Believed to be one of the first widely read female authors of the

Intended meaning of original statement that CDP..."believed" to be first widely read author is missing in B.

What should be the correct approach in such questions?

First off, I suspect that there's supposed to be a comma after 'masterwork.'

However, what I notice here is that the first words of the sentence (and the underline and many of the answer choices) is a modifier, so I know it must describe what comes after the comma: the 'masterwork.' A and C say that 'masterwork' is the 'female author'--so those are out.

D says the book was written by 'what,' but 'what' is for things, not people.

E Says "believed by some as," which is unidiomatic. (E also changes the meaning, saying that the 'work' was first, and not that the author was one of the 'first widely read female authors).

For SC in general, you want to use the structural differences in the answer choices to determine which sentence is most structurally correct and whose meaning is most accurate to what the intended meaning is. Pinpointing how the answer choices are different without reading the whole sentence can be a useful skill to develop.

Princeton Review Explanation:

Answer: (B)

As written, this sentence has a misplaced modifier error: the book, The Book of the City of the Ladies isn't believed by anyone to be an author— Christine de Pizan is.

Choices (A) and (C) repeat that error and can be eliminated.

Choices (B) and (D) both change the introductory phrase to clearly refer to a written work, but choice (D) uses the incorrect idiom believe as instead of the correct form, believe to be. Choice (E) repeats that idiom error.