OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)
THE PROMPTQuote:
According to the results of a recent survey, environmental degradation is piling on to the perils already faced by the tea estate workers,
some of the country’s poorest, most neglected workers.• The underlined portion describes
the tea estate workers.
→ What
more do we know about these tea estate workers?
We know that these people are some of the country's poorest and most neglected workers.
• That underlined portion is called an
appositive. → An appositive is usually a noun modifier that gives us more information about or re-describes a noun.
Sometimes the appositive word or phrase can be substituted directly for its noun. Not always.
→ Nonessential appositives are set off by a comma or commas. Essential appositives are not set off by commas.
→ Essential: Samuel's friend Julie threw him a surprise birthday party. ("Julie" is an essential appositive modifier of friend. Which of Samuel's friends threw the party? The one named Julie.)
→ Nonessential: Julie is Samuel's good friend, a person he can always count on. (The appositive
a person he can always count on is important but not essential information. We already know that Julie is a good friend to Samuel. The appositive simply expands upon "good friend.")
THE OPTIONSQuote:
A) some of the country’s poorest, most neglected workers.
• I do not see any errors.
• This option correctly and concisely describes the tea estate workers.
KEEP
Quote:
B) they are some of the country’s poorest, most neglected workers.
• COMMA SPLICE
→ In this option, the words create an independent clause—a sentence with a subject and verb that could stand on its own.
→ We cannot "stick" two independent clauses together with nothing more than a comma.
→ Using only a comma to join two independent clauses is a form of a run on sentence called a "comma splice."
We need COMMA + CONJUNCTION (such as
and)
Other ways to connect two independent clauses include a semicolon (no conjunction); a period; and a semicolon with a conjunctive adverb such as
consequently. You can read more about these connectors (including a comma + conjunction) and some examples by clicking on
this site, here.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
C)
being some of the poorest, most neglected workers in the country.
•
being is not always wrong, but in this case, the word is unnecessary and strange.
→ Can you remove being, and does the meaning of the sentence stay the same? Yes? Then you do not need
being.
• the word
being seems randomly inserted into the sentence. Compare to option A. No contest. Option A is better.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) some of the country’s most neglected workers and also poorest.
• the choice is grammatical but not as clear or crisp as option A
• diction error
The phrase
and also poorest is clumsily integrated with the rest of the sentence.
Choice A does this integration much better.
Choice A is also more concise than option D. Concision really is a thing.
(Although "and also" is not always redundant, in this case, it is.)
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
E) who are some of the country’s
most poorest, most neglected workers.
• there is no such thing as "most poorest."
→ poorest is
already a superlative. Poorest = most poor
→ adding the word
most before a superlative such as
poorest (or richest, shortest, tallest, funniest) is redundant and ungrammatical.
→ most poorest is redundant. The correct construction is
most poor.
ELIMINATE E
The correct answer is A.COMMENTSI am always glad to see a mix of new and veteran SC Butler posters.
Typically, I do not care whether you know the jargon.
I still do not care whether you know what to call an
appositive—but you must know how they work.
GMAC writers use appositives frequently, and often in just the way you all see in this case.
Most of the analysis in these posts is quite good.
Sometimes I award kudos for bravery.
Posting an answer to what appears to be a murky question takes courage.
So -- kudos to all.