Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm the work of William Faulkner

Question

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, , remains among the most revered in the American literary canon.

A) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

B) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,

C) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

D) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,

E) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner are comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

GKomoku · Accepted Answer

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, remains among the most revered in the American literary canon. Tricky question, at the first glance it seems every answer choice looks exactly the same,

but it’s not. Question tests how much attention you pay for little details and basic grammar. A) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, Once we’ve read the original sentence we can infer that the sentence is about some “work” that is higly honored among American literary canon. Let’s see the sentence structure: 1.JPG Now (A) seems too good to be true,

let's keep and see other answer choices... B) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels, ("enthusiasms" - uncountable, "the works" - doesn't agree in number with our singular verb in non-underlined portion) C) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, ("the works" - doesn't agree in number with our singular verb in non-underlined portion) D) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms , the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels, ("enthusiasms" - uncountable) E) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner are comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, ("the works" - have 2 verbs "are comprised" and "remains", this 2 verbs are not connected properly, moreover "the works" doesn't agree in number with second verb in non-underlined portion, ) --- Sometimes when you see this kind of questions you can just skim without “meaning” of the sentence and get the correct answer, easy, but you don’t know this when you see the question for the first time. So better to go for the meaning all the time and then the rest. The Meaning will save you and your time. Absolute winner is (A)

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Day 69 Sentence Correction (SC1)

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, , remains among the most revered in the American literary canon.

A) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,
B) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,
C) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,
D) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,
E) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner are comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION   
 My annotations are in blue typeface.

• The main verb of this sentence is  remains  and its subject is  work

• Since both  remains  and work are  singular ,  in option A they are in agreement. Keep option A.

• Choice B incorrectly changes  enthusiasm  to  enthusiasms , so eliminate B

• Choice C changes  work  to  works .  The plural subject  works  is not in agreement with the singular noun  remains  , so C can be eliminated

• Choice D also changes  enthusiasm  to  enthusiasms , so D can be eliminated.

• Finally, Option E also changes  work  to  works    , so E can be eliminated.

The correct answer is A

COMMENTS   
 Vanmotan  and  apwang  and  sanpreetsingh  , welcome!

We face a long sentence and answers that look alike.

We should 
-- strip the sentence
-- find the subject and verb 
-- get a general idea of the meaning
-- look for differences among choices, and 
-- use "splits" to eliminate answers.

(Splits and process of elimination (POE) are discussed on the first page of the SC Butler thread in  this post. .)

Use whatever works. Well, I take that back:  do not look for the one correct answer . Look for four wrong answers.

•  We do need to strip the sentence, though.

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, , remains among the most revered in the American literary canon.

Look for  verbs first.  
-- "comprised of" in this sentence means "made up of." 
Comprised of is a past participle (a verbED), not a verb
--  remains  in the non-underlined portion is singular

Subject ? work 
This "work" means all of Faulkner's writing.

Modifier?  
comprised of? "OF" is a preposition and thus needs nouns. Look for nouns:
STORIES
NOVELS
-- The other noun cannot be "blockbuster." (1) A number of blockbuster" is ungrammatical. (2) if we stop at  blockbuster,  then what is the rest of the phrase doing in the sentence?

Intro ? Rewrite a bit: 
 Despite little enthusiasm

Strip the rest

Despite  some initial lack of    enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of  a series of elegant short  stories and  a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, , remains  among the most  revered  in the American literary canon.

Meaning: Despite a lukewarm reception, the work of Faulkner, comprised of stories and novels, remains revered (beloved and respected).

Split #1: work or works? 
The verb  remains,  in the non-underlined portion of the sentence, is singular. We need a singular noun. Correct:  Work  remains.
(If in doubt, use a dog, or another easily pluralized noun.) 
 Correct : The dog remains sitting.
 Wrong : The  dogs remains  sitting.

Eliminate Options B, C, and E

Split #2: enthusiasm vs enthusiasms 
This one is idiomatic:  enthusiasm  functions in the same way as  zeal . We do not pluralize it.
Technically  enthusiasm  can be pluralized, but standard North American English does not do so.

Eliminate option D

Answer A

Other issues

•  What  are the prepositional objects?

-- One prepositional object of  a number OF  is  novels.  The other prepositional object is  stories.

Novels  has two modifiers:
(1) blockbuster
and
(2) overwhelmingly complicated

• weird adjectives

What about the weird words in this phrase:

a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels   ?

Essentially the phrase means
 a number of best-selling and very complicated novels

A noun (blockbuster) is an adjective? 
Yes. You will see this construction again.
The first noun in that phrase, "blockbuster," acts as an adjective that modifies the second noun, "novels." 
Blockbuster means bestselling.

