Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections

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 core meaning of this sentence is that despite the fact that Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel brought her the widest acclaim, and as a result, it won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Grammatial Construction + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• “both A and B" or "A as well as B" are the correct usages; A and B must be parallel and comparable.
• The introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “winning” and "bringing" in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses "in that" to refer to a cause-effect relationship; remember, "because" is used to refer to a cause-effect relationship, and "in that" is used to refer to intrinsic properties. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “both A as well as B”; remember, “both A and B" or "A as well as B" are the correct usages; A and B must be parallel and comparable. Additionally, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase "which was published in 1982", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; as "published", "bringing", and "winning" are all modifiers, there is no active verb to act upon the subject, "her third novel".

C: Correct. This answer choice acts upon the independent noun phrase "her third novel" with the active verb "brought" to form a complete thought, leading to a complete sentence. Further, Option C uses the phrase " brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize"; the construction of this phrase and the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "winning" in this sentence)" construction convey the intended meaning - that despite the fact that Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel brought her the widest acclaim, and, as a result of bringing her the most acclaim, it won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Further, Option C correctly uses the idiomatic construction "both A and B". Additionally, Option C avoids the idiom error seen in Option A, as it uses the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "winning" in this sentence)" construction to convey a cause-effect relationship. Besides, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D: This answer choice uses the phrase "was published in 1982 and which...brought her the widest acclaim", forming an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that despite the fact that Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel brought her the widest acclaim.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim"; the construction of this phrase and the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "winning" and "bringing" in this sentence) incorrectly imply that despite the fact that Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel was published in 1982, and, as a result of being published in 1982, it both brought her the widest acclaim and won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize; the intended meaning is that despite the fact that Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel brought her the widest acclaim, and, as a result of bringing her the most acclaim, it won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize; remember, the introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “winning” and "bringing" in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “both A as well as B”; remember, “both A and B" or "A as well as B" are the correct usages; A and B must be parallel and comparable.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Comma Plus Present Participle for Cause-Effect Relationship", you may want to watch the following video (~3 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize - Both X and Y is correct. Hence this option is wrong.
(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim
(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim. Both X and Y is correct. Hence this option is wrong.

Only Option C is free from error.

Lets get the theme -

Although Alice Walker
published a number of essays,.........during the 1970s
her third novel, The Color Purple published in 1982 brought her the widest acclaim


(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize - Incorrect
(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize - Incorrect
(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize - Correct

published .....published.....brought
Winning ->comma+Verb-Ing = Presents results of preceding clause
Correct Use of Both_______ and ________

(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim - Incorrect
(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim - Incorrect

Hence IMHO (C) is correct in all aspect...

winning modifies preceding clause ..The Color Purple, published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim...
in terms of "what" means..it refers to the book (which is the subject of the clause)

This is a question that appeared on our Ask Me Anything About SC thread -- and I figured that I'd post it here too, just in case it helps somebody out there:


Sure! Take another look at the relevant portion of (D):

"The Color Purple, which was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim..."

Notice that we have two clauses modifying "The Color Purple": 1) which was published in 1982 and 2) which brought her the widest acclaim. But there's no main verb for the "Color Purple" itself! (It's confusing because a long VERB-ing modifier comes in between the second "which" and "brought." This is intentional. The GMAT can be mean.)

Because this part of the sentence lacks a main verb, it's a sentence fragment. And that's a huge problem, because now the sentence doesn't have an independent clause at all. So (D) is very wrong.

I hope that helps!

'Both X and Y' is the right idiom. A and E are out.

Sentence is in past tense and hence we should use 'brought' instead of 'bringing'. B is out

(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize . correct sentence. Maintains parallelism.
(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim . 'and' indicates parallel marker. But, which is lacking in the beginning of the sentence.

C is the answer

Choice B:
Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Although (Co-ordinating conjunction) | Alice Walker (Subject) | Published (Verb)
Subordinating conjunction + Subject + Verb ------ Dependent Clause

Her Third Novel (subject) + bringing (not a verb).
Subject + NO Verb ------ NOT Independent clause

Dependent Clause + Comma + NOT an Independent Clause --- Wrong construction

Choice C
Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Although (Co-ordinating conjunction) | Alice Walker (Subject) | Published (Verb)
Subordinating conjunction + Subject + Verb ------ Dependent Clause

Her Third Novel (subject) brought (verb)
Subject + Verb ------ Independent clause

Dependent Clause + Comma + Independent Clause --- correct

Vertical scan reveals that option A and E have idiom pair ‘both X as well as Y’. Correct idiom pair is ‘both X and Y’. Eliminate A and B.

