Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them

Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a GMAT question that deals with verb consistency and modifiers! Let's start off by highlighting any major differences we can find between the options in orange, so we can focus on them later:

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives,
(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations
(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated them with her narratives and

As I said earlier, we have 2 main grammar issues to focus on here:

1. coordinating vs. coordinated (Verb Consistency)
2. Placement of modifier "in her book illustrations" (Modifiers)

Let's start with #1 on our list: coordinating vs. coordinated. No matter which one we choose, it will eliminate 2-3 options rather quickly! If we look at the entire sentence, we can find a clue as to which verb we need to match up to:

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

We know that all of the actions Potter takes need to use the same verb tense, so let's see how each option handles this:

(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives,
(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations
(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated them with her narratives and

There you go - we can eliminate options A & B because they don't use consistent verb tenses for the two actions Potter took with her books!

Now that we have it narrowed down to just 3 options, let's focus on modifiers. We need to make sure the modifiers are clear and placed directly before or after their antecedents. To make problems easier to spot, I've added in the remainder of the sentence.

(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

This is CORRECT! The two modifiers are placed in the correct order. The modifier "which she carefully coordinated with her narratives" is referring to the illustrations, so it needs to go directly after it. Then both modifiers are placed before Beatrix Potter, which makes it clear they're both referring back to her. It also places the subject (Beatrix Potter) and the verb (capitalized) next to each other, which makes this much easier to follow.

(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

This is INCORRECT because the modifier "Carefully coordinated with her narratives" is right before "Beatrix Potter," which is NOT what it's modifying - it should modify "illustrations!" There should also be a comma after "illustrations" to show that's a modifier and not the subject.

(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated them with her narratives and capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

This is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, the placement of the phrase "in her book illustrations" in between commas indicates that it's not important information that can be removed. This creates a unique problem. See the pronoun "them" in red? If we remove the phrase "in her book illustrations," the pronoun "them" becomes vague! It has nothing to tie back to. It also strangely could be misunderstood to mean that Beatrix Potter puts herself in the book illustrations, which isn't right.


There you go - option C is the correct choice! If we focus on the "either/or" items first, we can narrow things down to make them more manageable!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that Beatrix Potter capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world in her book illustrations, and she carefully coordinated these illustrations with her narratives.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Verb Forms + Grammatical Construction

• In a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.
• Information that is important to the core meaning of the sentence must not be placed between commas.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "coordinating" in this case) to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past. Further, Option A incorrectly places information important to the core meaning - the fact that Beatrix Potter capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world, specifically in her book illustrations - between commas; remember, information that is important to the core meaning of the sentence must not be placed between commas.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "coordinating" in this case) to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.

C: Correct. This answer choice correctly modifies the noun phrase "book illustrations" with the phrase "which she carefully coordinated with her narratives", conveying the intended meaning - that Beatrix Potter carefully coordinated her book illustrations with her narratives. Further, Option C correctly uses the simple past tense verb "coordinated" to refer to an action that concluded in the past. Additionally, Option C correctly places only extra information - the fact that Beatrix Potter carefully coordinated her illustrations with her narratives - between commas.

D: This answer choice incorrectly uses "Carefully coordinated with her narratives" to modify "Beatrix Potter", illogically implying that Beatrix Potter was carefully coordinated with her narratives; the intended meaning is that Beatrix Potter carefully coordinated her book illustrations with her narratives; remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun.

E: This answer choice incorrectly places information important to the core meaning - the fact that Beatrix Potter capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world, specifically in her book illustrations - between commas; remember, information that is important to the core meaning of the sentence must not be placed between commas.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the use of a pair of commas on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~4 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Verb problem: coordinating and capitalized (two different tenses)
So A & B is wrong.
between C, D , E : c sounds right.

D : wrong place of modifier "In the illustrations".
Basically there are two modifiers.
1. Illustrations - which are carefully coordinated with her narratives by Beatrix
2. Beatrix potter, who capitalized on her...and (also coordinated illustrations)

You might think about mixing it. Like Beatrix coordinated illustrations and also capitalized it but its wrong.