Again: the word  blockbuster  is not a noun in this sentence. It's an adjective that means "best-selling."

Blockbuster?

blockbuster  is a "noun-adjective": a  noun that acts like an adjective.

Noun-adjectives describe other nouns.  Blockbuster  describes  novels.

Meaning? 
A "blockbuster" novel is a bestseller.

English uses nouns as adjectives quite frequently:
 office worker, math teacher, film director, airplane tickets .

As an adjective,  blockbuster  describes  what type  of novels these are (bestselling ones).

blockbuster  
is followed by two more descriptors ("overwhelmingly complicated")

"Overwhelmingly complicated" is also an adjective phrase that describes  novels.

-- "a number of" = quantifier

A number of  is yet another noun modifier that refers to  novels.

Structure? 
  + 
  +
  +

+
  + 
  +

One last time: the phrase means  a number of best-selling and very complicated novels.

COMMENTS

As promised, everyone who explained gets kudos.

We have two outstanding answers by  RamSep  and  GKomoku  -- I'm bumping you both

Kudos to all who explained!

RamSep · Answer

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, , remains among the most revered in the American literary canon.

Meaning:  Work of WF (comprised of some stories and blockbusters) lacked enthusiasm, but remains respected in literature.
The sentence displays a bunch of modifiers which need to be reviewed before jump into the answer choices. 
 First,  the sentence clearly and neatly mentions that this is work of WF which lacks enthusiasm (an uncountable noun).
 Second,  "comprised of a series... and a number of...." undoubtedly modifies the work, although it is not immediately before the comma. Notice that "of WF" is a prepositional phrase that can not be written anywhere else in this structure.
 Third,  the whole "overpoweringly complicated novels" phrase is a simple verb-ed modifier which gives extra info about the blockbusters.
and eventually only after these long modifiers we see the main verb, remains, which is non-underlined. so what was the subject? let's look back and get rid of all those modifiers:
 Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm,   the work   of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,   remains 
That's great. so let's go over the answer choices:

A) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

B) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm s , the work s  of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,   Two things to consider, 1."enthusiasm" is uncountable! & 2.Sobject-verb agreement error: works (plural) don't match remains (singular)

C) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work s  of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,   subject-verb agreement error as choice B.

D) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm s , the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,   "enthusiasm" is uncountable!

E) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work s  of William Faulkner are comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,   subject-verb agreement error as choice B.

KanishkM · Answer

IMO A

Generally works is used in the sense of construction, and Since we are talking about a writer, I removed B, C and E.

Out of A and D
lack of enthusiasms vs lack of enthusiasm, I will go with the latter, Because after the underlined portion there is a plural noun remains and we need a plural verb.

GKomoku · Answer

fair enough

apwang · Answer

I think its A. Cannot be enthusiasm"s" and shouldnt be "works", should be work.

surendrasaini1 · Answer

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, , remains among the most revered in the American literary canon.

A) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,( Correct )

B) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,( the works is incorrect, does not go with singular verb)

C) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,( same issue of subject verb mismatch )

D) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,(a number of blockbuster would have been correct)

E) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner are comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,( no subject for verb remains)

Will go with option A

Thanks

generis · Answer

GKomoku , this comment is hilarious in context. In your case (and others'), I can imagine the hilarious brainiac expert GMATNinja , who's good like that , writing, "Um, generis , preach to the choir, much?" Thanks for the laugh. ** Collins Dictionary online explains that If you say that someone is preaching to the choir, you mean that presenting an opinion to people who already agree with it. That you are the one who caught and noted my comment is ironically perfect.

Vanmotan · Answer

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,, remains among the most revered in the American literary canon.

A) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

B) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,

C) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

D) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,

E) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner are comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

The answer should be A

sanpreetsingh · Answer

A) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

B) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,

C) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

D) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasms, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbusters, overpoweringly complicated novels,

E) Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the works of William Faulkner are comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,

B,C,E --> out due to Subject verb agreement issue. The works(plural) and the verb remains(singular)
D - Usage of "enthusiasms" seems stylistically incorrect.

A seems to be the best choice among all.

iscbruc14 · Answer

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,, remains among the most revered in the American literary canon.

A) Despite some initial lack of  enthusiasm , the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and  a number of blockbuster , overpoweringly complicated novels,

D) Despite some initial lack of  enthusiasms , the work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and  a number of blockbusters , overpoweringly complicated novels,

I agree that "enthusiasm" (A) is correct, and "enthusiasms" (D) is not correct; however, can someone explain to me how "a number of blockbuster" (A) is correct, as this appears to be a plural phrase, requiring "blockbusters".

