First published in 1946, and comparing the ways the world

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that Mimesis is a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach that was first published in 1946, is comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible. and laid the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days.

Concepts tested here: Tenses + Verb Forms

• Present participles ("verb+ing" – “laying” in this sentence) are used to modify nouns, refer to ongoing events in any time period, and (when preceded by a comma) express cause-effect relationships.
• The simple present continuous tense is used to refer to actions that are currently ongoing and continuous in nature.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.
• The simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

A: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible", conveying the intended meaning - that Mimesis is comparing the ways the world appears in Homer's Odyssey and the ways the world appears in the Bible. Further, Option A correctly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "comparing" in this sentence) to refer to an action that is currently ongoing and continuous in nature. Additionally, Option A correctly uses the simple past tense verb "laid" to refer to an event that concluded in the past.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "laying" in this sentence) to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and present participles ("verb+ing" – “laying” in this sentence) are used to modify nouns, refer to ongoing events in any time period, and (when preceded by a comma) express cause-effect relationships. Further, Option B incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb "compared" to refer to an action that is currently ongoing and continuous in nature; please remember, the simple present continuous tense is used to refer to actions that are currently ongoing and continuous in nature, and the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "lays" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "compares" to refer to an action that is currently ongoing and continuous in nature; please remember, the simple present continuous tense is used to refer to actions that are currently ongoing and continuous in nature, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

D: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "lays" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "comparing Homer’s Odyssey with the Bible and the ways the world appears in both"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that Mimesis is comparing Homer’s Odyssey and the Bible, themselves, and comparing Homer’s Odyssey with the ways the world appears in both texts; the intended meaning is that Mimesis is comparing the ways the world appears in Homer's Odyssey and the ways the world appears in the Bible.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Simple Continuous Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

You are right and between A and E which use ‘laid’, E is out because of altered intent

C is the best answer in my opinion.

For all the other options "first published in" modifies Mimesis, which it needs to touch. Furthermore "and" after a comma is only used to connect two main clauses and "first published in" obviously isn't a main clause since there's no subject.

However, the tenses in C should be past, so I don't really see a clear correct answer, I'd just say that C is the best.

"first published in" past participle phrase and " and comparing the ways the world appears ..." present participle phrase both are modifying the same noun "Mimesis" so the modifiers are not misplaced actually,
for ex "tired, but still practicing hard, Nadal is far tenacious than his other opponents"'

(A) and comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach laid the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days
(B and laying the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach compared the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible.
laying it compared !! Wrong.
(C) Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach, compares the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, and lays the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days
compares and lays!! wrong.
(D) and comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach, lays the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days
it is not laying now!! Wrong
(E) and comparing Homer’s Odyssey with the Bible and the ways the world appears in both , Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach laid the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days
Change in meaning!!

IMO: A is the answer. What is OA?

First published in 1946, and comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach laid the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days

a) first published in 1946, and comparing the way... Modifiers modifying Mimesis.
b) Mimesis laid the foundation beginning from very early time to his days - Past tense is appropriately used here as a time frame is given.

(A) and comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach laid the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days - Looks good. Correct

(B and laying the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach compared the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible. - Changes the placement of modifiers and hence the meaning

(C) Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach, compares the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, and lays the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days - Incorrect tense.

(D) and comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach, lays the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days - Incorrect tense

(E) and comparing Homer’s Odyssey with the Bible and the ways the world appears in both , Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach laid the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days - Incorrect comparison

You should recognize that C is a trap (given that this the 3rd MOST challenging GMAT Club SC question). The modifier issue is too obvious to be the core problem. Upon closer observation, you realize that there are essentially two modifiers ('First published' participial phrase...and the 'comparing' participial phrase) and both modify Mimesis, which is acceptable. The major problem with answer choice C that eliminates it is the use of the word 'lays', which is the past tense of 'lie'. If we were talking about the present, then Mimesis would 'lay' the foundation and not 'lie' the foundation. Since we are now referring to a past event, what we need is 'laid', which is the past tense of 'lay'.

IMHO,

Choice A is the right answer.
I think there is a little typo error in Choice A.

(A) and comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach, laid the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days

There must be a COMMA after AUERBACH.
If there is no COMMA, the Choice A will be option with MODIFIER error and can be elimated straigth away.

Most people are confused with Choice C.
Though C is gramatically correct, it alters the meanig of the sentence.
Original sentence says : BY COMAPARING, MIMESIS LAID FOUNDATION
Where as C states : MIMESIS COMPARES AND LAYS FOUNDATION

Put everything aside, In GMAT "conveying the intended meaning" takes first place, ahead of any other Grammar rule.

CHOICE D: LAYS is wrong. because action ended in the past (beginning from the very early times to his days ). so LAID.

