sentence.

So (E) is out, and (C) is the best option.



As "who" is the subject of the second clause, can it refer back to the subject of the previous clause?? i.e. 'Stella Adler'
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Posts: 6921
Own Kudos [?]: 63669 [0]
Given Kudos: 1774
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170

GRE 2: Q170 V170
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
Expert Reply
venkivety wrote:
As "who" is the subject of the second clause, can it refer back to the subject of the previous clause?? i.e. 'Stella Adler'

I assume you're asking about choice (A):

Quote:
(A) As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.

If we wanted to modify Stella Adler with "who trained...", then we'd have to put the "who" clause much closer to "Stella Adler". For example: "... Stella Adler, who trained several generations of actors...".

The placement of the "who" clause in choice (A) leads us to believe that it modifies "American theater" or maybe "one of the most influential artists". The "who" clause would have to jump over both of those options in order to modify "Stella", and that would make the meaning pretty darned unclear.

Choice (C) avoids this problem entirely, so it's a much better option.

I hope that helps!
Manager
Manager
Joined: 24 Dec 2011
Posts: 71
Own Kudos [?]: 31 [0]
Given Kudos: 212
Location: India
GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V39
GPA: 4
WE:General Management (Health Care)
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
GMATNinja wrote:
venkivety wrote:
As "who" is the subject of the second clause, can it refer back to the subject of the previous clause?? i.e. 'Stella Adler'

I assume you're asking about choice (A):

Quote:
(A) As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.

If we wanted to modify Stella Adler with "who trained...", then we'd have to put the "who" clause much closer to "Stella Adler". For example: "... Stella Adler, who trained several generations of actors...".

The placement of the "who" clause in choice (A) leads us to believe that it modifies "American theater" or maybe "one of the most influential artists". The "who" clause would have to jump over both of those options in order to modify "Stella", and that would make the meaning pretty darned unclear.

Choice (C) avoids this problem entirely, so it's a much better option.

I hope that helps!


thanq for ur reply and yes, i'm referring to Choice A.

But in one of your video classes, you taught that the subject in the second clause refers back to the subject in the first clause.
(While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for home owners, whose equity..... first is the dependent clause and another is the independent clause)
that's the idea of asking the question..
thanq

Originally posted by venkivety on 22 Jan 2020, 21:46.
Last edited by venkivety on 26 Jan 2020, 01:28, edited 2 times in total.
CEO
CEO
Joined: 27 Mar 2010
Posts: 3675
Own Kudos [?]: 3528 [1]
Given Kudos: 149
Location: India
Schools: ISB
GPA: 3.31
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
1
Kudos
Expert Reply
venkivety wrote:
the subject in the second clause refers back to the subject in the first clause.

Hi venkivety, for this rule to be applicable, one would generally expect a conjunction between or in the beginning of one of the clauses.

So, if the sentence had been:

Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater and she trained several generations of actors.

In this case, she (subject of the second clause) would refer back to Stella Adler (subject of the first clause).
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Posts: 6921
Own Kudos [?]: 63669 [0]
Given Kudos: 1774
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170

GRE 2: Q170 V170
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
Expert Reply
venkivety wrote:
GMATNinja wrote:
venkivety wrote:
As "who" is the subject of the second clause, can it refer back to the subject of the previous clause?? i.e. 'Stella Adler'

I assume you're asking about choice (A):

Quote:
(A) As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.

If we wanted to modify Stella Adler with "who trained...", then we'd have to put the "who" clause much closer to "Stella Adler". For example: "... Stella Adler, who trained several generations of actors...".

The placement of the "who" clause in choice (A) leads us to believe that it modifies "American theater" or maybe "one of the most influential artists". The "who" clause would have to jump over both of those options in order to modify "Stella", and that would make the meaning pretty darned unclear.

Choice (C) avoids this problem entirely, so it's a much better option.

I hope that helps!


thanq for ur reply..
yes, i'm referring to Choice A..

But in one your video classes, you taught that the subject in the second clause refers back to the subject in the first clause.
that's the idea..
thanq

The distinction here is between using a modifier, such as "who," as the subject of a clause, and using a traditional pronoun, such as "he." A modifier needs to be reasonably close to what it describes, but we have more flexibility when dealing with a pronoun.

For example:

    Tim, who has not attended medical school but has watched many YouTube videos describing the details of the procedure, should not be permitted to perform appendectomies on small children.

Here, "who" is describing "Tim" and so should be reasonably close to what it modifies. If we moved the "who" modifier to the end of the sentence, after "small children," it would give us the following:

    Tim should not be permitted to perform appendectomies on small children, who has not attended medical school but has watched many YouTube videos describing the details of the procedure.

