Pankaj0901 wrote:
Could you please explain this one also
AndrewN? Thanks a lot in advance.
I couldn't understand the sentence, highlighted in red:
If the underlined part begins with participial phrase, this must modify "the students", the subject of the second independent clause. While I understand the ambiguity between "teachers" and "students" in this sentence, I am not so clear why the participle phrase after "and" cannot refer to the "teachers", which is also the subject of the previous sentence?
Studies show that
teachers unconsciously assume that students who regularly perform poorly on assessments have below-average abilities, and
(A) in neglecting to provide the academic challenges that would catalyze their intellectual potential
Hello,
Pankaj0901. Although I agree that the participle on its own could modify
teachers, if that were so, we would expect to see them mentioned again after the underlined portion, where we get
students instead. To be clear, the following standalone variant would be fine (changes are
highlighted):
1)
Studies show that teachers unconsciously assume that students who regularly perform poorly on assessments have below-average abilities, and in neglecting to provide the academic challenges that would catalyze their students' intellectual potential, the teachers...In the original sentence, because we cannot negotiate
the students immediately after the underlined portion, and especially because
their prior to the comma does, in fact, refer to this group rather than the teachers, we find ourselves in a logical quandary to qualify the participle. It seems to refer to teachers until we jump across the comma, at which point a more compelling case can be made, grammatically at least, for the students.
I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask.
- Andrew
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