supratim7 wrote:
The fragile markets were caught off-guard Friday by an unexpected drop in retail sales for May, which renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.
A. which renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.
B. an event that renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.
C. and renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.
D. renewed concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.
E. renewing concerns about the pace of the recovery in the United States.
I couldn't eliminate (B). Can anyone explain why (B) is incorrect?
Many thanks.
I can´t. Even I found this explanation that allows B to be correct.
From
MGMAT:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/ ... itives.cfmIt is also possible for an appositive to modify an entire preceding noun phrase, rather than only the specific noun that it touches directly. For example, this excerpt from Sentence Correction problem number 113 from
The Official Guide for Verbal Review 2nd Edition (VR2, p. 267) shows the problematic placement of a prepositional phrase modifier (not an appositive):
“In A.D. 391, resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria, …”
According to the explanation for this problem, found on page 322 of VR2:
“The largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria is both cumbersome and ambiguous because it suggests that the ancient world was located at (and only at) Alexandria.”
In other words, this noun modifier in the form of the prepositional phrase “at Alexandria” refers only to the noun “world,” immediately preceding the modifier. The correct answer, found on page 267 of VR2, rephrases this part of the sentence:
“In A.D. 391, as a result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world, …”
The noun modifier “the largest of the ancient world” is now in the form of an appositive. Logically, of course, it should refer to the noun “library,” but that noun is not the noun immediately preceding the appositive. Rather, the noun “Alexandria” immediately precedes the appositive. The VR2 explanation for this problem goes on to say that this placement is acceptable:
“This problem is best corrected by breaking the series of phrases into two distinct parts: the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world. Here, the second phrase clearly modifies the first.”
In other words, the second phrase, the appositive, is allowed to modify the entire first phrase. It does not have to modify only the immediately preceding noun.