A shy, religious-minded publisher who had married a dukes daughter

In this sentence, "A shy, religious-minded publisher who had married a duke’s daughter" is a noun modifier and it must modify Harold Macmillan and not Harold Macmillan's rise. Options A, B and C are wrong and can be eliminated for this reason.
In option E, the noun - "Harold Macmillan" should be placed closer to it's modifier i.e. "A shy, religious-minded publisher who had married a duke’s daughter". This is wrong.
D is the best option out of the lot.

Meaning Analysis:

Harold Maximillan was a shy, religious-minded publisher who had married a duke’s daughter. Harold Maximillan's rise to the position of Prime Minister in 1957 surprised many people, but since the 1930s, Churchill had been extolling Macmillan’s courage.

Error Analysis & Process of Elimination:

"A shy, religious-minded publisher who had married a duke’s daughter" has no subject and is therefore a clause that is modifying the noun "Harold Maximillan" (as it is giving information about Harold...."being shy, etc.")
In A, the clause incorrectly modifies "Harold Maximillan's rise" instead of "Harold Maximillan"
Hence, eliminate A & B.
C & E also modify "Harold's becoming Prime Minister" and "the position of Prime Minister", instead of "Harold Maximillan"
Hence, eliminate C & E.

D is the correct choice as the preceding clause modifies the noun "Harold Maximillan" correctly.

All one needs to know is that "The noun which is modified by a clause should be placed immediately after the clause (after the comma)".
Once this rule is known, it's a clear 4:1 split in the answer choices here.
_________________

A shy, religious-minded publisher who had married a duke’s daughter, Harold Macmillan’s rise to the position of Prime Minister in 1957 surprised many, though Churchill had since the 1930s been extolling Macmillan’s courage.


(A) Harold Macmillan’s rise to the position of Prime Minister in 1957 surprised many --> A publisher should be followed by a person(Harold Macmillan)

(B) Harold Macmillan’s rise in 1957 to the position of Prime Minister surprised many --> same as A

(C) Harold Macmillan’s becoming Prime Minister in 1957 surprised many--> same as A

(D) Harold Macmillan surprised many by rising to the position of Prime Minister in 1957 --> correct

(E) the position of Prime Minister attained by Harold Macmillan in 1957 surprised many--> same as A

It requires a simple rule of modification that the appositive modifier at the beginning of the sentence should immediately point to the subject HM and not to any of HM's attributes as in all choices other than in D. Choice D is the 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.
_________________