tingting85114 wrote:
Deliberately imitating the technique of Louis Armstrong, jazz singer Billie Holiday’s approach to singing was to use her voice like an instrument, in that she ranged freely over the beat, flattened out the melodic contours of tunes, and, in effect, recomposed songs to suit her range, style, and artistic sensibilities.
A. Billie Holiday’s approach to singing was to use her voice like an instrument, in that she ranged freely over the beat, flattened
B. Billie Holiday’s approach to singing was to use her voice in a similar way to how other musicians play instruments, in ranging freely over the beat, flattening
C. Billie Holiday approached singing by using her voice like other musicians played instruments, ranging freely over the beat, flattening
D. Billie Holiday used her voice in the same way that other musicians use their instruments, in that she ranged freely over the beat, flattening
E. Billie Holiday approached singing by using her voice like other musicians instruments, ranging freely over the beat, flattening.
Dear
tingting85114,
I'm happy to help with this.
The first thing I'll say is --- this is a hard question.
In this sentence, we have a long independent clause "j
azz singer Billie Holiday’s approach to singing was .... instrument", and this is followed some sort of subordinate phrase or clause (either "in that she.." or a participial phrase).
Here's a blog on participial phrases:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/participle ... -the-gmat/Here's a blog that discusses different types of clauses:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... b-mistake/Notice that the verb "recomposed" is outside of the underlined phrase, and this must be parallel to the other verbs in that half of the sentence, so we can't have
"
ranging .... and ... recomposed" = not parallel!
We have to have
"
in that she ranged ... and .... recomposed" === that's proper parallel construction. That immediate eliminates (B), (C), and (E).
Now we are down to (A) vs. (D) --- they way they handle the parallelism is tricky --- is the second verb, "flattened" vs. "flattening" mean to be in parallel to "ranged" & "recomposed" --- this is the construction that (A) has? Or is "flattening" meant only to be a modifier, on the side, not part of the parallel construction, as (D) has? Either could be correct. On the basis of the parallelism alone, it's hard to decide.
Look at the first part of the sentence --- we have the choice:
(A) Billie Holiday’s approach to singing was to use her voice like an instrument....
(D) Billie Holiday used her voice in the same way that other musicians use their instruments....Which one of these is most direct? Which is most natural? Option (D) is both more direct and more natural. One way to say it is ---- the main actor of the sentence "Billie Holliday", and her action is "using her voice" to do something ----> thus, "Billie Holliday" should be the main subject, and "used" should be the main verb. A good GMAT SC correct answer will have the main actor of the situation described as the subject of the sentence, and the main action as the main verb.
Thus, (D) is the best answer.
Does all this make sense?
Mike
_________________
Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test PrepEducation is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)