Now it seems as though the "who" modifier is being used to describe the children, but contains a subject-verb agreement error. (Children... has?!) At the very least, it's confusing. Not good.

Contrast this example with one in which we use a pronoun, rather than a modifier as the subject of the second clause.

    Tim should not be allowed to perform appendectomies on small children because he has not been to medical school.

Now, "he" is a pronoun serving as the subject of the second clause, and the most logical place to look for the referent would be the subject of the previous clause, "Tim." This makes sense - Tim is performing both actions. So this is fine.

Takeaway: the convention - not rule - of a subject pronoun referring to the subject of the previous clause applies only to traditional pronouns, but not to modifiers, such as a phrase beginning with "who."

I hope that helps!
Manager
Manager
Joined: 01 Sep 2019
Posts: 76
Own Kudos [?]: 95 [0]
Given Kudos: 58
Location: Iran (Islamic Republic of)
GMAT 1: 680 Q50 V31
GPA: 3.1
WE:General Management (Manufacturing)
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
GMATNinja wrote:
Quote:
(C) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included

That opening modifier makes sense now: "as an actress and... as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists..." Cool, that's great. The modifier "training several generations of actors..." also makes sense: it modifies the previous clause, telling us more about Stella Adler and her life as "one of the most influential artists in the American theater.

Superficially, that last part of the underlined portion looks wordy: "several generations of actors whose ranks included..." But adding the phrase "whose ranks included" actually makes the phrase clearer than in (A) or (B): Brando and De Niro were among the ranks of those generations of actors. Fair enough.

So we can keep (C).



GMATNinja I was wondering if C is ok in terms of meaning? Because one can read it "Stella .. was ... an influential artist..., training several people ..."

And this feels like being an influential artist CAUSED her to train people.

as in "Joe played football carelessly, injuring his foot"

I admit the other options are weaker choices and C is still the best, but does it have the error I noticed or not?
Intern
Intern
Joined: 08 Dec 2019
Posts: 6
Own Kudos [?]: 0 [0]
Given Kudos: 15
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
Quote:
several generations of actors whose ranks included Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.


Can some one please explain this part? My doubt is how "ranks" include MB and RDN?

Regards,
Arup Sarkar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Posts: 6921
Own Kudos [?]: 63669 [1]
Given Kudos: 1774
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170

GRE 2: Q170 V170
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
1
Kudos
Expert Reply
sebo08 wrote:
GMATNinja wrote:
Quote:
(C) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included

That opening modifier makes sense now: "as an actress and... as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists..." Cool, that's great. The modifier "training several generations of actors..." also makes sense: it modifies the previous clause, telling us more about Stella Adler and her life as "one of the most influential artists in the American theater.

Superficially, that last part of the underlined portion looks wordy: "several generations of actors whose ranks included..." But adding the phrase "whose ranks included" actually makes the phrase clearer than in (A) or (B): Brando and De Niro were among the ranks of those generations of actors. Fair enough.

So we can keep (C).



GMATNinja I was wondering if C is ok in terms of meaning? Because one can read it "Stella .. was ... an influential artist..., training several people ..."

And this feels like being an influential artist CAUSED her to train people.

as in "Joe played football carelessly, injuring his foot"

I admit the other options are weaker choices and C is still the best, but does it have the error I noticed or not?

It's true that when an -ing modifier comes after a full clause it will often offer a consequence of the previous clause, but it could also simply provide context for it. For example:

    Tim is a mediocre father, often forgetting to change his kids' diapers for several week but always expressing his admiration when they change themselves.

Here, "forgetting" and "expressing" are modifiers that provide context for Tim's mediocrity as a parent. The fact that he's a mediocre parent didn't cause him to perform the ensuing actions. It's more likely that causality runs the other way -- he's mediocre because of his shortcomings. And that's fine. So long as there's a logical interpretation for how the -ing can modify the previous clause, it's acceptable.

Same deal in (C): "training several people" gives us context for how Stella Adler was influential. Make sense to me. At the very least, there's no reason to believe this is a definitive error.

I hope that clears things up!
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Posts: 6921
Own Kudos [?]: 63669 [1]
Given Kudos: 1774
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170

GRE 2: Q170 V170
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
1
Kudos
Expert Reply
ArupSR wrote:
Quote:
several generations of actors whose ranks included Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.


Can some one please explain this part? My doubt is how "ranks" include MB and RDN?

Regards,
Arup Sarkar

In this context, "ranks" basically just means a select group of people. You could say, for example, that the ranks of GMAT Club experts include Bunuel. (Mentioning anybody else in the same sentence would, of course, be sacrilege. ;) )

Same thing here: the "ranks" (group) of great actors includes Brando and De Niro.

