Hey All,

I got asked to take this one on by PM, so here I am! Yay!

As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member for 28 years, Joan Philkill attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications.

A. As the former
PROBLEM: The "as" part is correct (See answer choice E), but you can't be a former chair for 18 years. Also, she didn't do these things AS the FORMER chair. She did them AS the chair, and NOW she is the former chair.

B. The former
PROBLEM: Technically, this could be called okay, because we have a really long noun modifier ("the former chair...") modifying another noun, "Joan Philkill." However, answer choice A simply makes more sense, considering the definition of "As" given above.

C. Former
PROBLEM: We need the article "the" here. We use it to refer to a person or thing that is unique. Obviously we're talking about a unique chair of the board here (Joan).

D. She was
PROBLEM: Now, we end up with two independent clauses separated by a comma. This isn't allowed.

E. As the
ANSWER: The preposition "as" can be used to to mean "during the time of being (the thing specified)." For example, I could say "As a child, I was often sick." In this sentence, we're told that "During the time of being the former chair...Joan attended more than 400 meetings..."

Hope that helps!

-t
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I did not pick up B because, I think if we use 'The former chair' , the sentence should be :

the former chair of the planning board..and a former board member

Unless I interpret it differently, "As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member for 28 years" is not a subordinate clause. It is a modifier clause for "Joan Philkill". Hence, "As" seems irrelevant".

Hence, I will go for "B". Also, if As is relevant, then the modifier should look like "As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and as a board member for 28 years"

Very diff Q.

@BFH,

Why would some one attend meetings as former chair ?

E is my answer

E. Because former and for 28 years is redundant.

First look: modifier, grammatical construction -- How should the former chair be modified?

A. As the former Wrong - incorrect "former" because Joan was the chair for 18 years, not the former chair for 18 years.
B. The former Wrong - Opening modifier changed from clause to appositive phrase, though "former" is incorrect for the same reasoning above.
C. Former Wrong - same as above.
D. She was Wrong - She was..., Joan Philkill is a comma splice; one cannot join two sentences with merely a comma.
E. As the Best choice

IMO E

Imo E
A changes the meaning
B Chair can nor be attending meeting
C same as B
D There is no conjunction comma splice.
E correct as the chair
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As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member for 28 years, Joan Philkill attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications.

(A) As the former
(B) The former
(C) Former
(D) She was
(E) As the

In this question, it is important to understand the original meaning of the sentence and stick with it. So, even if you come across an answer choice that is grammatically correct, it will be wrong if the intended meaning is not as per the original meaning of the sentence.

A is wrong because JP did not attend meetings as the former chair. She was very much active when she attended those meetings. B & C are incorrect because the intended meaning of the sentence is lost. The original sentence intends to convey that As a role, she attended meetings.

Eg:
As a mother, Jean takes care of her kids.
A mother, Jean takes care of her kids.

Hence, E is the answer.

Understand the difference between the two?

Thanks.
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