An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and

Question

An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and studied particle physics at age ten,  Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind was  vital to the creation of quontronics in the 1970s, when she discovered the fluctuating waves present in deep space.

a) Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind was
b) it was the astute scientific mind of Nora Brodkey that was 
c) Nora Brodkey was the woman whose astute scientific mind was
d) Nora Brodkey was the astute scientific mind
e) the astute scientific mind of Nora Brodkey was

why not the answer is D?

trungnguyenn · Answer

An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and studied particle physics at age ten,  Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind was  vital to the creation of quontronics in the 1970s, when she discovered the fluctuating waves present in deep space.

An exceptional student  is noun phrase so we should expect noun that answers " who is an exceptional student ". Therefore A, B and E out.

Consider option D, adjective  vital  is in awkward position since " ..., Nora Brodkey was the astute scientific mind  vital  to the creation of quontronics...  " has wrong structure. In additions, you cannot say he/she is  something . "The astute scientific mind" should imply the characteristic of Nora Brodkey since he/she is person, not  scientific mind

Hence, C correct.

But you meant OA is C?

a)  Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind  was

b)  it was the astute scientific mind  of Nora Brodkey that was

c) Nora Brodkey was the woman whose astute scientific mind was

d) Nora Brodkey  was the astute scientific mind

e)  the astute scientific mind  of Nora Brodkey was

monarkmunshi · Answer

How is it D?

How can Nora Bodley be the mind? Am I missing something here?

Akash do you have the OE? Or at least why they say C is incorrect?

ydmuley · Answer

Hello  monarkmunshi  - I think D is the correct answer and below is the reason for the same.

c) Nora Brodkey was the woman whose astute scientific mind was

As per above answer choice, it seems as if - Nora's mind was vital - to the creation of quontronics which is illogical - ideally if we have to credit scientific accolades we credit it to a person and not to a person's mind.

d) Nora Brodkey was the astute scientific mind

D - D correctly says Nora Brodkey - was vital - to the creation of quontronics

Hope this helps!

MyGuruStefan · Answer

When a sentence begins with a modifying phrase, check to ensure that the phrase modifies its intended subject. In this case,  Nora Brodkey's... mind  cannot be referred to as  an exceptional student , so eliminate choices A, B, and E which incorrectly do so. Now, down to two nearly identical choices, look for redundancies. The phrase  the woman whose  is rendered redundant by the appearance of the pronoun  she  in the final clause of the non-underlined portion. Eliminate choice C and select choice D which accurately and succinctly identifies  Nora Brodkey  as both  an exceptional student  and  the astute scientific mind .

akashbolster · Answer

Sorry for the late reply, OA is C.

abd15 · Answer

Experts can you please help on this question. The OA looks debatable.

ydmuley · Answer

Hello - @akashbolster - Thanks - Could you please help us with the source and official explanation from that source?

akashbolster · Answer

I got this question while giving Princeton Review Exams. The Official Explanation is "Nora Brodkey is not the the astute scientific mind" That's why the answer is C. I rejected "C" because of its wordiness, but later I realized how stupid was I am.

ydmuley · Answer

Got it - I think OE was incorrectly updated by as D, I will update the OA to C. Though this question is debatable, if possible do post complete OE for this question (if you have) for the benefit of others.

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

The structure of this prompt is as follows: the first clause ( An exceptional student who mastered, ... ) is a long appositive clause which modifies a noun. therefore, what follows the comma must be the noun itself (the subject that the appositive clause is trying to modify).

Hence, we can eliminate (A), (B) and (E) on the spot.

In (D), we have  "Nora Brodkey was" the astute "scientific mind" . what this says is that the person was the scientific mind. This comparison clearly does not make sense. Hence, eliminate (D).

Therefore,  (C) is the right answer

VerbalBot · Answer

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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and

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