E. again wrong place of modifier

I have no doubt about pronoun 'them' in B. My question is all about modifier concept that OG explains. It's very confusing.
According to OG, 'carefully coordinating...' is in position to modify 'book illustrations', but my understanding is, 'carefully coordinating...' should modify 'Beatrix Potter' instead, which is similar to ''Walking along the road, Beatrix Potter saw several types of flowers''. Can anyone explain ?

[quote="sagarsabnis"]162. Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.
(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives,them is ambiguous here
(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter improper modifier carefully coordinating...........
(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter Correct
(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations mispalced modifier
(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated them with her narratives and
in her book illustrations is an essential modifier

An easy way to see whether or not a modifier is ambiguos is to see whether or not the modifier could be mistaken for modifying something else. For example in the sentence "The men danced with the women, and they enjoyed it", "they" is ambiguous because it could be modifying "men" or "women". Think about it this way: if someone who is just starting to learn English could mistake a word for modifying different parts of a sentence, the modifier is probably ambiguous.

I hope that helps

Hi IanSolo,

This is one of those OG problems in which the explanation is not a good one and is confusing at best. B and C are close answer choices.

I guess you must have identified that C is clearly the best option without any ambiguity. But confused by the OG explanation.

Let us consider (B)

The clear error in (B) is them. If we take them as illustrations then the sentence would mean that Beatrix Potter coordinated "the book illustrations" in the book illustrations. This does not make any sense.

Moreover, even if you consider the phrase "coordinating them...." modifying the next clause "Beatrix Potter capitalized....". It contextually sounds illogical, Beatrix Potter cannot develop develop love for nature by coordinating her illustrations.

The not so good thing about this problem is that you can not generalize the error. You would be better off if you just remember it as a specific pattern of error on GMAT. Furthermore, this also one of these questions in which POE is not the best way to go. Just mark the clearly identifiable answer choice and move ahead.

Hope that helps,
Vercules

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

This question is all about Noun Modifiers

If we recall the rules : The touch principle- the modifier must touch the noun unless in few exceptional cases..


(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives,
carefully coordinating them is awkward, and irregular structure i must say (the use of tenses )
(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
the use of present progressive tense coordinating is wrong whilst using simple past in 'capitalized' in the next part of the sentence
this structure is making it sound as if while coordinating one thing the capitalized on other but the meaning conveyed must be - she coordinated, capitalized
(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
as explained above, right tense, touch rule of noun modifier is also satisfied
(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations
use of with is wrong, she didn't coordinate with her narratives, she coordinated her narratives with her illustrations
(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated them with her narratives and
use of them is incorrect


Do consider giving KUDOS if you benefited from the above post!!

Hi Umesh,

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

Notice the placement of "verb-ing" modifier "coordinating". This modifier is certainly acting as a noun modifier here and not as a clause modifier. So it should modify the preceding noun entity. In this case, it is book illustrations. But we know that that the action of coordinating has been done by Potter. Hence, the verb-ing modifier "coordinating" must be placed closer to Potter.
The way the original sentence is written, coordinating cannot jump over "in her book illustrations".

Choice B repeats the same error. Placement of "coordinating" is such that it fails to refer to Potter.

Compare these two choice to the correct answer choice C that clearly conveys the intended meaning of the sentence.

The usage of Verb-ing Modifiers has been covered in excruciating details in the "Modifiers - Verb-ing" Concept in the Level 1 Preview Concepts. This section is available for free. Just login to e-gmat.com, register for free and learn the concept.
You can also go through our one of the most appreciated articles on the same topic by clicking at the link below:
usage-of-verb-ing-modifiers-135220.html

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

A handy thing to remember is that GMAT does not like two modifiers "back to back", since GMAT considers this as too much separation between the subject and the main verb.

In A, "in her book illustrations" and "carefully coordinating them with her narratives" are both (at least intended to be) modifying "Beatrix Potter", and the main verb "capitalized" comes only after these two modifiers. Not a great construct.

Q#104 OG12:

El Niño, the periodic abnormal warming of the sea surface off Peru, a phenomenon in which...

Again two modifiers following El Niño...not good.

