Selling several hundred thousand copies in six months, the publication

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.

(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. (selling modifies the publication => wrong)
(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. (they has no referent)
(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. (modifier problem => 1899 was not an instant hit as I suppose)
(D) "Maple Leaf Rag" was an instant hit: it helped establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtimecomposer, published in 1899 and selling several hundred thousand copies in six months.
(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. (here, I suppose, selling shows the result of the whole preceeding clause => OK)

Nice one. I say E.

A: misplaced modifier. Selling several hundred thousand... the publication? it wasnt the publication that sould several hundred thousand.

B. they has no referent.

C. seems to have passive voice. also incorrect use of which.

D. this one has many errors. incorrect use of colon :. only one side of the sentence can stand alone. (the left side). The other side must be dependent on the left side. Wordy and modifier is placed incorrectly. D is a very awkward sentence.

E. "Published in 1899, "Maple Leaf Rag" was an instant hit, selling several hundred thousand copies in six months:" Perfect, this side of the sentence is clear, Maple Leaf Rag, is correctly modified by published and it is clear what was sold for several hundred thousand copies

it helped establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer


This side of the sentence cannot stand alone. it has no clear referent so the colon correctly connects this part of the setence to the main independent sentence.

Hey all, do we have an OA for this one? I will go with E, but between A and E it is really a tough call. Is it because the publication can't to the selling? Do we have a confirmation for this?
Experts please advice @mikemcgarry

Cheers
J

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.

(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. --- ing modifier is modifying the publication (the public release of "Maple..." not correct.

(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. Pronoun ambiguity

(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. Pronoun ambiguity.

the publication of"Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 was helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer (looks grammatically correct)

(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. -- modifier placement error.

(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. -- Subject can not perform the action to become instant hit by selling several thousand copies... use of -ing modifier use is not correct here.

I am not satisfied with any answer choice, I would prefer C to other choices.

I can help!



J, you are correct here. We have to toss out (A) because of the modification error. A "publication" can't "sell" something. A "publication" is something that is sold, but it can't actually sell itself. We need a person or a company to do that.

Between all the choices here, (E) is the best that we have.

@ PiyushK: You thought that (C) might be better but think about how awkward and cumbersome the beginning of the sentence is:

"Helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer was the publication of"Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899"

This is a really bad way to phrase this idea. There is a long gerund phrase in the subject position of the sentence, and the verb in the sentence is not active at all. We have the very bland and boring "was." You would want to reject this sentence.

@JusTLucK04: You are correct that there is no issue with "of" in answer choice (A). We have to throw out (A) for other reasons.

@ronr34: You bring up a good point, but the use of colon is this way is acceptable. What follows the colon is logically related to what came before it. Typically, a colon proves, explains, defines, describes, or lists elements of what preceded it. In this case it shows a result of what preceded, and although it is not typical, it is acceptable.

I hope that I have been able to shed some light on some of your questions.
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Hi Kevin,

I think -ing modifier is not appropriate in option E; the way it is trying to modify the preceding clause and its subject is not acceptable in correct GMAT answer.

"Maple Leaf Rag" was an instant hit, selling several hundred thousand copies in six months.

Following is the snippet from one of the incorrect official sentence.
at some time in the past our ancestors suffered an event, greatly reducing their numbers and thus our genetic variation.

use of -ing modifier is considered incorrect though a proper subject ancestor is present, but ancestor can't reduce their own numbers. Similarly, in option E "Maple Leaf Rag" can't even qualify as a subject that can sell anything. Thus, IMO it is not appropriate to use -ing modifier in option E.

This question is from 1000SC, not a reliable source.

Is it possible to see such type of use of -ing modifier in real GMAT in correct answer ?

Great question! Thanks for pushing me, and everyone, to think more carefully about this question.



First, I didn't realize this was a question from 1000SC. That is definitely troubling, and possibly a reason why there is so much discussion around this question. It is so so so important to use quality resources for your preparation.

When I first analyzed the answer choices, I was looking at why the other answer choices were wrong and confirming that each one was in fact wrong. I didn't even notice the issue that you pointed out!

So there is definitely a modification error here. You are correct that a book can sell. Only people and companies can do that. This is the same reason we had to throw out answer choice (A).

With that establish as an actual ambiguity and modification error, I think we are left with (C) as the best answer. Some people have mentioned that (C) is wrong because of the use of "which" but this is actually acceptable. When an essential phrase is placed between the modifying phrase and the thing being modified, there is no error. The date of publication is one such essential phrase. So the "which" phrase does properly modify "Maple Leaf Rag."

But again, (C) is quite an awkward formulation as I mentioned before. That was my initial hesitation. It almost looks like passive voice, but it is not. Since it doesn't contain any grammar errors, we would have to choose (C) as the best answer. But I don't like it one bit. This is a troublesome choice, and considering the source of the question, we should probably throw it out and not use it for our GMAT prep.

I think that all the confusion in this thread and in other threads shows us that this is a problematic question!

Thank you for your astute analysis, PiyushK!
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But Kevin here in C the which is modifying the year 1980..in 1980 is clearly avoidable and can be moved ahead of the name of the book to clear any ambiguity

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

Thanks for the question!

First, let me say again that this question is subpar and not a good tool for your prep. We've mentioned a lot or problems with the answer choices, and I think it is safe to say that this is not a question that you should use for your prep. That means, no one should waste their mental energy trying to understand the question.

