Johnson is on firm ground when he asserts that the early editors of Dickinson’s poetry often distorted her intentions. Yet Johnson’s own, more faithful, text is still guilty of its own forms of distortion. To standardize Dickinson’s often indecipherable handwritten punctuation by the use of the dash is to render permanent a casual mode of poetic phrasing that Dickinson surely never expected to see in print. It implies that Dickinson chose the dash as her typical mark of punctuation when, in fact, she apparently never made any definitive choice at all.

Which of the following best summarizes the author’s main point?

(A) Although Johnson is right in criticizing Dickinson’s early editors for their distortion of her work, his own text is guilty of equally serious distortions.
(B) Johnson’s use of the dash in his text of Dickinson’s poetry misleads readers about the poet’s intentions.
(C) Because Dickinson never expected her poetry to be published, virtually any attempt at editing it must run counter to her intentions.
(D) Although Johnson’s attempt to produce a more faithful text of Dickinson’s poetry is well-meaning, his study of the material lacks sufficient thoroughness.
(E) Dickinson’s editors, including Johnson, have failed to deal adequately with the problem of deciphering Dickinson’s handwritten manuscripts.

OA B

Another CR knocked out of the park by Mr dwivedys ...B it is.

Is dwivedys an engilsh teacher or what

Is dwivedys an engilsh teacher or what Laughing

That is where CR comes in to picture.

An English teacher need not be good at CR

But our GMAT'er dwivedys sure is

Nice explanation dwivedys
_________________

AimHigher

Aurobindo - without gainsaying (denying) whatever you've said - you're on pretty solid ground - inasmuch as B does seem like a particular example meant as an illustration of Johnson's mistake.

However, SEMANTICS of what B looks like or not aside - the problem with E is a bit more fundamental - E says PROBLEM OF DECIPHERING DICKINSON'S HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPTS. I don't think the sentence deals with the PROBLEM OF DECIPHERING Dickinson's manuscript.

The sentence only says TO STANDARDIZE DickinsonтАЩs often indecipherable handwritten punctuation is to render permanent etc... that doesn't mean these authors were tasked with DEALING WITH THE PROBLEM of dickinson's handwriting.

remember PROBLEM is the keyword - there was no such PROBLEM and hence the SHIFT OF FOCUS OF E.

Hope this helps. I have a tendency to oversimplify and overexplain - so please bear with me and pardon me if I have gone overboard explaining.

Saurabh.