Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the

Dear friends,

Here is a detailed explanation for this question -

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in 1909, she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Pronouns + Verb Forms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• "that" cannot be used to refer to human beings.
• The infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing") for referring to the purpose/intent of action.
• The introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “becoming” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

A: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrases "Turning away from literary realism...northern Sweden" and "was the novelist who became the first woman"; the construction of these phrases illogically implies that Selma Lagerlöf was the first women in existence because she turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a separate action, in 1909, she became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Further, Option A uses the passive voice construction "was the novelist who became", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the nouns "woman" and "writer" with the pronoun "that"; please remember, "that" cannot be used to refer to human beings. Further, Option B alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "and wrote romantic stories...Sweden"; the use of "and" incorrectly implies that turning away from literary realism and writing romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden were two separate actions taken by Selma Lagerlöf; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism in order to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden.

C: Trap. This answer choice uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "winning" in this sentence) to refer to the intent of the action "became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer"; please remember, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing") for referring to the purpose/intent of action. Further, Option C uses the needlessly wordy constructions "in addition to" and "Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist...", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D: Correct. This answer choice avoids the pronoun errors seen in Options B and E, as it does not use a pronoun to refer to the nouns "woman" and "writer". Further, Option D uses the phrases "A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories...Sweden", "became...the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win", conveying the intended meaning - that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism in order to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a separate action, in 1909, she became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Additionally, Option D uses the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + win" in this sentence) to refer to the intent of the action "became...the first woman and also the first Swedish writer". Besides, Option D is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the nouns "woman" and "writer" with the pronoun "that"; please remember, "that" cannot be used to refer to human beings. Further, Option E alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "and wrote romantic stories...Sweden"; the use of "and" incorrectly implies that turning away from literary realism and writing romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden were two separate actions taken by Selma Lagerlöf; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism in order to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden. Moreover, Option E further alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "in 1909 becoming"; the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "becoming" in this sentence)" construction incorrectly implies that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a result, in 1909, she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a separate action in 1909, she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “becoming” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

A. Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life
and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who
became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

This answer choice presents two problems.
First "Selma Lagerlof" has to be after the comma because the modifier Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden refers to her.

Second who became the first woman is not parallel to was also the first Swedish

B. She turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the
peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and novelist Selma Lagerlöf in
1909 became the first woman as well as the first Swedish writer that won the Nobel Prize for Literature

that cannot refer to people.
In addition in coordination a pronoun in the first clause cannot have cataphoric reference to a noun phrase in the second clause; However I'm not sure whether GMAT tests this problem.
I don't like the parallelism either

C. Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write
romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in
1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning the Nobel Prize for Literature

not parallelism with the clause who.
winning the Nobel Prize for Literature sounds really awkward. I'm not sure whether this is unidiomatic

D. A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about
the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerlöf became in
1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

I don't see any problems with this one. Correct.

E. As a novelist, Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote
romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909
becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won

I think this generates a run-on/fragment sentence because we don't have either a subordinator or coordinator to join both clauses

[Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden]
and
[in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won]

Also that cannot refer to people

Who was turning away should come directly after the opening modifier -> A is out.
She and SL seems to refer to different people -> B is out.
in addition to is incorrect , it seems to imply somebody else is 1st Swedish writer -> C is out.
multiple problems with E , ex - that won is incorrect , it should be who. Also the modifier in becoming XYZ is awkward at best.

D wins.

Dear poster,
At the beginning of your stint with your postings in the forum, let me give you a small hint. Please do cultivate the habit of underlining the required portions. Otherwise it is extremely difficult to follow. Even if you forgot to underline, a common error among all of us, please rectify it on the first reading;

This is a thumb rule and must be adhered please.
I have now underlined it

Dear TGC,
Thank you for sending me a private message about this.

