A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published

Question

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770s, the first book by a Black woman and  it was only the second published by an American woman .

A. it was only the second published by an American woman

B. it was only the second that an American woman published

C. the second one only published by an American woman

D. the second one only that an American woman published

E. only the second published by an American woman

daagh · Accepted Answer

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770’s, the first book by a Black woman and  it was only the second published by an American woman.

(A) it was only the second published by an American woman ------  the two sides of the conjunction and should be parallel. Here left is a phrase and the right side is a clause.  
(B) it was only the second that an American woman published ----  same as in A 
(C) the second one only published by an American woman --- T he restrictive adverb ‘only' modifies ‘published’, giving a twist that American woman didn’t do anything other than publishing, not even read it  
(D) the second one only that an American woman published---  adverb ‘only’ restricts the meaning that American woman did not publish any more than two books. 
(E) only the second published by an American woman --- proper modification of 'only'; correct choice

x2suresh · Answer

The "only" position shift changes the meaning of the original setences. so "C" is out.

the second one only "published by an American woman" 
only "the second published by an American woman"

( I am posting some one's beautiful explanation below:
 "The following sentences should make the meaning differences clear:

Only Linda ate the pizza today. (Nobody else; only Linda.) 
Linda only ate the pizza today. (Linda didn't cook it or buy it; she only ate it.) 
Linda ate only the pizza today. (Linda didn't eat anything else today; only pizza.) Linda ate the only pizza today. (There was only one pizza, and Linda ate it.) 
Linda ate the pizza only today. (Linda didn't eat the pizza yesterday or before; only today; OR, Linda didn't eat the pizza until today.) 
Linda ate the pizza today only. (Linda didn't eat the pizza yesterday or before; only today.) 
"

beckee529 · Answer

by parsing the sentence, i was able to deduce the answer to E

 A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley , a slave,  was published in the 1770s ,  the first book by a Black woman  and  only the second published by an American woman

rishi2377 · Answer

I dont think C could be right even if E was not there.
If I am right C would make it a run on sentence. what you ppl think?

kabilank87 · Answer

2. A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770’s, the first book by a Black woman and it was only the second published by an American woman.

(A) it was only the second published by an American woman
(B) it was only the second that an American woman published
(C) the second one only published by an American woman
(D) the second one only that an American woman published
(E) only the second published by an American woman

Why not " A" the correct answer.

daagh · Answer

A: The modifier consists of two parts; the first ‘the first book by a Black woman’ is a noun phrase and the second, ‘ it was only the second published by an American woman’ is a clause’ they are not parallel.

gmacforjyoab · Answer

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770s, the first book by a Black woman and it was only the second published by an American woman.

A. it was only the second published by an American woman

Incorrect Parallelism - There is no verb in the first half of the sentence 
 the first book by a Black woman 
 and 
 it was   only the second published by an American woman

Also "IT" has no antecedent.

B. it was only the second that an American woman published

Same issue with parallelism as with option A ( i.e the second half of sentence after "and" has a verb WAS , whereas the first half doesnt.
The "IT" here is fine though. It adheres to one of the standard usage/format of "IT"( IT  is so x  THAT  y - IT is so windy THAT she could barely even walk - am not good with appropriate analogies) wherein "IT" doesn't have to stand for an antecedent. Option A does not adhere to this , hence "IT" in option A is an issue, whereas "IT" in B is fine, as far as associating it with an antecedent is concerned. It is wrong due to other reasons though , as already stated .

C. the second one only published by an American woman

As above posters have mentioned , the position of only changes the meaning

D. the second one only that an American woman published

Issue with parallelism . ----
the first book by a Black woman
AND
the second one only that an American woman published

Position of "Only" changes meaning , as in option C

E. only the second published by an American woman
CORRECT
 Note proper parallelism ---
the first book by a Black woman
AND
only the second published by an American woman

-Jyothi

sarangadhar · Answer

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770’s, the first book by a Black woman and  it was only the second published by an American woman.

(A) it was only the second published by an American woman
(B) it was only the second that an American woman published
(C) the second one only published by an American woman
(D) the second one only that an American woman published
(E) only the second published by an American woman

"it" is redundant , so Eliminate A & B..

