A woman well-versed in the paranormal claims

Question

A woman well-versed in the paranormal claims  from a five-minute palm inspection that she can predict  any person’s future life experiences, including love affairs, illnesses, and death.

A. from a five-minute palm inspection that she can predict
B. from a five-minute palm inspection she has the ability to predict
C. to be able, from a five-minute palm inspection, to predict
D. the ability, from a five-minute palm inspection, of predicting
E. being able to predict, from a five-minute palm inspection

Abhishek009 · Answer

Clearly C -

A woman well-versed in the paranormal claims to be able,  from a five-minute palm inspection,   to predict any person’s future life experiences, including love affairs, illnesses, and death.

The red highlighted part is a non essential modifier , further parallelism is maintained in -   claims to be able .......... to predict

tarunk31 · Answer

That's why I don't like Kaplan for SC. Most of their questions are just a copy of official questions. Here is the official and original problem:

a-firm-that-specializes-in-the-analysis-of-handwriting-82625.html

Will2020 · Answer

KAPLAN'S EXPLANATION:

Read the original sentence carefully, looking for errors:

The position of the prepositional phrase "from a five-minute palm inspection" makes it seem that the claim is based on the palm inspection, not that the prediction is based on the inspection. Since prepositional phrases are modifiers, their position is critical.

Scan and group the answer choices:

Like the original sentence, (B) puts the prepositional phrase in the wrong place. Eliminate (A) and (B) immediately. Take a closer look at (C), (D), and (E).

Eliminate answer choices until only one remains:

(D) and (E) use unidiomatic constructions after the verb "claims." (C) is correct because it fixes the incorrect position of the prepositional phrase without introducing any other problems.

TAKEAWAY: A prepositional phrase is a modifier; as such, it must be placed as close as possible to what it is modifying to avoid any ambiguity.

VerbalBot · Answer

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A woman well-versed in the paranormal claims

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A woman well-versed in the paranormal claims

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

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