Hope doubts are clear.

If you chose C, you are too quick in reacting to the lead noun modifier (First published in 1946). We all think, ah ok after the comma, we need a book/article or whatever that can be published, and we tend to miss out on the other important clue (from the very early times to his days).

This phrase indicates that this happened in the past, so instead of using the present tense verb LAY, we should be using LAID. Go through the choices again and you will realise A is the correct answer, where First published in 1946, and comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible is one big modifier

If A is the answer, I do not think there should be a "," after First published in 1946.

The question is wrong?

May be it is true that one does not have to use a comma when two short phrases are involved. But when a long modifier is involved, then it might be okay to use a comma. And the point to note here is that, the GMAC isn’t fastidious about comma in general, unless the intended meaning gets distorted. Does the meaning here get distorted because a comma has been used? I am willing to learn f, if my understanding of GMAT is deficient-- the original poster

I tend to agree with you. But problems with A do not just stop there. Parallelism is lost between Published and Comparing. Published is what happened to the book and comparing is what it does. I am not too sure, but the sentence means that act of publishing of the book happened when the book was comparing something. Unless, I am completely muddled up I have reasonable confidence to believe there is something wrong with the option A.

anilisanil,
Hi
If that is your problem, then please look at these solid examples from OG.
Scientists have recently discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on Earth, a giant fungus that is an interwoven filigree of mushrooms and root like tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

(A) extending
(B) extends
(C) extended
(D) it extended
(E) is extending

This has two modifiers namely ‘spawned’ and ‘extending’. The ‘spawned’ refers to how the filigree originated and extending refers to how far the filigree extends, two different contexts altogether. According to your reasoning, the correct OA “A” must be wrong, because the modifiers are referring to two different actions. Is that so?
Look at another solid case from OG;

Dressed as a man and using the name Robert Shurtleff, Deborah Sampson, the first woman to draw a soldier's pension, joined the Continental Army in 1782 at the age of 22, was injured three times, and was discharged in 1783 because she had become too ill to serve.

A. 22, was injured three times, and was discharged in 1783 because she had become
B. 22, was injured three times, while being discharged in 1783 because she had become
C. 22, and was injured three times, and discharged in 1783, being
D. 22, injured three times, and was discharged in 1783 because she was
E. 22, having been injured three times and discharged in 1783, being

The OA is A for a different set of reasons. But the modifiers at the start of the sentence “Dressed as a man’ and ‘using the name Robert’” are not even underlined. ‘Dressed’ is how she appeared and ‘using’ is what she did. Is this example incorrect according to you?
You may get plenty of such examples in the Official guide and the GMAT Prep data, if you search more. I know for sure that this basic confusion is what drives many away from the correct choice and GMAT would like exploit it to the hilt.
Please tell me if the given question is still wrong?

Let's understand the meaning first:
Mimesis - published in 1946 & comparing the ways the world appears both in X and Y
Mimesis is a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach

Mimesis laid the foundation for Unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his day.

Choice A looks good. Introductory noun modifiers are parallel thus published and comparing is correct. Both X and Y idiom correctly used. The verb laid correctly states that the foundation happened in the past.
Beginning from X to Y - correct idiom.

No meaning errors, no grammatical errors. The sentence is correct as is.

(A) and comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach laid the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days

(B and laying the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach compared the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible.
this one changes the meaning. It switches the focus from laying the foundation to comparing the worlds. Incorrect.

(C) Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach, compares the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, and lays the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days
First, comparison of the world is no longer a modifier, and thus has the same importance as the laying the foundation. This is incorrect. Lays - is incorrect, as the foundation happened in the past

(D) and comparing the ways the world appears both in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Bible, Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach, lays the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days
this might be tricky. The verb lays is incorrect. the rest looks good.


(E) and comparing Homer’s Odyssey with the Bible and the ways the world appears in both , Mimesis, a philosophical treatise written by Auerbach laid the foundation for a unified theory of western literature beginning from the very early times to his days
the comparison is between world in Odyssey and the world in Bible - thus incorrect.
Comparing X with Y - I don't think this is a correct idiom. Though, I might be mistaken.


By PoE, we are convinced that A is truly the correct answer.

That the past tense in A is the only element that differentiates the answer choice to D is debatable. I chose D because the book still exists and still lays out the foundation of a unified theory today. So the tense doesn't have to match the past "published”.

Laying of foundation is an event that can happen only at a particular point of time; the action cannot be in simple present tense, i.e., something that regularly happens. Mimesis laid the foundation long time ago; it may still be an important book, but foundation laying was started and completed in the past. Hence past simple is the appropriate tense.

Could you please explain? I thought it would be correct to have the subject after the comma.