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1. Incorrect. 'Which' refers to the hardwork. its the dream which is tarnished not hardwork. Wrong
2.Incorrect. Misplaced position of 'through hard work'.
3. Correct. All the modifiers correctly placed.
4. Incorrect. Misplaced position of 'through hard work'.
5. Incorrect. Misplaced position of 'through hard work'
Also, the use of 'that' after comma is not correct. If its non-essential modifier, 'which' should be used.
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C seems to be best.
other options have modifier issues.
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I would also say C.

Some reasons:
It is the dream that has been tarnished.
It is the fortune that you build through hard work.

So, it is more balanced and clear I think.
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killthegmatavi
Meaning
Through hardwork one can achieve his own fortune and live happily ever
and dream is tarnished not hardwork

a- wrong because hardwork has become tarnished
b-wrong live happily everafter through hardwork, but hardwork helps in getting both fortune and live happily ever after
c- correct
d-live though tarnished- meaning error
e-wrong ,that is wrong.
had become tarnished is wrong


my choice is C
btw great explanation, E is wrong because two modifiers starts with 'that' and also 'through hard work' placed one after another without any independent clause
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ans should be C... however an observation
1) through hard work, one can make his fortune and having made his fortune, he lives happily ever after...
so may be C. the tarnished dream that anyone can, through hard work, make his own fortune and live happily ever after could be 'the tarnished dream that anyone can make his own fortune through hard work and live happily ever after'.. does " through hard work, live happily thereafter" really make sense?
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Shouldn't the ans be A
During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new writers— William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and F. Scott Fitzgerald—sought to record the inner life of Americans and to scrutinize the American dream,[the dream that anyone can earn his own fortune and live happily ever after through hard work], which had become tarnished. The bold part provides information about the American dream.

Delete that part and the sentence appears complete and logical. Reread the sentence as: The new writers sought to record the inner life of Americans and to scrutinize the American dream, which had become tarnished.
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ppac
Shouldn't the ans be A
During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new writers— William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and F. Scott Fitzgerald—sought to record the inner life of Americans and to scrutinize the American dream,[the dream that anyone can earn his own fortune and live happily ever after through hard work], which had become tarnished. The bold part provides information about the American dream.

Delete that part and the sentence appears complete and logical. Reread the sentence as: The new writers sought to record the inner life of Americans and to scrutinize the American dream, which had become tarnished.


in GMAT , which always refers to the word before it..
in this case , it cannot be hard work that has become tarnished but the dream...
so A is out
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chetan2u
ppac
Shouldn't the ans be A
During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new writers— William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and F. Scott Fitzgerald—sought to record the inner life of Americans and to scrutinize the American dream,[the dream that anyone can earn his own fortune and live happily ever after through hard work], which had become tarnished. The bold part provides information about the American dream.

Delete that part and the sentence appears complete and logical. Reread the sentence as: The new writers sought to record the inner life of Americans and to scrutinize the American dream, which had become tarnished.


in GMAT , which always refers to the word before it..
in this case , it cannot be hard work that has become tarnished but the dream...
so A is out

I feel it should be A. chetan2u, A quick clarification regarding the rule you quoted which - It need not always be the case. A vital noun modifier can separate a non-vital modifier from a noun. In that case, which can refer to something that doesn't immediately precede it. Options B & C change the meaning IMO. the tarnished dream part is functioning as an appositive - so, B & C are effectively calling the American dream tarnished - that doesn't seem right.

daagh, GMATNinja, AjiteshArun : Could you please help here?

Thanks
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anud33p
I feel it should be A. chetan2u, A quick clarification regarding the rule you quoted which - It need not always be the case. A vital noun modifier can separate a non-vital modifier from a noun. In that case, which can refer to something that doesn't immediately precede it. Options B & C change the meaning IMO. the tarnished dream part is functioning as an appositive - so, B & C are effectively calling the American dream tarnished - that doesn't seem right.

daagh, GMATNinja, AjiteshArun : Could you please help here?

Thanks
I think that the author's intent is, in fact, to say that the American Dream is "tarnished".

However, my response is more about the usage of which in general. You're right about the fact that which does not always refer to the closest noun (and in some cases, it can make some pretty crazy "jumps" :)), but we should still be careful about marking an option in which which is very close to the wrong noun. That is, even if we're looking at something that is not strictly incorrect, we still have to consider "smaller" things like ambiguity.
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Anud Hi!

Yes, it is true that 'which' need not always touch the noun in front. It may refer to a noun slightly farther away that is most eligible to be referred to. However, in the process, 'which' should not jump over a verb.
In the context, what we have in front of the relative pronoun is a noun phrase that contains a full-fledged relative clause with a verb. Therefore, 'which' cannot dodge the verb and hunt for its eligible contender? This is the problem in A.
Point 2.: if a dream is not the referent of 'which', then the question is what exactly is the referent of the relative pronoun? Can it be hard work, or fortune or for that matter even anyone? None of them conveys any sensible meaning.