I hope that helps a bit!
Intern
Intern
Joined: 11 Jan 2021
Posts: 4
Own Kudos [?]: 0 [0]
Given Kudos: 20
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
Hello egmat

Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included

How in this sentence comma + verb-ing (training...) is modifying the action of the previous clause....What action is happening ? I fail to see...

Please help me understand. Thank you.
Manager
Manager
Joined: 25 May 2020
Posts: 136
Own Kudos [?]: 13 [0]
Given Kudos: 70
Location: India
Concentration: Finance, General Management
GPA: 3.2
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
GMATNinja wrote:
Quote:
(A) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including

The first issue is that the phrase beginning with "who" is right next to "the American theater", and that doesn't really make sense. "The American theater" isn't a person, and it didn't train generations of actors. Sure, you could maybe argue that "who trained several generations of actors..." reaches back to modify the entire phrase "one of the most influential artists in the American theater", but that's far messier than just modifying "Stella Adler", who is actually the one who trained the actors. We can argue about whether this is definitively WRONG, but at the very least, we can do better than this.

The second issue is that "including" seems to modify "several generations of actors", and that doesn't really make sense: Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro are examples of actors, not "generations of actors." It's subtle -- and probably not the worst error we've ever seen on a GMAT SC question -- but it makes (A) worse than at least one of the alternatives below.

So we can get rid of (A).

Quote:
(B) Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include

There's still a minor problem with the very last part of the underlined portion: "several generations of actors who include Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro" sounds OK, because those two fellows are examples of actors, but then why are we saying "generations of actors"? Brando and De Niro are examples of actors, not "generations of actors." And there's another problem: "include" is present tense, and it's hard to justify the use of present tense here when the other action related to the actors occurred in the past tense ("trained").

And if you aren't completely sold by that last paragraph, there's something else at the beginning of the sentence: "as an actress... Stella Adler... trained several generations of actors." No, she only "trained generations of actors" as a "teacher of acting" -- not "as an actress." Subtle and nasty. But (B) is out.

Quote:
(C) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included

That opening modifier makes sense now: "as an actress and... as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists..." Cool, that's great. The modifier "training several generations of actors..." also makes sense: it modifies the previous clause, telling us more about Stella Adler and her life as "one of the most influential artists in the American theater.

Superficially, that last part of the underlined portion looks wordy: "several generations of actors whose ranks included..." But adding the phrase "whose ranks included" actually makes the phrase clearer than in (A) or (B): Brando and De Niro were among the ranks of those generations of actors. Fair enough.

So we can keep (C).

Quote:
(D) one of the most influential artists in the American theater was Stella Adler, who trained several generations of actors including

The underlined portion is preceded by "as an actress and... as a teacher of acting", a phrase that really needs to modify "Stella Adler." It's ridiculously indirect for that phrase to modify "one of the most influential artists in the American theater." So (D) is much less clear than (C) in that part of the sentence.

Plus, we have the same minor issue with the phrase "generations of actors including..." as we did in (A). See above for more on that issue.

So (D) is gone.

Quote:
(E) one of the most influential artists in the American theater, Stella Adler, trained several generations of actors whose ranks included

(E) has the same problem as (D): the beginning of the sentence needs to modify "Stella Adler." More broadly, "Stella Adler" really needs to be the subject of the sentence, since she's the one that trained the generations of actors -- and it's an indirect mess to use "one of the most influential artists..." as the subject of the sentence.

So (E) is out, and (C) is the best option.


HI GMATNinja . I had one doubt. I rejected the option C because it didn't have "those of" and I though it didnt make logical sense. "whose ranks included those xyz" would make more sense because xyz are people and it doesnt make sense. Please help.
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Posts: 6921
Own Kudos [?]: 63669 [0]
Given Kudos: 1774
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170

GRE 2: Q170 V170
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
Expert Reply
pk6969 wrote:
HI GMATNinja . I had one doubt. I rejected the option C because it didn't have "those of" and I though it didnt make logical sense. "whose ranks included those xyz" would make more sense because xyz are people and it doesnt make sense. Please help.

Anytime you see a pronoun, it's useful to substitute whatever that pronoun is referring to in its place. If the noun makes sense, the pronoun works. If it doesn't, the pronoun is no good.

So let's try that exercise if we were to add "those of." The new sentence would read as follows:

Quote:
Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included those of Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.

What is "those of" referring to here? The closest plural noun is "ranks," but it wouldn't make any sense to write "whose ranks included the ranks of Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro."

So then maybe you'd try "actors." But "whose ranks included the actors of Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro," makes it sound like Brando and De Niro have their own actors -- is that kind of like having your own pets? -- and it's these other actors who are included in the ranks. That also doesn't work -- it's Brando and De Niro themselves who are included in the ranks.

You can keep going with the exercise, but ultimately you'll see there isn't anything in the sentence that "those of" could be standing in for. And that's a good indication that not only is the phrase unnecessary, it's illogical.