All the other users seem to have posted more than a year ago, so I don't know whether anyone on this thread is actively studying for the GMAT anymore. I will just say, as a general announcement to whoever happens to be reading: if you post a question that you would like answered, don't simply assume that an expert will see it. GMAT Club is a BIG place. If you post a question and want an answer to that question, please send an expert such as myself a private message with a link, directing that expert to that particular page. If you are not familiar with the experts on GMAT Club, you might want to start by searching for the "Members of the Month" post:
gmat-club-members-of-the-month-124316-140.html
As a general rule, folks with a large number of kudos typically are good at answering questions. (BTW, do not ask Bunuel to answer your Verbal questions: he is a genius, but strictly a math guy!)

This question is a high quality question. From what I can tell, it's a question from GMAT Prep. As a general rule, it doesn't make a user look good if the user calls a question from official material "horrible." The official material is uniformly of exceptionally high quality.

The phrasing "and also" is not redundant. It is used here for emphasis and clarity. Among other things, the two words are not redundant because we could not use "also" by itself in this context. We have to use "and," and "also" emphasizes something special about the conjunction.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

A-- Modifier error, Turning Away from.....Must refer to Selma ( Individual )
B--She Turned away ( No clear antecedent for She) and Novelist- It appears there are two subjects in the sentence
C--In Addition to-- Wrong Usage
D--Correct--Proper Use of Modifier
E-- As a Novelist--Meaning is Distorted--It sound like while she was a Novelist, she turned away...NOT The Intended meaning

OA : C

and also -> is used to emphasize the importance.Sometime depends on the context.

This is a great question. Adding some details from MGMAT for new users.

in general, idioms can be determined by MEANING as well as by strict convention -- in many cases, there will be different forms of an idiom that mean different things.

random example:
"determined by" and "determined from" are both legitimate idioms, but they have different meanings.
"X is/was determined by Y" means that Y actually causes/caused X.
"X is/was determined from Y" means that someone looks at evidence Y and, from that evidence, figures out X.

for instance:
your personality can be determined from your handwriting --> this sentence makes sense (people can look at your handwriting and deduce facts about your personality).
your personality can be determined by your handwriting --> this sentence doesn't make sense (it implies that the way you write actually causes your personality to be a certain way).
but...
some people think that your personality is determined by your genes --> this sentence makes sense (people to think that your genetic makeup causes you to have certain personality traits)
some people think that your personality is determined from your genes --> this doesn't make sense (it implies that people are looking at your genes and using them to guess what your personality is like).

A. Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life
and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who
became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win

-> Awkwardly, the phrasing makes the sentence sound like this: "the writer was the novelist who became the first woman (in history?)" as in "someone who transformed into a woman"... "and who also happened to win a Nobel prize". The separation between "first woman and first Swedish writer" becomes too marked with the redundant use of "was" for two times, in this particular context. We should immediately understand that we need to find an alternative in which we can find "the first woman and writer to win a Nobel prize" clearly enucleated and comprehensible. Therefore, A is incorrect.

B. She turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the
peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and novelist Selma Lagerlöf in
1909 became the first woman as well as the first Swedish writer that won

-> This phrasing makes the sentence look like it's talking about two distinct individuals ("One person wrote this, and another novelist did that"). Therefore, B is incorrect.

C. Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write
romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in
1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning

-> While kind of less awkward than choice A, choice C has the same exact problem: it doesn't solve the inherent ambiguity and won't clearly express the fact that the writer was the first woman (to win the Nobel Prize for Literature) and the first Swedish writer (to win the Nobel Prize for Literature). This could be read, again, as something like "she became the first woman; the first Swedish writer became the first woman as well". Furthermore, "winning" is unidiomatic in this particular context. Therefore, while possibly inviting, C is incorrect.


D. A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about
the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerlöf became in
1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win

-> See here: both first woman and first Swedish writer are logically connected to "to win the Nobel prize". Try to rephrase it, if in doubt. You can only make it a "she became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature" and "she also became the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature". D is correct.

