1. Split:
a woman in the colonies /
a colonial womanTo my mind, both are acceptable. In RC passages I have seen both.
2. Split:
it was only the second /
only the second published /
the second one only published B. An anthology of poetry by Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan settler in the North American colonies, was published in 1650, the first book of poetry by a woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan.In short:
An anthology..., the first book... and only the second (book)...Here
the first book... and only the second book is a noun modifier describing
an anthology. In general, noun modifiers must be as close as possible to the nouns they modify. However, here an essential modifier (
of poetry by Anne Bradstreet...) is allowed to come between a noun (
an anthology) and a nonessential modifier/appositive (
the first book... and only the second book...).
The sentence not only conserves the original meaning of A, but also does it in a grammatically correct way. The original sentence talks about two types/sets of books: 1. Books published by women in the colonies. 2. Books published by Puritans. The book published by Anne Bradstreet was first in set 1 and the second in set 2. Why do we need
only before
the second? To mean that it was still an achievement (even if the book was the second).
Let’s picture a race we are participating in. Crossing the finish line second can be a failure, if only two people participated and we were the second. However, being second can still be an achievement, if 1000 people are participating and we are the second. We would probably cry –
I was just the second! I was only the second! Similarly,
only the second (book) published by Puritan means that it was still an achievement.
In B both elements of parallel marker
and are similar in structure:
the first book of poetry by a woman (mofier)
and only the second published by a Puritan (modifier). Fine.
A. ...the first book of poetry by a woman in the colonies (modifier)
and it was only the second published by a Puritan (clause). Not parallel, thus out.
C. ...the first book of poetry by a woman in the colonies (modifier)
and it was only the second that a Puritan published (clause). Not parallel, thus out.
D. ...the first book of poetry by a colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan. Parallel but the meaning has changed. Here
only modifies
published. When I say that I only eat donuts, I mean that I don’t cook them or even buy them. I only eat them. The only action I am able to perform is to eat. (One of cases when my habits help me explain GMAT questions
). Thus saying
she only published the book means that she didn’t do anything with the book except publishing it. She even didn’t reread, edit, get proofread or whatever can be done with the book. She just published it. Not the original meaning. Thus out.
E. ...the second one only that a Puritan published. Here
only that a Puritan published means that Puritans did not publish any more than two books. Not the original meaning, thus out.
Hence
B _________________