Thanks!

gvij2017 · Answer

Anybody here! please throw light on a number of blockbuster and a number of blockbuster.
Nobody is talking about doesn't mean that both phrases are correct in context of question.

generis · Answer

iscbruc14  , I just posted the OE in which I address "blockbuster."

The objects of the preposition in comprised OF are . . . . stories and . . . . novels

blockbuster  is a  noun that acts like an adjective.

English has quite a few. Here are a few examples:
-- race horse
-- gymnastics coach
-- fire hydrant
-- math teacher

blockbuster = bestseller (often a novel or movie)
When used as an adjective,  bestseller  becomes  bestselling

The entire object of the preposition  means  
 a number of   bestselling,    novels

Let's get rid of the "overpoweringly complicated  ."
We can say, in English,
  a number of blockbuster novels

The construction is not redundant.
A  blockbuster novel  is a kind or type of novel—a bestselling novel, 
just in English we have
 a sports car  or  a race car

If in doubt, (1) see whether the noun could be an adjective; and
(2) remember that the noun acting as an adjective  always  comes first.

I hope that helps.

generis · Answer

Hi gvij2017 , see the "official explanation," above, which I was writing when you posted, and please see my answer to iscbruc14 just after the official explanation. If you still have questions, ask again.

warrior1991 · Answer

Option B,C, and E are clearly out as works and remains do not pass S-V agreement.

In between A and D, there is an issue between  'some initial lack of enthusiasm'  and  'some initial lack of enthusiasms' .

I feel A is correct. 'Enthusiasms' is incorrect . 'Enthusiasms' mean many enthusiasms and that is really awkward in context of this sentence.

IMO A.

generis  correct me if I am wrong.

generis · Answer

warrior1991 , yes, definitely awkward. I have never seen the word enthusiasms in my life. I am a reading fanatic. I decided that something was finally wrong with that red squiggly thing on the posting screen because it was not squiggling beneath "enthusiasms." Nope. Nothing wrong with the red squiggly thing. Enthusiasms is a word. I just found a sentence: Parents should share their enthusiasms with their children. Your instincts are correct. In standard English, enthusiasm is rarely pluralized, and certainly is not pluralized when it used in the sense of group reception or excitement or ardor or zeal.

Timebomb · Answer

generis

Can you please explain this:

comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels,,

Are there 3 adjectives at play: blockbuster overpoweringly complicated novels.

Also, shouldn't there be an 'and' between blockbuster and overpoweringly?

After putting 'and', I am sure, It would not make it parallel to the list 'a series of' and ' a number of'.

Posted from my mobile device

generis · Answer

Hi  Mudit27021988  - No, there are two adjectives at play.
One is a phrase: "overpoweringly complicated"

1)  ,

2)

That list is a lot of jargon.

Essentially, if two adjectives in a row are separated by a comma,
that construction is allowed as long as the words and/or phrases are coordinate adjectives.

1) As I describe above, "blockbuster" is a noun that acts like an adjective. Call it a noun-adjective.
There are many such noun-adjectives in English.
Race horse. Corn bread.

2) change "overpoweringly" to "very." Very is an adverb.
 Very  modifies  complicated .

3)  very complicated : now we have an adjectivial phrase

• coordinate adjectives: Are  blockbuster  and  very complicated  coordinate adjectives?

Coordinate adjectives can be separated by a comma rather than an  and .
 This article  explains.
Coordinate adjectives must be "reversible."

If you can put "and" in between the adjectives and reverse their order,
then you can also omit the  and.  Use a comma in place of  and .
Further, if you do not use "and," you need a comma.

Coordinate adjectives? 
. . . .the cold, dark night
. . .the cold and dark night
. . . the dark and cold night
Yes. AND works. We can reverse the adjectives. A comma is necessary.

Coordinate adjectives? 
 . . . several shy butterflies 
. . . several and shy butterflies 
. . . shy and several butterflies
No. AND does not work. Nor can we reverse the adjectives. No comma. Not coordinate adjectives.

• check "blockbuster" and "very complicated"
Correct: a number of very complicated and blockbuster   novels
Correct: a number of blockbuster and very complicated novels
The adjectives can be separated by AND as well as reversed. 
If written without AND, they  require  a comma.

We have two adjectives separated by a comma.
They are coordinate adjectives. The construction is fine.
I hope that helps.

nlx23 · Answer

I still did not understand this ->
A number of blockbuster / A number of blockbusters. Per the sentence, only one of them is correct. Which one is that ?
(A number of + plural form) is the structure i have mostly seen.

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm the work of William Faulkner

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm the work of William Faulkner

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