In option D, ‘was published….. and which’ demands parallel structure. If ‘which’ is present after ‘and’, ‘which’ must be present before ‘and’ as well. Parallel structure missing. Eliminate.

In B, ‘published in 1982’ is a modifier, ‘ bringing her ..’ is again a modifier. ‘her third novel’ is the subject. But verb is not present. Eliminate.

Hence option C is correct.

Thanks for the question NischalSR!

Let's see what option D would look like if we removed the phrase "and which." Then we can see if there are any other problems that would rule it out:

Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim.

Unfortunately, no, option D is not grammatically correct if you drop the "and which" from the sentence. If we remove all of the extra modifiers and the "and which" phrase, what we're left with doesn't make sense:

Although Alice Walker published a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel, The Color Purple, was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim.

If we just write down what's left after we've crossed out all that extra stuff, we have this:

Her third novel was published in 1982 brought her the widest acclaim.

That doesn't work, does it?

HOWEVER - if option D had left in the word "and" from the "and which," it WOULD be correct! It would look like this:

Her third novel was published in 1982 and brought her the widest acclaim.

I hope that helps clear that up! Feel free to tag us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal if you have any other questions!

Good question! The best way to evaluate an -ing modifier when it follows a full clause and a comma is to ask yourself if the modifier is doing one of two things. Is it 1) giving context for the action of the previous clause? or 2) offering a consequence for the action of the previous clause? If it's doing one of those two things, then it's fine.

Now take a look at the relevant portion of (C):



"Winning," in this case, is giving context for the previous action. How did The Color Purple bring Alice Walker her widest acclaim? By winning two very prestigious literary awards. Because the -ing modifier logically answers one of our litmus-test questions, it works, and we can move on to evaluate other decision points.

I hope that clears things up!

C seems okay. Just a clarification: Does novel win price or the author? If answer is author than C is wrong because it suggests that Novel won the price. Any comments?

A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize

(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize

(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize

(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim

(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest

A and E have incorrect IDIOM - both x as well as y

Correct IDIOM should be both x and y

B - Missing verb

D - usage of "which" is incorrect

Hence, Answer is C

Did you like the answer? Hit Kudos

I don’t understand in choice C, why winning modify the book. Comma+doing should modify the entire preceding clause?

Posted from my mobile device

Although: Showing contrast in the sentence.
S-V Pair:
AW-Published
Her third novel-brought

Although (contrast) Alice Walker (S) published (V) a number of essays, poetry collections, and stories during the 1970s, her third novel (S), The Color Purple (name of the novel), published in 1982 (V-ed modifier, modifying noun i.e. The Color Purple), brought (Verb for novel) her the widest acclaim, winning (V-ing modifying action brought) both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

(A) which was published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim in that it won both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize
both..as well as is incorrect. the widest acclaim is shown because she won award and prize. But in this sentence the meaning is different.

(B) published in 1982, bringing her the widest acclaim by winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
Bringing is incorrectly modifying published. The remaining sentence is correct except bringing.
No verb because the book cannot do the action of publishing. So published must be v-ed modifier. And bringing cannot be a verb.

(C) published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
V-ing modifier is describing the action of brought, how she brought her widest acclaim. V-ed modifier published is modifying novel. Correct

(D) was published in 1982 and which, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, brought her the widest acclaim
which here is illogical, it says publishing brought her the claim, but the book brought her the widest acclaim.

(E) was published in 1982, winning both the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and bringing her the widest acclaim
both..as well as is incorrect. winning is incorrectly modifying published.

Please confirm if my analysis is correct?

Suarabh,

I may not subscribe to your comfort and solace you draw from the otherwise correct status of point 1 and 2. The choice is anyway incorrect because of the third factor. SC's focus is not academic sagacity but effective communication.

No one would want to lose precious seconds in the hall on choices that one knows are wrong for sure.

To be honest to your query, I would nip this mindset in the bud.

Please bear with me, if my words are slightly pricking and bitter.

Answer options A and E will be eliminated because the expression both A as well as B is non-idiomatic.

The main verb is missing in the second clause in option C.

Everything is okay in option C. We can see the right use of the participle modifier here. This is the correct option.

In option D, we can see the problem of parallelism. ‘And’ is not connecting a similar entity here.

No problem with the ing modifier of option (C).

... her third novel, ..., published in 1982, brought her the widest acclaim, winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

How did the book bring her the widest acclaim? By winning both prizes.
It does tell us more about the previous clause.