Subjects tend to be vividly but disturbingly portrayed in Egon Schiele

A - Noun modifier 'often...relatives' can modify portraits or subjects. OUT
B - Relative pronoun with modifier 'who....relatives' seems to be modifying portraits. OUT



C - Has a similar issue to A. .
E - 'tended to be' -> the change in tense is not required. OUT!



Removes ambiguity, as the subordinate clause 'In...portraits' is modifying 'the subjects' and the noun modifier 'often...relatives' is modifying the subjects, and then we have the rest of the clause.
It has no grammatical errors, So D is the best choice.

Can anyone please explain what is the antecedent of 'his' in the question, as far as I know a possessive noun (Egon Schiele’s) cannot be the antecedent???

This is an excellent question that demonstrates the need to always understand the meaning of a sentence.

Most people would have been stuck with (C) and (D).

[(A) & (B) are incorrect because of modifier error, (i.e.) portraits are modified by the phrase "his closest friends and relatives" whereas it should be "Subjects" that should be modified by the phrase. (E) is incorrect because it changes the entire meaning of the sentence and is nonsensical.]

Between (C) & (D), the right answer choice is (D) because the original meaning of the sentence implies that the subjects are portrayed vividly but disturbingly IN THE PORTRAIT. Therefore, option (D) is the correct answer.

A non-possessive noun with a non-possessive pronoun . -->Egon Schiele + he , him --> is okay

A possessive noun with a possessive pronoun is ok. --> Egon Schiele’s + his --> is also okay

However, posseesive noun with non-possessive pronoun is NOT OK. ----Egon Schiele’s + he, him --> is NOT okay

Hope this helps!

Although I chose D because it sounded correct.

Having a little trouble understanding modifiers: as per my understanding, how is "often his closest friends and relatives" the modifier of "subjects" rather than "vividly but disturbingly" which is the adjective?

"Vividly" and " disturbingly" are not adjectives, but adverbs and hence must refer to other adjectives or verbs. Here they refer to the verb "be portrayed". (Adverbs cannot refer to nouns, hence "vividly" and " disturbingly" cannot refer to "subjects".)

The part "often his closest friends and relatives" is an appositive modifier (i.e. noun referring to another noun) - precisely "his closest friends and relatives" refers to "subjects".

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Step 1: Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors
The entire sentence is underlined, but don’t let that intimidate you. Use the Kaplan Method as you
normally would and look for common errors. In this case, the error is a misplaced modifier at the
end of the sentence. (Keep in mind that misplaced modifiers can occur anywhere in a sentence, not
just at the beginning.) Here, the modifier is the final phrase set off by a comma, “often his closest
friends and relatives.” This phrase should refer to “subjects,” but it’s placed right next to “portraits.”
Always ask yourself when you see a modifier, “What should this word or phrase refer to? Is it as
close to that word or phrase as possible?”

Step 2: Scan and Group the Answer Choices
As you scan, be on the lookout for where the modifier is placed. In these answer choices, the
modifying phrase appears in several different positions. Any choice placing it far from the word
it modifies—“subjects”—should be eliminated. In (B), the modifying clause, “who were often his
closest friends and relatives,” seems to refer to portraits rather than subjects. Choice (B) retains
the same problem as (A), so you can eliminate it. Choice (D) places the modifier immediately after
“subjects,” so this is likely to be your answer.

Step 3: Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains
In choice (C), “subjects of Egon Schiele’s portraits” seems to be one syntactical unit, so the phrase
“often his closest friends and relatives” appears correctly to modify subjects, even though it is not
directly adjacent to subjects. However, (C) is wrong because it is unclear whether “tend to be vividly
but disturbingly portrayed” refers to how these subjects are displayed in the portraits, or elsewhere;
perhaps biographers of Schiele depict them in this manner.
Finally, choice (E) is incorrect because the adverbial phrase “Vividly but disturbingly” appears to
refer to the verb “tended” rather than to the adjective “portrayed,” making it seem as if the subjects’
tendency to be Egon’s friends is what’s vivid and disturbing. Only choice (D) properly addresses this
misplaced modifier problem; it is therefore your correct answer. Moreover, choice (D), unlike (C),
makes it clear that the vivid but disturbing portrayal is in the portraits themselves.

Cannot a noun modifier jump over the immediately preceding noun to refer to another noun?

C) Subjects of Egon Schiele's portraits, often his closest friends and relatives, tend to vividly but disturbingly portrayed.

"often his closest friends and relatives" - shouldn't this logically modify subjects? portraits cant be logically ES's portraits. Also, "ES's portraits" is a noun preposition but the main noun is "subjects". Its not like A where did not even have a main & noun prepositional phrase.

I'm just confused about eliminating D on the basis that it modifies "ES's portraits" and not subjects

IanStewart AndrewN daagh

I think you mean to say "eliminating C"? D is the correct answer, so there's no way to eliminate it.

There's no need to even consider modifiers to eliminate C:

Subjects of Egon Schiele's portraits, often his closest friends and relatives, tend to vividly but disturbingly portrayed.

The end of C isn't in English; it's missing a verb. It would need to say that the subjects "tend to *be* vividly portrayed" or something similar.

Were it not for that error, I think there'd at least be some argument in favour of C. The sentence really should be talking about the subjects *of* the portraits, and not, as we find in D, the subjects *in* the portraits. Still, I'd find the modifier placement in C so problematic I'd be looking for a better answer, and would only choose C if I didn't find one (assuming the second half of C was fixed). Even when a modifier like "often his closest friends" only logically applies to a non-adjacent word, writing is better when the reader doesn't even need to think about what a modifier goes with. A construction that places "subjects" and "often his closest friends" together is preferable, by a considerable margin, to the wording we find in answer C.

Got it. Thanks IanStewart. To summarise you are saying that modifier placement alone (of the kind in C and D) will never be a standalone differentiator between choices? It is likely to be accompanied by another error? (For eg C is a fragment as you pointed out)

And in case those are the only options (assuming the problem in C in this example was fixed) then one should choose the less confusion modifier placement out of diction and style?

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No, that's not something I said anywhere in my post above. All I said was that modifier placement was not the sole differentiator in this one question.

Hello, ravigupta2912. I see that IanStewart has once again beaten me on the draw and has also, once again, provided a thoughtful analysis of the question—if he and I were Wild West gunslingers, I would probably be a dead man. The short answer to your question is yes, a noun or verb modifier may jump over a prepositional phrase to refer to an earlier noun. Your query reminded me of a response I gave to another question some months back. You do have to be careful when considering the expressed or intended meaning, and in general, as was said above, you want to keep modifiers as close as possible to what they logically modify.

Happy reading. Thank you for drawing my attention to the question.

- Andrew

Hi Ian. Thanks. Sometimes I get puzzled by the responses and start questioning my own process.

It makes sense now that modifier placement wasn’t the only issue in C. Thanks again

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