C sounds like non-american woman doesn't not publish
D sounds like America woman didn't publish anything other than 2nd
E looks all clear...

Abhishek009 · Answer

Clearly // ism - Answer must be (E)

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770’s,   the first   book   by a Black woman   and only   the second    published   by an American woman.

(A)  it  was only the second published  by an American woman  - It , doesn't fit into the parallel structure...

(B) it was only the second that an American woman published - Not at all parallel..

(C)   the second   one   only published     by an American woman   - Only , used wrongly...

(D)   the second   one  only that  an American woman published - Only , wrongly used , further the second part by doesn't fit in ...

(E)   only the second   published   by an American woman   - Looks the best , ant it is the correct answer..

subramanya1991 · Answer

I see some replies here saying the difference is that one is a phrase and the other a clause. Could someone please tell me what is the difference. And also how do I know when to look out for such differences, is there a give away ?

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi! You can watch our  class video  on  Phrases and clauses   here .

Also, our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  Phrases & Clauses , their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

nandeta · Answer

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770s, the first book by a Black woman and it was only
 the second published by an American woman.

Subject:   The collection of 38 poems Verb: Was published
  Clause:   the first book by a Black woman Clause 2:

A. it was only the second published by an American woman 
"It" is ambiguous here. What is it referring to. First book or black woman or the second book? Logically it should hint towards second
book.

B. it was only the second that an American woman published 
"It" is ambiguous here. What is it referring to. First book or black woman or the second book? Logically it should hint towards second
book. "Published" modifier has changed its position here. What was published and then who published it. It should be near Second.

C. the second one only published by an American woman 
"Only" placement change suggests that second edition books can only be published by American woman where as in the sentence it says that 
only this particular second edition is published by an American Woman.

D. the second one only that an American woman published 
"that" enforces a clause without a reason. The whole sentence should be one clause so that parallelism can exist.

E. only the second published by an American woman  
"Only" talks about book as "the book" is the subject here.

victordugua · Answer

Shouldnt 'published' in answer E be at the end so that 'only the second by an american woman' is parallel to 'the first book by a black woman' ?

EducationAisle · Answer

Basically, the sentence wants to say:

...the first book (published) by a Black woman and only the second (book) published by an American woman .

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  victordugua ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option E omits certain words for the sake of conciseness; the full, parallel structure is "the first book (written/published) by a Black woman and only the second (book) published by an American woman".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem: 
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that a collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley was the first book by a Black woman and only the second published by an American woman.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Parallelism + Redundancy/Awkwardness

• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

A:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between the modifying phrase “the first book by a Black woman” and clause “it was only the second published by an American woman”; please remember that any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel. Further, the usage of “it” is redundant in the sentence, as “it” can be deleted without a loss of clarity.

B:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between the modifying phrase “the first book by a Black woman” and clause “it was only the second that an American woman published”; please remember that any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel. Further, the usage of “it” is redundant in the sentence, as “it” can be deleted without a loss of clarity.

C:  Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses "only" to modify "published", incorrectly implying that “A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley” is the second “book” that was published exclusively by an American woman; the intended meaning of the sentence is that “A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley” is the second “book” ever published by an American woman. Further, the phrase “second one only” suffers from redundancy.

D:  This answer choice incorrectly uses "only" to modify "that an American woman published", incorrectly implying that “A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley” is the second “book” that was published exclusively by an American woman; the intended meaning of the sentence is that “A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley” is the second “book” ever published by an American woman. Further, the phrase “second one only” suffers from redundancy.

E:   Correct.  This answer choice maintains parallelism between the modifying phrases “the first book by a Black woman” and “only the second published by an American woman”. Further, Option E correctly uses “only” to modify “the second (book)”, conveying the intended meaning - that “A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley” is the second “book” ever published by an American woman. Besides, Option E is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

BenjaminLu · Answer

I know A and B violate the rule of parallelism. C, D, and E, however, contain the verb “published”. Can anyone tell me why the phrase after and can have a verb if the phrase before and does not have a verb?

Posted from my mobile device

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  BenjaminLu ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "published" is not an active verb, rather it is a past participle acting as a noun modifier.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

VerbalBot · Answer

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.

A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published

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 collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published

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