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During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr
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During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  25 Jan 2015, 20:24
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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

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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.
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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  25 Jan 2015, 20:38
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E . Work , which is tarnished . Here work can not be tarnished but dream is tarnished . So A out . A tarnished dream that . . . . , B and C distored the intended meaning . D = wrong use of modifier . E is the best and maintains logical meaning
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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  25 Jan 2015, 22:45
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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
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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  25 Jan 2015, 22:47
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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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  26 Jan 2015, 08:46
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C seems to be best.
other options have modifier issues.
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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  27 Jan 2015, 10:48
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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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  30 Jan 2015, 05:36
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killthegmatavi wrote:
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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  30 Jan 2015, 23:12
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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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  31 Jan 2015, 22:29
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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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  01 Feb 2015, 03:30
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ppac wrote:
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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  28 Apr 2019, 17:12
chetan2u wrote:
ppac wrote:
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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  28 Apr 2019, 19:04
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anud33p wrote:
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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  28 Apr 2019, 20:02
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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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  28 Apr 2019, 23:17
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anud33p wrote:
chetan2u wrote:
ppac wrote:
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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  29 Apr 2019, 00:26
souvik101990 wrote:
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

Show Spoiler
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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  29 Apr 2019, 11:45
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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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  29 Apr 2019, 13:18
DmitryFarber wrote:
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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  29 Apr 2019, 13:19
daagh wrote:
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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Re: During the literary renaissance of the 1920s, a large number of new wr [#permalink] New post  07 Sep 2021, 12:40
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