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In her later poems, Phyllis Wheatley's blending of solar imagery, Judeo-Christian thought and figures, and the images she borrowed from ancient classicism suggesting her range and depth of influences, not the least of which is her African heritage.
(A) the images she borrowed from ancient classicism suggesting
(B) borrowing images from ancient classicism, suggests
(C) she borrowed images from ancient classicism, which suggests
(D) images borrowed from ancient classicism suggests
(E) images that she borrowed from ancient classicism, suggesting
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that Phyllis Wheatley's blending of solar imagery, Judeo-Christian thought and figures, and images borrowed from ancient classicism suggests her range and depth of influences.
Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Grammatical Construction + Parallelism + Awkwardness/Redundancy• All elements in a list must be parallel.
• "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.
A: 1/ This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; as "suggesting" is a present participle ("verb+ing") there is no active verb to act upon the subject noun "blending".
2/ Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase "the images she borrowed", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.
B: 1/ This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among "solar imagery", "Judeo-Christian thought and figures", and "borrowing images from ancient classicism"; remember, all elements in a list must be parallel.
C: 1/ This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among "solar imagery", "Judeo-Christian thought and figures", and "she borrowed images from ancient classicism"; the use of the independent clause "she borrowed images from ancient classicism" leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that Phyllis Wheatley's blending of solar imagery, Judeo-Christian thought and figures, and images borrowed from ancient classicism suggests her range and depth of influences; remember, all elements in a list must be parallel.
2/ Option C incorrectly refers to "ancient classicism" with "which suggests her range and depth of influences", incorrectly implying that
ancient classicism suggests Phyllis Wheatley's range and depth of influences; the intended meaning is that
the act of blending solar imagery, Judeo-Christian thought and figures, and images borrowed from ancient classicism suggests Phyllis Wheatley's range and depth of influences; remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.
D: Correct:1/ This answer choice acts upon the independent subject noun "blending" with the active verb "suggests" to form a complete thought, producing a complete sentence.
2/ Option D maintains parallelism among "solar imagery", "Judeo-Christian thought and figures", and "images borrowed from ancient classicism", conveying the intended meaning - that Phyllis Wheatley's blending of solar imagery, Judeo-Christian thought and figures, and images borrowed from ancient classicism suggests her range and depth of influences.
3/ Option D uses the active verb "suggests" rather than a "comma + which" construction (as seen in Option C), avoiding the modifier error seen in Option C and conveying the intended meaning - that
the act of blending solar imagery, Judeo-Christian thought and figures, and images borrowed from ancient classicism suggests Phyllis Wheatley's range and depth of influences.
4/ Option D is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.
E:1/ This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; as "suggesting" is a present participle ("verb+ing") there is no active verb to act upon the subject noun "blending".
2/ Option E uses the needlessly wordy phrase "images that she borrowed from ancient classicism", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.
Hence, D is the best answer choice.To understand the concept of "Which", "Who", "Where", and "Whose" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team