A characteristic common to many master musicians

Question

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here

A characteristic common to many master musicians is absolute pitch,  the ability to identify, without any visual cues, which note has been played.

A) the ability to identify, without any visual cues, which note has been played

B) the ability to identify which note was without any visual cues, played

C) identifying which note was played without any visual cues

D) identifying, without any visual cues, which note has just been played

E) permitting the musician to identify which note, without any visual cues, has been played

generis · Answer

For    forum member aspirants and non-experts   :
All correct answers that contain good  explanations  will be awarded  ONE KUDOS .

Exceptional answers may be "bumped" to Best Community Reply.

Kudos will be awarded after the OE is posted.

PyjamaScientist · Answer

(A) . It took me 01:19.

A nice question indeed. Mainly concerning misplaced modifiers and noun phrases. Sentence is correct as it is written.
"the ability to identify, without any visual cues, which note has been played" is a noun phrase modifying the preceding noun "absolute pitch".
"without any visual cues" is prepositional phrase set off by a pair of commas modifying the action to "to identify", thus is correct.

(B) The underlined portion is a steaming pile of poo. It does not make any sense. Tenses are all over the place. Reject.

(C)/(D)/(E) suffer from the wrong modification. Placement of the verb-ing modifier is incorrect. The doer of the verb-ing has to match. The modification thus does not make any sense. Drop all at once.

zhanbo · Answer

My answer is  (A) . It took me 01:08.

(A) In this version, "the ability to identify, without any visual cues, which note has been played" is an appositive of "absolute pitch". The meaning is clear. Keep for now.

(B) A reader cannot make sense of "identify which note was without any visual cues". At the very minimum, a comma should be added before "without". I wonder whether the omission is a typo.

(CDE) use a present participle phrase after "absolute pitch". When used as modifier after a comma, a present participle phrase typically modifies the subject of the preceding clause ("A characteristic" in this sentence) or modifies the verb in the preceding clause ("is" in this sentence).

(C) The logical subject for "identifying" should be "musicians", not "a characteristic". 
(D) See above.
(E) It is logical to state that "a characteristic" permits somebody to do something, but "the musician" is not parallel with "musicians" in the main clause.

debjit1990 · Answer

A) the ability to identify, without any visual cues, which note has been played--correct

B) the ability to identify which note was without any visual cues, played--was played why past tense here

C) identifying which note was played without any visual cues--,+verb ing form...A characteristic is not identifying anything

D) identifying, without any visual cues, which note has just been played--same as c

E) permitting the musician to identify which note, without any visual cues, has been played--wordy..a is better I guess

kanishaksharma · Answer

How to eliminate E in this quest.?

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  kanishaksharma ,

One problem with E is the placement of the "without any visual cues" modifier. It's easier for the reader to understand the intended meaning if that modifier is closer to  identify .

1.   identify,  without any visual cues , which note has been played

2.   identify which note,  without any visual cues , has been played

It's the identification that is done without any visual cues. The second version seems to say that the note has been played without any visual cues.

A characteristic common to many master musicians

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

A characteristic common to many master musicians

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards