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705-805 Level|   Meaning/Logical Predication|   Modifiers|                           
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 31 Aug 2022, 05:27
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woohoo921
I have a question on @GMATNINJA's comment:
"The second issue is that "including" seems to modify "several generations of actors", and that doesn't really make sense: Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro are examples of actors, not "generations of actors." It's subtle -- and probably not the worst error we've ever seen on a GMAT SC question -- but it makes (A) worse than at least one of the alternatives below."

Why is the "including" not just modifying actors? Is it because "actors" is next to a preposition?

Thank you for your time.
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Hello woohoo921,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, yes; because "actors" is part of a prepositional phrase that modifies "generations", "including" will act upon the noun the prepositional phrase modifies - the main noun of the noun phrase - "generations".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 03 Sep 2022, 12:32
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There are some qestions in the GMAT that however it is explained to me I will never understand them.
This is one of them

I knew C was better than B but I ignored C because of the word "Ranks". What does ranks mean here and what does it refer to?

I chose B knowing that the use of present simple tense verb "include" is incorrect, but I thought it is better than including the word "ranks".

Can someone try to help me in this?

Thanks
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 03 Sep 2022, 22:20
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AhmedMoharam89

A good rule of thumb: don't eliminate an answer because it adds a word that doesn't make sense to you. That's the GMAT messing with you! The test writers know that this word is probably something that throws people off. At the same time, they don't add random words for no reason. If a word like that is getting added in, it's more likely that we need it than that it's creating some terrible problem. In this case, the idea is that the ACTORS THEMSELVES don't include Brando and DeNiro. Rather, the GROUP of actors does. That's what the word "ranks" means here: the list or roster of people involved.
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DmitryFarber

Thank you for the reply.

So in the question, generations mean, for example, the 1st gen. as the actors of the 60s or whatsoever.

But “ranks” here mean group of the actors of the nth generation, and these ranks ,or groups, included Brando and Deniro?

Can you explain the other justification for elimination choice B, which says
“ Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include
PROBLEM: The problem here is two-fold. First of all, our modifier gets odd here. If you take out the middle man "one of the most...", we end up with a sentence saying that "As an actress and a teacher of acting, Stella Adler trained several generations of actors." That doesn't make any sense. She only taught people as a teacher, not as an actress. Also, the "who include" is modifying incorrectly here. ”

I don’t understand how the choice B, besides the reason you mentioned about including, could be wrong?

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AhmedMoharam89
DmitryFarber

Thank you for the reply.

So in the question, generations mean, for example, the 1st gen. as the actors of the 60s or whatsoever.

But “ranks” here mean group of the actors of the nth generation, and these ranks ,or groups, included Brando and Deniro?

Can you explain the other justification for elimination choice B, which says
“ Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include
PROBLEM: The problem here is two-fold. First of all, our modifier gets odd here. If you take out the middle man "one of the most...", we end up with a sentence saying that "As an actress and a teacher of acting, Stella Adler trained several generations of actors." That doesn't make any sense. She only taught people as a teacher, not as an actress. Also, the "who include" is modifying incorrectly here. ”

I don’t understand how the choice B, besides the reason you mentioned about including, could be wrong?

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Hello AhmedMoharam89,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "As an actress and...as a teacher of acting" means "in her role as an actress and teacher of acting" or "in her capacity as..."; thus, the use of "As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting" to modify the clause "Stella Adler...trained..." incorrectly implies that Adler trained several generations of actors, in the capacity of a teacher and an actress; logically, she would have done the action of training only in the capacity of a teacher.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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DmitryFarber

Thank you for the reply.

So in the question, generations mean, for example, the 1st gen. as the actors of the 60s or whatsoever.

But “ranks” here mean group of the actors of the nth generation, and these ranks ,or groups, included Brando and Deniro?

Can you explain the other justification for elimination choice B, which says
“ Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include
PROBLEM: The problem here is two-fold. First of all, our modifier gets odd here. If you take out the middle man "one of the most...", we end up with a sentence saying that "As an actress and a teacher of acting, Stella Adler trained several generations of actors." That doesn't make any sense. She only taught people as a teacher, not as an actress. Also, the "who include" is modifying incorrectly here. ”

I don’t understand how the choice B, besides the reason you mentioned about including, could be wrong?

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Hello AhmedMoharam89,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "As an actress and...as a teacher of acting" means "in her role as an actress and teacher of acting" or "in her capacity as..."; thus, the use of "As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting" to modify the clause "Stella Adler...trained..." incorrectly implies that Adler trained several generations of actors, in the capacity of a teacher and an actress; logically, she would have done the action of training only in the capacity of a teacher.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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ExpertsGlobal5

Thank you for replying.

I think I have finally got it.

Let me get this straight
The question says” as and actress…as a teacher”.

So in choice B, since the “one of the most, trained” means that we made an essential modifier a non essential modifier and the sentence now means that she trained the “generation” as a teacher and as an actress.

But in Choice C, in which we kept the essential modifier, the first part of the sentence just give a hint about who Adler is, and the rest part that starts with”, training…” just explains how she was an artist or an inspirational artist.

Is that what question wants to say?