E. As a novelist, Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote
romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909
becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won

->Change in meaning! Do you remember the original phrase? It just says that "Selma Lagerlöf turned away", not that "being a novelist/ her status as a novelist" contributed. Strictly speaking, there is no established logical correlation between her status as a novelist and her desire to go from realism to romantic stories in the original phrase. Alternatively, I'd say this would be the kind of passage you'd find if the excerpt was talking about the writer's personal life up to the end of previous period and then started to analyze her history/characteristics as a novelist ("As a person, she was a good woman" -> "as a novelist, she turned away from literaly realism" in the current one. Choice D, nevertheless, is definitely more faithful to the original meaning and less verbose. We need to rule out E as well. Therefore, E is incorrect.

Meaning: SL turned away from literary realism to write... In 1909, she became 1st Swedish writer and 1st woman to win Nobel Prize for Literature.
Remember, the first elimination happens on the bases of Grammar.

Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

A. Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win
Error: AND above is a Parallel Marker but who became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer are not Parallel.

B. She turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and novelist Selma Lagerlöf in 1909 became the first woman as well as the first Swedish writer that won
Error: 1. Opening Modifier must modify SL but here we are talking about 2 different individuals.
2. that won should be to win.

C. Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in 1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning

Structure: winning the Nobel Prize for Literature is modifier modifying 2 Nouns preceding it joined by a conjunction in addition to.
Error: With this structure, we get a meaning that SL became the 1st Swedish writer and the 1st Woman in 1909 and what happened to the 1st woman on earth was that she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

D. A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerlöf became in 1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win
Error: NONE

E. As a novelist, Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won
Error: that won should be to win.


P.S. I don't think that , in 1909 in (A) and (E) is wrong because this is a participle clause and participle clauses do not provide the subject in a sentence. I may be wrong about it though.

"and also" is generally considered redundant in GMAT.

Although some grammarians suggest that if special emphasis is required on one of the items, then "and also" may be used, for GMAT the "and also" usage is not expected to be seen in a correct answer.

_____________________
What do u think about E

Sent from my Redmi 4A using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Hello yogeshmisthi,

I will be glad to help you out with this one.

The comma + verb-ing modifier becoming... in Choice E seems to present the result of the preceding action wrote romantic stories. The choice seems to suggest that because SL wrote romantic stories, she won the mentioned accolades. This meaning does not make sense.

And yes, we cannot use the noun modifier that to refer to human beings. So usage of that is also incorrect in Choice E.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

mikemcgarry: Dear Mike, How are you? Just had a question on this, so please see below. I have modified option E to understand if there are any other relevant problems in the sentence:

As a novelist, Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer who won the Nobel Price for Literature- I replaced "that" with "who" here to remove the obvious error. In this sentence, are we still losing the crux that she was the first woman to do something OR is the construction She was the first woman who did X equally correct in conveying a particular sense of meaning. Are there any other existing errors sill in the sentence?

FOR EXAMPLE
A)Harsh was the first person to climb Mount Everest
B)Harsh was the first person who climbed Mount Everest

Is there any difference in the meaning conveyed by the 2 sentences above( This is the exact concern I am trying to raise in the setence above). Many Thanks

Dear harshdeep12,

I'm happy to respond.

With that change, (E) is grammatically correct but still not ideal. Rhetorically, among other things, it's odd to make the information in the first part the main clause, and relegate the information about winning a Nobel Prize to a participial phrase. The most important idea should be grammatically central in the sentence.

Your two example sentence about Everest have the same meaning, but you really slighted Sir Edmund Hillary!

Does all this make sense?
Mike

Please could you kindly explain why option C is incorrect.
Thanks.
(source gmatprep exam 2)

Hi Experts,

Though I got the answer correct I have a quick doubt regarding use of infinitive.
The original sentence says that "Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden"

Will it be correct to rephrase the above sentence as "Turning away from literary realism to writing romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden"

Just a silly doubt but it will clear my concepts about the use of infinitive.

Thanks in advance