Selling several hundred thousand copies in six months, the publication of "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 was an instant hit, helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer.Meaning Analysis: Many copies of "Maple Leaf Rag" were sold. The sale of these copies made Scott Joplin a renown composer
Sentence StructureSelling several hundred thousand copies in six months (
Noun modifier)the publication
(Noun that is being modified) (Subject)of "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899
(Prepositional phrase modifying the previous noun "the publication")was
(Verb to the subject "The publication")an instant hit
(additional information about "the publication")helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer.
(Action modifier modifying the previous clause)Note - Scott Joplin was a composer. Thus "Maple Leaf Rag" was probably a piece of music. So "the publication" of "Maple Leaf Rag" means the act of producing the copies of this music.
Quote:
(A) Selling several hundred thousand copies in six months, the publication of "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 was an instant hit, helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer.
We have a noun modifier at the beginning of the sentence. Now this should modify a proper noun. However, we have the noun "the publication" that means the act of printing copies. So ask yourself, can the act of printing copies of music sell several hundred thousand copies? A publication house can but not the publication itself.
Similarly, we have the verb "was" that goes with the subject "the publication". But can the act of printing copies be an instant hit? Or is it the copy of "Maple Leaf Rag" that was an instant hit? The latter makes sense.
Lastly, we have the action modifier ", helping to establish". Now that we are clear with the meaning of "the publication" we can certainly say that "the act of printing copies" cannot make someone famous. Either the copies made Scott Joplin famous OR the several hundred thousand sales
was the reason that made him famous.
(A) is out
Quote:
(B) The publication in 1899 of "Maple Leaf Rag" was an instant hit: in six months they sold several hundred thousand copies and it helped establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer.
Apart from the meaning issues that we get from "the publication" we also have a pronoun error. Plural pronoun "they" is incorrect with the singular noun "The publication". We also notice that the author later on uses a singular pronoun "it". This should give you a hint that there is a pronoun error out here.
Quote:
(C) Helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer was the publication of"Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899, which was an instant hit: it sold several hundred thousand copies in six months.
Notice, out here the subject and the verb are inverted. The subject out here is "The publication" and the verb out here is "was helping" we could read this sentence as
"The publication was helping to establish Scott Joplin...". If we keep the meaning of "the publication" in mind we can easily reject this choice.
Quote:
(D) "Maple Leaf Rag" was an instant hit: it helped establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer, published in 1899 and selling several hundred thousand copies in six months.
The subject "Maple Leaf Rag" makes sense with the verb "was". It make sense to say that the copy
(Maple Leaf Rag) was an instant hit. It also makes sense to say that his copy made Scott Joplin a preeminent composer. However, I am not quite happy with the placement of the modifier
"Published... and selling..." It would make far more sense to place this modifier close to the noun "Maple Leaf Rag.
Notice the colon
(:) out here.
We use a colon to separate two independent clauses when the second explains or illustrates the first. . Keeping this information in mind it makes sense to place
"it helped establish Scott Joplin..." BUT, it does not make any sense to place the modifier
"Published... and selling...".
Note - I believe "Published... and selling" are correct and perfectly parallel out here. They both are acting as modifiers and they both modify the same entity "Maple Leaf Rag". This could be a great example to clear the myth that "two parallel entities have to be EXACTLY of the same structure/form"
Quote:
(E) Published in 1899, "Maple Leaf Rag" was an instant hit, selling several hundred thousand copies in six months: it helped establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer.
Let us understand this sentence my decoding the sentence structure
Published in 1899
(Modifier modifying the noun "Maple Leaf Rag" placed immediately after it), "Maple Leaf Rag"
(Subject)was
(Verb)an instant hit
(additional information about the subject), selling several hundred thousand copies in six months:
(action modifier modifying the previous clause by stating the result of the action "was an instant hit"; it states the how aspect "how was Maple Leaf Rag" an instant hit) (Notice the usage of a colon. So now we expect an IC that gives more information about the previous clause)it
(Subject) (pronoun referring to "Maple Leaf Rag)helped establish
(Verb to subject "it")Scott Joplin
(Object of the sentence)as the preeminent ragtime composer.
(As + Noun is used to state the function/role of the subject)All the subject and verb agree in number. The modifiers correctly modify the respective entities. This choice is correct.
Correct Choice
(E)Note - "The publication" can also act as a simple noun. It could mean a book, a magazine, or any other medium that stores information.
Our latest publication is a magazine for health enthusiasts. (~Cambridge dictionary) But as per the context of the sentence, it is clear that "the publication" refers to the act of preparing a book for sale - Rightly stated by
EducationAislePS -
GMATNinja egmat and any other expert please could you review my understanding and correct me if I have gone wrong in any of my concepts.