Did I FINALLY get it right?
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 05 Sep 2022, 01:28
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In option B "Adler trained several generation of actors", and "Who" refers to "generation of actors". But as per rule "usage of Who/Whom"- Whom is used if its is acting as object/ receiver of action. In this "generation of actors" is receiver of action. So why "who" is correct ?
Utterly confused with usage of who versus whom.
Please clarify.
Due Regards.
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 05 Sep 2022, 02:55
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himanshu0077
In option B "Adler trained several generation of actors", and "Who" refers to "generation of actors". But as per rule "usage of Who/Whom"- Whom is used if its is acting as object/ receiver of action. In this "generation of actors" is receiver of action. So why "who" is correct ?
Utterly confused with usage of who versus whom.
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You are looking at the wrong clause. "who" is a part of the following clause:

"...who include..."

So, clearly, "who" is the "subject" of the verb "include" and hence, the subject pronoun ("who") is appropriate.

For example:

Mary is the person who loves me.
- "who loves me", because "who" is the subject of the verb "love" in the clause "who loves me".

Mary is the person whom I love.
- "whom I love", because "whom" is the object of the verb "love" in the clause ""whom I love" ("I" is the subject).
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 05 Sep 2022, 04:43
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AhmedMoharam89
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AhmedMoharam89
DmitryFarber

Thank you for the reply.

So in the question, generations mean, for example, the 1st gen. as the actors of the 60s or whatsoever.

But “ranks” here mean group of the actors of the nth generation, and these ranks ,or groups, included Brando and Deniro?

Can you explain the other justification for elimination choice B, which says
“ Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include
PROBLEM: The problem here is two-fold. First of all, our modifier gets odd here. If you take out the middle man "one of the most...", we end up with a sentence saying that "As an actress and a teacher of acting, Stella Adler trained several generations of actors." That doesn't make any sense. She only taught people as a teacher, not as an actress. Also, the "who include" is modifying incorrectly here. ”

I don’t understand how the choice B, besides the reason you mentioned about including, could be wrong?

Posted from my mobile device

Hello AhmedMoharam89,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "As an actress and...as a teacher of acting" means "in her role as an actress and teacher of acting" or "in her capacity as..."; thus, the use of "As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting" to modify the clause "Stella Adler...trained..." incorrectly implies that Adler trained several generations of actors, in the capacity of a teacher and an actress; logically, she would have done the action of training only in the capacity of a teacher.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

ExpertsGlobal5

Thank you for replying.

I think I have finally got it.

Let me get this straight
The question says” as and actress…as a teacher”.

So in choice B, since the “one of the most, trained” means that we made an essential modifier a non essential modifier and the sentence now means that she trained the “generation” as a teacher and as an actress.

But in Choice C, in which we kept the essential modifier, the first part of the sentence just give a hint about who Adler is, and the rest part that starts with”, training…” just explains how she was an artist or an inspirational artist.

Is that what question wants to say?

Did I FINALLY get it right?
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Hello AhmedMoharam89,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, yes; your understanding is now correct.

Kudos.

All the best!
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 06 Sep 2022, 01:22
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himanshu0077
Utterly confused with usage of who versus whom.
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"Who" vs. "whom" is NEVER tested in GMAT sentence correction. No error of this type will appear in any official problem, ever.

You might still want to study the difference in order to improve your formal writing for some other purpose, but for the GMAT it's a complete waste of your time (and may even cause you to make incorrect judgments, as in this thread).
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 04 Dec 2022, 17:11
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Quote:
As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.

(A) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including
(B) Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include
(C) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included
(D) one of the most influential artists in the American theater was Stella Adler, who trained several generations of actors including
(E) one of the most influential artists in the American theater, Stella Adler, trained several generations of actors whose ranks included
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Hello Experts,
Can I just say choice B is wrong as trained can't be the part of actress?
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 05 Dec 2022, 05:50
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Quote:
As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.

(A) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, who trained several generations of actors including
(B) Stella Adler, one of the most influential artists in the American theater, trained several generations of actors who include
(C) Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater, training several generations of actors whose ranks included
(D) one of the most influential artists in the American theater was Stella Adler, who trained several generations of actors including
(E) one of the most influential artists in the American theater, Stella Adler, trained several generations of actors whose ranks included
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Hello RonPurewal,
Hope you are well enough. In this question, there are 2 versions namely:
1. Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater
2. one of the most influential artists in the American theater
In one of your another explanations in another SC you said that there must be one version wrong. My question is: what should we check for to confirm that version is wrong? Should we just check those 2 versions or other things (highlighted part) to prove the version is wrong?
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 05 Dec 2022, 05:56
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TheUltimateWinner

Can I just say choice B is wrong as trained can't be the part of actress?
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Not sure I understand your question. trained is used as a simple past tense verb in B.
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 05 Dec 2022, 06:01
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Can I just say choice B is wrong as trained can't be the part of actress?
Not sure I understand your question. trained is used as a simple past tense verb in B.
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The word trained reflects only teacher not actress, but in non-underlined part it shows that Stella Adler is both teacher and actress. So, the usage of the word trained can't go with actress, i guess.
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 05 Dec 2022, 07:28
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I rejected option C for using ranks , as its not in any of the sentence . Can anyone explain why inclusion of word ranks is correct . I selected B
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As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting, Stella 22 Oct 2025, 20:13
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