An anthology of poetry by Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan settler in the No

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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan - Incorrect; it was only the second - redundant
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published Incorrect; colonial changes the meaning of woman
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan - Incorrect; colonial changes the meaning of woman
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published - Incorrect. the second one only that a - is redundant

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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan - parallelism is not maintained. Since we have conjunction word AND, both sides of it must be parallel in logic and form, that is NOUN phrase and NOUN phrase, but here we have noun phrase AND full clause. Out
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan - good, parallelism maintained and proper use of "only"
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published - parallelism is not maintained. See A for more details. Out
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan - "one" refers to what? Besides, adverb ‘only’ modifies "published", meaning that all Anne did was only publish. Ugly meaning. Out
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published - ugh, as crappy as D. Let's see its meaning. 'Only' tries to say that Anne did not publish more than two books. While it may be true, we are not told so or hinted in original sentence. Thus we remove this. Out
B is our answer

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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan
women int he colonies means that any women who went to live in the colonies and may not a native to that colony.
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan
women int he colonies means that any women who went to live in the colonies and may not a native to that colony.

(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published
Correct diction and meaning conveyed along with clear meaning of who particularly published.

(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan
the meaning is not clear here that whether only a purtian published that means only one person was involved ? and the rest option have more people involved
so wrong

(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published
women in the colonies can mean to any women who went to live int eh colonies and for this reason it is wrong.

IMO B

There is a parallelism issue "by a woman....by a Puritan is required. so, C and E can be eliminated.
D changes the meaning by chaning only the second to only published.
In A, it was seems redundant. so B is the answer


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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan - Antecedent error
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published - Parallelism error
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan - Incorrect use of only
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published - Parallelism error

Answer should be 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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan
Not a parallel structure. 'the first book....colonies' is a phrase and the part after 'and', 'it was only....' is a clause

(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan
Correct.

(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published
Adjective 'colonial' to describe woman is incorrect. And it should be 'only the second '

(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan
Same as C.

(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published
'the second one only' is not correct

Option B

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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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

simple sentence: An anthology was published, the first book of poetry and only the second.
construction: a sentence, appositive

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan --> "the first book of poetry by a woman" & "only the second published by a Puritan" should be two connected appositives
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan --> correct
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published --> same as A
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan --> meaning change
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published --> meaning change

POE:
(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan --> Parallelism error : the first not parallel with it was
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan -->Correct
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published-->Change in meaning: by a women in the colonies and by a colonial woman is not same
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan-->Same as C
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published-->Meaning error: the second one only not similar to only the second one

Hence option B

IMO B

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan - No parallelism between "the first book of poetry by a woman" and "it was only...by a Puritan"
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan - Correct construction and parallelism
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published - No parallelism between "the first book of poetry by a colonial woman" and "it was only...Puritan published"
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan - Parallelism is somewhat correct, but the construction "second one only published" is not correct
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published - No parallelism between "the first book of poetry by a woman" and "the second one and only that a Puritan published "

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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan
It is wrong because the highlighted part is a clause. This is distorting the parallelism.

(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan . eliminates the error in Original Sentence. CORRECT
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published . Retains the same error as in A.
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan us of phrase "the second one only" is inappropriate
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published Again distorts the parallelism and has error same as D.

IMO B

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan- "It was only" creates a parallelism error - noun phrase "and" clause
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan - Correct
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published - "It was only" creates a parallelism error - noun phrase "and" clause
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan - "second one only" Placement of only is incorrect - Wrong meaning
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published - "second one only" Placement of only is incorrect - Wrong meaning

IMO 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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

This is the sentence correction question and we need to find the best possible answer for the underlined part of the sentence. Let us have a closer look at the options and try to identify what is wrong with each of these options:

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan - it was is not required here, as it does not make the sentence concise. Instead, it violates the parallelism. The "only the second published by a Puritan" is related to the first book and serves a role of adjective here.
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan - This answer is correct, it adheres to parallelism, and the sentence is clear and concise.
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published - it was only the second that a Puritan published is wordy and there is an additional structure introduced to the sentence. second does not have subject.
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan - second one only is wordy and here only is related to the word published and for this reason the sentence loses its original meaning and states that it was only published rather than it was only the second book that was published.
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published - here, again, there is a wrong structure in the second part of the highlighted text. the second one only that a Puritan published is wordy and carries the same mistakes described above. It would be better to use passive voice here as in the option B.

Answer: B

1. Split: a woman in the colonies / a colonial woman

To 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

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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

Mistake - pronoun it is not consistent with the non underlined portion where no pronoun is used to refer to the book.

eliminated options are prefixed with X

X(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan
>> IT is incorrect

(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan
>>THIS IS CORRECT. We will still check others to ensure there areno better versions.

X(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published
>>again eliminated because of IT

X(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan
>>one is redundant. second alone is sufficient to express the meaning.

X(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published
>>again eliminated because of ONE

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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan
the first book of poetry by a woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan. Incorrect
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan
the first book of poetry by a woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan is correct parallelism. Correct
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published
the first book of poetry by a colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published. Incorrect
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan
the first book of poetry by a colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan. Meaning is distorted only published by a Puritan is incorrect
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published
the first book of poetry by a woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published. B is definitely better than E and is more concise. Incorrect

IMO B

IMO-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 it was only the second published by a Puritan.

Parallelism-
"the first book of poetry by a Women" & "the second published by a Puritan" ----Ok Structure.
Meaning:-
Women in the colonies & Colonial Women mean different.. as per original sentence , intended meaning conveyed through "Women in the colonies"

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan-----Incorrect---- Parallelism Error
(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan--- correct-- Parallel & Meaning Ok
(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published------Incorrect---- Parallelism Error
(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan---Incorrect--- Meaning error
(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published--- Incorrect---Last clause not parallel "that a Puritan published"

The subject is "An anthology of poetry". The part "the first book of poetry by a woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan." modifies the subject.

This is a case of parallelism error. Both the elements separated by the marker "and" must be parallel.

(A) woman in the colonies and it was only the second published by a Puritan - "it was" ruins the parallelism.

(B) woman in the colonies and only the second published by a Puritan - Correct choice.

(C) colonial woman and it was only the second that a Puritan published - Same as option A.

(D) colonial woman and the second one only published by a Puritan - "second one only published" is unclear and illogical.

(E) woman in the colonies and the second one only that a Puritan published - clumsily worded with the same problems as option D.