With that being said, JusTLucK04, I'll try to address your question best I can.

Usually, you would be correct. For modification, we have to obey the touch rule. But as with most rules of English grammar, exceptions exist. For modification, we don't always have to obey the touch rule. If the thing being modified and the modifier are separated by an essential phrase, then there is no error. By essential phrase, I mean a collection of words that are essential to identifying something. Without the essential phrase, the meaning will change.

In this case, the phrase "in 1899" is an essential phrase describing "Maple Leaf Rag." Now we don't have a lot of context here, and again it is important to remember that this is very, very bad question, but ultimately, the prepositional phrase is essential to knowing what "Maple Leaf Rag" the author is talking about. If we remove the date, then we don't know what "Maple Leaf Rag" is under discussion.

Does that make sense?

For more info on the exception to the modification rule, our GMAT guru, Mike McGarry, wrote an article on this concept. He refers to them as Vital modifiers and discusses the exception to the touch rule:

https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... modifiers/

Also, Manhattan Prep has a nice article on Appositives and Modification. Not perfectly applicable to this poor question, but a good rule to know about:

https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/g ... itives.cfm

I hope that this helps clarify your question. And remember, there are many issues with this question, and we shouldn't spend time dwelling on its issues.

Happy studying!
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Sure Kevin..just wanted to reinforce my concepts on this rule..as you said: it is a vital modifier- agreed
Now if the vital modifier can be placed such that the touch rule is not disobeyed ..publication in 1989 of Maple ..such a construction in C is a plausible construction and it does not make us flout the touch rule either..so is C considered correct even though the vital modifier can be placed in multiple ways...and one of which (not in the option) adheres to the touch rule

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

Howdy! Let's dive deeper!



I agree that if a sentence can be reworked to maintain the touch rule, it should be reworked. Here is the sentence:

"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."

You want to know if it can be reworked to this:

"Helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer was the publication in 1899 of "Maple Leaf Rag", which was an instant hit: it sold several hundred thousand copies in six months."

Sure, we can do that. But again, we don't have a lot of great options here. I think that this is better than how (C) is phrased and the error in the touch rule in (C) is not as bad as the modification error in (E), even though I think (E) has more going for it.



Again, you should not think about what is the "correct" answer here. This is like a broken down and dilapidated house, and we are going around changing the broken lightbulbs, thinking that it will change the house. The house is still dirty. It still has broken windows and holes in the wall. There isn't even electricity or water running in the house! Changing the lightbulbs doesn't make any difference. So I can't answer the question, "Is (C) correct?" The whole thing should be torn down. We can't think in terms of correct or incorrect when we have a bad question.

If you are asking about how to convey this idea in the best way to avoid any errors, then this is what I would write and what I would look for in an answer choice:

"In a short six month period of 1899, "Maple Leaf Rag" became an instant hit with several hundred thousand copies in print: it helped establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer."

But this is not one of our options.

Does this help?
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A.This option implies that the publication of "Maple Leaf Rag" sold several hundred thousand copies.

B. The pronouns they and it have no clear antecedent.

C. The usage helping to do XXX was YYY is gramatically wrong. The correct usage is YYY helped to do XXX. The pronoun it has no clear antecedent.

D. This option implies that ragtime composer was published in 1899.

E.Correct - eliminates all errors above.

Analysis : The sentence intends to convey how a particular book helped to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer.. As presenting an how aspect of an event we are definitely dealing with a modification issue.

Option A: Incorrect Selling illogically modifies the subject of the clause after comma i.e the publication ( As a publication can not be sold !! )

Option B: Incorrect they is ponting to singular the publication;
it is logically pointing to the action of selling . but this is ungrammatical as Pronoun should refer Noun.
Meaning error : Now the 'The publication in 1899 of “Maple Leaf Rag” was an instant hit'... as if there were/are publications at other years (which are not that popular)

Option C: Incorrect Which illogically modifies a time/year 1899
Though used as a modifier ,Helping is not modifying anything in the sentence.
The use of it is also confusing.

Option D: Incorrect Published illogically modifies preeminent ragtime composer/composer

Option E: Correct Published correctly modifies “Maple Leaf Rag”
selling correctly modifies the SV of clause prior to comma (Presents how MLR was an instant hit )
And finally the another IC after : provides extra information about the previous IC.

Although option A is very much tempting, I finally settled for E as A has a prominent error.

I chose A over E
Since in A, Publication was selling the copies
It modifies correctly ?

Experts help

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Akshata, wondering if you are confusing publication with publisher.

Publication is the act of preparing a book for sale. So, publication cannot sell copies.
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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 Structure
Selling 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.




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



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.


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.


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"


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 EducationAisle


PS - 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.

AjiteshArun EducationAisle GMATNinja

In Option E, how is the present participle end modifier (selling) modifying the subject (Maple Leaf Rag)? Can a book/publication do the selling?

Hi Argp,

This is a slightly different meaning of sell. This sell means "to be bought in the way or quantities mentioned".

Their last album sold over a hundred thousand copies. (1)

This sentence tells us that their last album was bought in the way or quantities mentioned ("over a hundred thousand copies").
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other than modifiers i also feel that there is a tense error in the above sentence.
whenever period of time is mentioned it should be in simple past tense while in the above question we can directly eliminate answer choices A and D as they use 'helping' while other answer choices uses 'it helped'. Thus answer choices left are B,C,E where B can very easily be eliminated because of its formation and between c and e, e is correctly placed and formed.