Q#106 OG13 option B:

Originally developed for ..., having the ability to ..., a technique

Again two modifiers before the subject "a technique" is introduced...not good.

I will be happy to provide detailed response to this question, but before that I would like to see your thought process for this one. This will help me pin point the gaps in your application of concepts and process.

Per the question and what I understood- option B appears correct to me as 'verb-ing' modifier 'coordinating ' modifies the subject of the following clause i.e. modifies Beatrix Potter (and also the 'verb-ing' modifier 'coordinating' is placed correctly in the beginning of a clause followed by a comma.

Whereas,option C is fine but not concise like option B,I guess...

For rest of the options-no issue with the fact that they're wrong.

Now please help me understand where I went wrong

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

Let’s first understand the meaning of the original sentence.
1. Beatrix Potter (BP) carefully coordinated her book illustrations with her narratives
2. BP capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world in her book illustrations.

Now let’s figure out the errors in the original sentence.
BP, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating... - The phrase "in her book illustrations" is separated by a comma pair, so for all intents and purposes, this is an additional part of sentence that is connected to the sentence using this comma pair. So let’s ignore this part for a while for our analysis of modifiers.

BP carefully coordinating...Now the verb-ing modifier appears to modify BP. And this modification appears to be ok. Now let’s look at the pronoun “them”. We will check the sentence by replacing 'them' with its antecedent - book illustrations:

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating her book illustrations with her narratives...

Notice how "her book illustrations" is repeated, making the sentence non-sensical. It now implies that BP carefully coordinated her book illustrations with her narratives in her book illustrations.

Furthermore, let’s now discuss the role of “in her book illustrations”. What does this prepositional phrase modifier modify? Logically it should modify the verb “capitalized” but its placement and usage is such that it appears to modify the action represented by the verb-ing “coordinating”.

So this is what is wrong with choice A.

Now let’s move to choice B:
In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter…
This choice also has same pronoun issue as choice A does. If I were to write this choice without the use of pronoun “them”, this is how I would do it:
Carefully coordinating her book illustrations with her narratives in her book illustrations, Beatrix Potter….
So overall, it’s the use of “them” that makes this sentence non-sensical since it ends up implying that BP coordinated her book illustrations in her book illustrations.

Choice C corrects this issue:
In her book illustrations, which she carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
In this choice, the pronoun is no longer there. Also, the prepositional phrase “in her book illustrations” correctly modifies the action “capitalized”.

Let me know if this helps.

Regards,
Payal

Hello Payal,
Can you please break option E and help us understand the error in E)
(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated them with her narratives and

BP
1) Carefully coordinated
2) Capitalized

Both can be emphasized right ?
Is it always that using them is wrong ?

Glad that it helped...Oh yes, this is definitely a 700+ level question. Debayan, there isn't a new approach that needs to be followed for 700+ level questions. As long as you approach SC in a consistent manner, focusing on the meaning and the errors of the original sentence before reviewing the choices, you will do well.
In this one as well, you had to first understand the intended meaning of the original choice. Then determine the errors. In terms of errors pronoun and modifier were a problem. Now after you realized that you needed to look at the choices and eliminate the choices that contained similar errors. And then see if the remaining choices introduced some new errors. Finally get to your correct answer.
Sorry for not being able to provide any magic bullet. Consistency, hard work, and practice is the key!!

Regards,
Payal

IMHO OG correctly explained it

Th is sentence awkwardly presents two phrases
intended to modify Beatrix Potter and loses the
clarity and logic of the meaning. In the original
sentence, these modifiers sound choppy and
create too much separation between the subject,
Beatrix Potter, and the verb capitalized. Beginning
the sentence with In her book illustrations and
following that phrase with the relative clause
which she carefully coordinated with her narratives
allows the subject, Beatrix Potter, to be united
with the verb, capitalized, for a stronger main
clause.

Hi there,

Thanks for posting your query here.

In this sentence, since there is no clause preceding the verb -ing modifier, the phrase 'carefully coordinating them with her narratives' is modifying the prepositional phrase 'in her book illustrations'. Hence, the modification is illogical.

I hope this helps to clarify your doubt!

Regards,
Meghna