According to his own account, Schoenberg, in his String Trio of 1946

Question

According to his own account, Schoenberg, in his String Trio of 1946, was depicting in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, during which his pulse temporarily stopped and he was given an injection to the heart.

(A) According to his own account, Schoenberg, in his String Trio of 1946, was depicting in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, during which his pulse temporarily stopped and he was given an injection to the heart.

(B) Schoenberg, according to his own account, in his String Trio of 1946, during which his pulse temporarily stopped and he was given an injection to the heart, was depicting in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year.

(C) According to his own account, in his String Trio of 1946, Schoenberg depicted in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, when his pulse temporarily stopped and his heart was given an injection.

(D) In his String Trio of 1946, he was depicting in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, during which Schoenberg's pulse temporarily stopped and he was given an injection to the heart, according to his own account.

(E) Schoenberg was depicting, in his String Trio, in musical terms in 1946, a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, during which his pulse temporarily stopped and he was given an injection to the heart, according to his own account.

Source:   GMAT Hacks - 071113

avohden · Answer

Official Explanation

Answer: A   - The sentence is correct as written. While it is long, each of the clauses clearly relates to one another. "Schoenberg" follows the modifier which refers to him; the clause "in his String Trio of 1946" may be removed without affecting the grammar, and the modifier "during which..." clearly refers to "the summer of that year."

(B) wrongly makes it sound like his pulse temporarily stopped during the String Trio, not the summer.

(C) moves "Schoenberg" away from the modifier "According to his own account," which clearly refers to Schoenberg.

(D) never identifies the central subject as "Schoenberg;" "Schoenberg's pulse" is not an adequate replacement.

(E) changes the meaning, shifting "according to his own account" to refer only to the health details of the final clause, rather than the description of the meaning of the String Trio. (A) is correct.

cssk · Answer

+A it is.

All the modifiers are properly referring to their nouns. Good question btw.

aviram · Answer

I am not convinced with the problem with answer choice C. The first modifier is a participial phrase, which when placed at the beginning of the sentence modifies the noun that follows the comma it unless another modifier is cleverly placed in between, which is the case in this sentence with the prepositional phrase.

sheolokesh · Answer

Why C is wrong here?

(C) According to his own account, in his String Trio of 1946, Schoenberg depicted in musical 
terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, when his pulse
temporarily stopped and his heart was given an injection.

If we eliminate "in his String Trio of 1946" as we do in A, we will get that Schoenberg is modifying "According to his own account". So the whole stmt becomes good...

Is that because the modifier must be next to the clause it modifies? Even so, the above is holding good right? Please help if I am getting this right..

prasi55 · Answer

Dear aviram and sheolokesh,

The construction in C allows "in his String Trio of 1946" to modify "account" -- suggesting that his account/statement was shared in 1946 -- also incorrectly suggesting that the depiction of his suffering occurred at some vague moment in the past.

--Prasad

jjsverbal · Answer

To add one more thing, I personally found "his heart was given an injection" weird.

Mpuneet · Answer

B is incorrect, ‘during which…’ is modifying ‘in his string trio of 1946’. This changes the meaning of the sentence. C puts ‘in his String Trio of 1946’ in between Schoenberg an ‘According to his own account’, which is supposed to refer to him. D does not make it clear enough that ‘he’ is Schoenberg. E moves ‘according to his own account’ so that it only refers to the health details. It is supposed to refer to the meaning of the String Trio.
 
So PoE says that A is the correct choice.

vimalcvargheese · Answer

Heart was given injection is not correct. Injection to heart stands correct

Posted from my mobile device

anud33p · Answer

I ruled out A in favour of C because A says Schoenberg, in his String Trio of 1946, was depicting. And I thought there must be a strong rationale for using a progressive form - which I didn't find in this case. AjiteshArun, daagh: Could you please help explain why A is correct and C incorrect?

Is the modifier a problem in C - Iccording to his own account, in his String Trio of 1946, Schoenberg?

Is the modifier a problem in C - Iccording to his own account, in his String Trio of 1946, Schoenberg?

Hungluu92vn · Answer

I'm not convinced with A. Can someone shed lights on this question? Btw, what is the source of this? Thanks

neha283 · Answer

I was torn between A and C and went for C because of the verb, "Schoenberg depicted". I am not fully convinced with the explanations and answers so far, can someone explain why C is wrong? 
 daagh

daagh · Answer

We know that a season such as summer lasts at least for two to three months. One can't say that the pulse stops temporarily for the entire summer. 'Temporary' means 'momentary'. Logically C is therefore problematic. It is for the same reason, even A is knotty.

barsec · Answer

C is wrong for a myriad of reasons.

(C) According to his own account, in his String Trio of 1946, Schoenberg depicted in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, when his pulse temporarily stopped and his heart was given an injection.

First, it is ambiguous what the prepositional phrase "in his String Trio of 1946" is modifying. It appears as though it could be modifying the clause "according to his own account" which wouldn't make sense because it was not within the confines of this trio that he gave his account.

Second, the word "during" is necessary after second to last clause "...summer of that year," because it could imply that his heart had stopped for the entire time period.

priya2810 · Answer

I see two things wrong with C.

1. Misplaced modifiers- "In this trio of 1945" or "According to his own account" - can be seen as a dangling modifier
2. The unnecessary passive voice in "his heart was given an injection"

MPRS22 · Answer

can we not have two modifiers as in B?

@VeritasKarishma@GMATNinja@GMATNinjaTwo@BillyZ

harshdev · Answer

B changes the meaning but why is that changed meaning wrong.

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

(A) According to his own account, Schoenberg, in his String Trio of 1946, was depicting in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, during which his pulse temporarily stopped and he was given an injection to the heart.
Yes it has everything in place let us hang on to it

(B) Schoenberg, according to his own account, in his String Trio of 1946, during which his pulse temporarily stopped and he was given an injection to the heart, was depicting in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year.
The sequel of the structure of the sentence isn't right it should be other way around

(C) According to his own account, in his String Trio of 1946, Schoenberg depicted in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, when his pulse temporarily stopped and his heart was given an injection.
His heart was never given any injection it was intented to the heart

(D) In his String Trio of 1946, he was depicting in musical terms a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, during which Schoenberg's pulse temporarily stopped and he was given an injection to the heart, according to his own account.
Here the last term according to his account is out of place IMO

(E) Schoenberg was depicting, in his String Trio, in musical terms in 1946, a severe physical debility he suffered in the summer of that year, during which his pulse temporarily stopped and he was given an injection to the heart, according to his own account.
The initial sequel of sentence and account isn't in place hence IMO A

bawarayogi · Answer

The same applies to A also Hence pls tell how it is wrong in C

shankar2910 · Answer

Option C: 
..depicted in musical terms a severe physical debility he  had  suffered... will be the correct usage. I believe present perfect is missing.

According to his own account, Schoenberg, in his String Trio of 1946

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

According to his own account, Schoenberg, in his String Trio of 1946

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