Therefore, A cannot be correct as far as I see.
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chetan2u
ppac
Shouldn't the ans be A
During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new writers— William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and F. Scott Fitzgerald—sought to record the inner life of Americans and to scrutinize the American dream,[the dream that anyone can earn his own fortune and live happily ever after through hard work], which had become tarnished. The bold part provides information about the American dream.

Delete that part and the sentence appears complete and logical. Reread the sentence as: The new writers sought to record the inner life of Americans and to scrutinize the American dream, which had become tarnished.


in GMAT , which always refers to the word before it..
in this case , it cannot be hard work that has become tarnished but the dream...
so A is out

I feel it should be A. chetan2u, A quick clarification regarding the rule you quoted which - It need not always be the case. A vital noun modifier can separate a non-vital modifier from a noun. In that case, which can refer to something that doesn't immediately precede it. Options B & C change the meaning IMO. the tarnished dream part is functioning as an appositive - so, B & C are effectively calling the American dream tarnished - that doesn't seem right.

daagh, GMATNinja, AjiteshArun : Could you please help here?

Thanks


Hi,

The points have been clearly spelt out above..
WHICH is supposed to be modifying dreams, but WHICH cannot modify the noun so far off as in A.
WHICH can at the max jump over a preposition but not beyond it.
For example..
The note book of Ramesh, which is red in color,... YES which refers to note book, as it cannot refer to Ramesh..
Bt if I were to say..
The book written by Ramesh, which is red in colour, ... is WRONG.
THAT is a bit more flexible than WHICH in this case.
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souvik101990
During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new writers— William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and F. Scott Fitzgerald—sought to record the inner life of Americans and to scrutinize the American dream, the dream that anyone can earn his own fortune and live happily ever after through hard work, which had become tarnished.

A. the dream that anyone can earn his own fortune and live happily ever after through hard work, which had become tarnished

B. the tarnished dream that anyone can make his own fortune and live happily ever after through hard work

C. the tarnished dream that anyone can, through hard work, make his own fortune and live happily ever after

D. the dream that anyone can earn his own fortune and live happily ever after, though tarnished, through hard work

E. that making one’s own fortune and living happily ever after, through hard work, had become tarnished

C. The original version is confusing because the clause which had become
tarnished is awkwardly separated from dream and the prepositional phrase
through hard work is awkwardly separated from the verb it modifies, earn. In
choices B, D, and E, the prepositional phrase is misplaced.

The correct answer should be C , as the word tarnished is correctly modifying the dream and through hard work make sense unlike in b where it makes sense that live happily through hard work.
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anud33p

Two notes on meaning:

1) Even if we allow "which" to make a huge leap, it would still have to modify "dream," which is modifying "American dream." So we're calling the American dream tarnished in all of A-C--there's no other possible noun for that adjective to modify. In D and E, we're doing even worse and applying "tarnished" to the person living happily ever (in D) or to making one's own fortune (in E).

2) There's no such thing as the "original" meaning. We just have to choose the answer that works, and if A is wrong (as it is 80% of the time), we may well have to choose an answer that differs in meaning from A.
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DmitryFarber
anud33p

Two notes on meaning:

1) Even if we allow "which" to make a huge leap, it would still have to modify "dream," which is modifying "American dream." So we're calling the American dream tarnished in all of A-C--there's no other possible noun for that adjective to modify. In D and E, we're doing even worse and applying "tarnished" to the person living happily ever (in D) or to making one's own fortune (in E).

2) There's no such thing as the "original" meaning. We just have to choose the answer that works, and if A is wrong (as it is 80% of the time), we may well have to choose an answer that differs in meaning from A.


Thanks for the clarification Dmitry! :)
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daagh
Anud Hi!

Yes, it is true that 'which' need not always touch the noun in front. It may refer to a noun slightly farther away that is most eligible to be referred to. However, in the process, 'which' should not jump over a verb.
In the context, what we have in front of the relative pronoun is a noun phrase that contains a full-fledged relative clause with a verb. Therefore, 'which' cannot dodge the verb and hunt for its eligible contender? This is the problem in A.
Point 2.: if a dream is not the referent of 'which', then the question is what exactly is the referent of the relative pronoun? Can it be hard work, or fortune or for that matter even anyone? None of them conveys any sensible meaning.

Therefore, A cannot be correct as far as I see.

'which' should not jump over a verb: Interesting! This seems like an exception to an another exception :) Will bear in mind. Thank you Daagh.
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