Although they contain many repeated themes and depict multiple charact

Question

Although  they contain many repeated themes and depict multiple characters with strikingly similar traits , the anthology consists of stories written by a diverse group of authors representing several different genres.

A. they contain many repeated themes and depict multiple characters with strikingly similar traits

B. they contain many themes repeatedly and depict multiple characters with similar traits strikingly

C. it contains many repeated themes and depicts multiple characters with strikingly similar traits

D. it contains many repeated themes and characters that depict multiple strikingly similar traits

E. it contains many themes repeatedly that depict multiple characters with strikingly similar traits

daagh · Accepted Answer

Although they contain many repeated themes and depict multiple characters with strikingly similar traits, the anthology consists of stories written by a diverse group of authors representing several different genres.

A. they contain many repeated themes and depict multiple characters with strikingly similar traits – 'they' is the wrong pronoun for the anthology

B. they contain many themes repeatedly and depict multiple characters with similar traits strikingly --- same as in A.

C. it contains many repeated themes and depicts multiple characters with strikingly similar traits --- The best and correct choice

D. it contains many repeated themes and characters that depict multiple strikingly similar traits ---'multiple strikingly similar traits' is ungrammatical. You must conjugate multiple and strikingly similar traits with fanboys such as ‘and’

E. it contains many themes repeatedly that depict multiple characters with strikingly similar traits --- The adverb ‘repeatedly’ cannot modify the noun themes. One should use the adjective ‘repeated’ to modify the noun themes.

gvij2017 · Answer

In my view, A and B are clearly out because of pronoun error. "It" is correct instead of "they" for the anthology.

Next, The anthology contains x and y. and Y depicts....

So it goes with D. 
My answer is D.

Bunuel · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

STEP 1: READ THE ORIGINAL SENTENCE CAREFULLY, LOOKING FOR ERRORS 
The underlined portion begins with a pronoun: “they.” This is the focus of the modifying clause at the beginning of the sentence, so “they” should refer to the subject being modified. The subject of the sentence comes immediately after the comma: “the anthology,” a singular noun. Even though the anthology consists of multiple stories, the opening modifying phrase refers to the singular anthology and should thus use “it,” not “they.”

As for the rest of the underlined portion, the adjective “repeated” correctly describes the noun “themes,” and the adverb “strikingly” correctly modifies the adjective “similar.”

STEP 2: SCAN AND GROUP THE ANSWER CHOICES 
(A) and (B) use “they” at the beginning, while (C), (D), and (E) use “it.”

STEP 3: ELIMINATE CHOICES UNTIL ONLY ONE REMAINS 
Because “they” has been identified as incorrect, eliminate (A) and (B). Of the remaining choices, (C) and (D) use “repeated themes,” while (E) uses “contains . . . repeatedly.” Eliminate (E) because it should be the themes that are repeated. Using the adverb “repeatedly” suggests that the act of containing is repeated, as if the anthology keeps containing things over and over. Further, by placing “that depict” after “themes,” (E) suggests the themes depict characters, but this is something the anthology does.

Between the remaining choices, eliminate (D) because it moves “that depict” after the “characters.” Again, it’s the anthology that depicts something, not the characters. Also, by moving the word “multiple,” (D) changes the meaning to claim that there are multiple traits that are similar, not multiple characters who have similar traits. (C) is correct.

Although  it contains many repeated themes and depicts multiple characters with strikingly similar traits , the anthology consists of stories written by a diverse group of authors representing several different genres.

ArindamLucky · Answer

Answer :C

POE

A. they contain many repeated themes and depict multiple characters with strikingly similar traits -- incorrect pronoun should be singular

B. they contain many themes repeatedly and depict multiple characters with similar traits strikingly -- same as A

C. it contains many repeated themes and depicts multiple characters with strikingly similar traits

D. it contains many repeated themes and characters that depict multiple strikingly similar traits -- verb should be singular but depict is plural

E. it contains many themes repeatedly that depict multiple characters with strikingly similar traits-- same as D

Posted from my mobile device

MBAB123 · Answer

It's not the plural "depict" that makes choices D&E wrong. Depict is clearly used for characters in D and for Themes in E. Its the illogical meaning that these 2 choices indicate that makes them wrong.

GMATE1 · Answer

Dear  Bunuel , dear readers,

I choose the correct answer (C), however I needed too long to decide between C&D. Ultimately I did not like the "that" because it changes the meaning. My difficulty was not so much to understand that there is a slight difference in the meaning but to understand which meaning was the correct, intended one. In other words, would I have known what was intended, it would have been easy to choose the answer, which best reflects the intentions, however  HOW do I know what the author intends with his sentence ?

Do I need to gather this information from the first answer choice? And if so does this mean that the meaning of the first sentence is always correct(, eventhough the grammar may be wrong). If the meaning of the first sentence is not always correct, then how would I find the actual intended meaning of the sentence? Sometimes I believe we have two sentences which clearly have different meanings, but it's not always apparent to me which one is the one, which is intended by the author.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Although they contain many repeated themes and depict multiple charact

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Although they contain many repeated themes and depict multiple charact

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