I hope that clears things up!
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Posts: 4347
Own Kudos [?]: 30796 [0]
Given Kudos: 635
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
Expert Reply
SagarV wrote:
Hello egmat

Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included

How in this sentence comma + verb-ing (training...) is modifying the action of the previous clause....What action is happening ? I fail to see...

Please help me understand. Thank you.



Hello SagarV,

Sorry for the late revert. Nonetheless, here it goes. :-)


In the correct answer choice, the comma = verb-ing modifier "training..." presents the logical explanation of the preceding clause. The main sentence says that Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater. To substantiate this point, the author further mentions that she trained many generations of actors. Actors such as Marlon Brando and Rober De Niro have been trained by her.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
Intern
Intern
Joined: 14 Apr 2021
Posts: 6
Own Kudos [?]: 0 [0]
Given Kudos: 4
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
GMATNinja

I don't understand what the problem is that you are referring to when you say: "there's something else at the beginning of the sentence: "as an actress... Stella Adler... trained several generations of actors." No, she only "trained generations of actors" as a "teacher of acting" -- not "as an actress." Subtle and nasty. But (B) is out." and when you say "That opening modifier makes sense now: "as an actress and... as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists..." Cool, that's great."

What is wrong with the modifier? They are the exact same in both sentences. And if choice B had said "whose ranks included", would that not be as equally correct as choice C?
Manhattan Prep Instructor
Joined: 22 Mar 2011
Posts: 2642
Own Kudos [?]: 7775 [1]
Given Kudos: 55
GMAT 2: 780  Q50  V50
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
1
Kudos
Expert Reply
khert87
Careful--clearly we know the modifier is the same in all 5 choices, since it's not underlined. The difference is what follows it! What action does the modifier apply to? B and E say that as an actress AND as a teacher of acting, Stella trained others. That doesn't make sense. She trained them only as a teacher, not as an actress. In A and C, the opening modifier applies to "was one of the most influential artists." (D is trying to do this, but messes it up.) What does this mean? As both an actress and a teacher, she was an influential artist. Now that makes sense!
Manager
Manager
Joined: 10 Jan 2021
Posts: 157
Own Kudos [?]: 30 [0]
Given Kudos: 154
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
I got it wrong, but explanation by GMATNinja helped me understand it well. I am writing here what I could absorb

kimmyg wrote:
As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.


Structure: [Modifier], and [Modifier] <underlined portion> [Example] and [Example]
The use of "and" after the first modifier restricts the placement of a third modifier in parallel. We have no option, but to mention the subject after the second modifier.

Quote:
(A) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including

Stella Adler, the subject, follows the two modifiers in parallel. Correct.
who modifies American theater, which is incorrect
including must follow the generations of actors. However, the sentence gives examples of the people. Incorrect

(A) is incorrect

Quote:
(B) Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include

Stella Adler, the subject, follows the two modifiers in parallel. Correct.
trained modifies Stella Adler. Correct
include must follow examples of generations. However, portion not underlined gives examples of people. Incorrect

(B) is incorrect

Quote:
(C) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included

Stella Adler, the subject, follows the two modifiers in parallel. Correct.
training modifies the whole clause Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater. While this is different from (A) or (B), this still makes sense, as training other actors is something that contributes to Stella Adler being an influential artist

generations of actors whose ranks included follows the examples of "ranks". Correct

We can keep (C) for now.

Quote:
(D) one of the most influential artists in the American theater was Stella Adler, who trained several generations of actors including

Third modifier in parallel, even when "and" separates the first two. This goes against what we discussed in the beginning, and thus, is incorrect.
Again, like (A) and (B), examples of people are mentioned, while examples of generations were expected. Incorrect.

Quote:
(E) one of the most influential artists in the American theater, Stella Adler, trained several generations of actors whose ranks included

Mistake of third modifier in parallel. Same as (D). Incorrect
generations of actors whose ranks included follows the examples of "ranks". Correct

Therefore, (C) is the best option
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 21 Jun 2020
Posts: 457
Own Kudos [?]: 123 [0]
Given Kudos: 283
Location: Canada
GRE 1: Q168 V160
Send PM
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
kimmyg wrote:
As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.


(B) Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include





GMATNinja

Hi Charles, I personally decided to cross out answer choice B because I felt like the subject is awkwardly sandwiched between two modifiers "as an actress..." and "one of the most influential..". I also felt like the main verb "trained" was too far from the subject. Is this a valid reason to eliminate this or are the concerns I've mentioned nonissues?
GMAT Club Bot
Re: As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella [#permalink]
   1   2   3   4   5   
Moderators:
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
6921 posts
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
238 posts

Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group | Emoji artwork provided by EmojiOne