Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written : Sentence Correction (EA only)

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

07 Mar 2019, 06:59

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prav04 wrote:

Isn't 'Which' in the option 5 shouldn't modify the preceding noun and that is Dickinson??

Here's the version created via the use of choice (E).

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber her letters to anyone else.

Yes, "which" should refer the preceding noun. At the same time, we can use some judgement to determine what constitutes the preceding noun. In this case, we can tell that the preceding noun is not "Dickinson" but rather "Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson."

Another way to perceive this reference is to perceive "which" as jumping the prepositional phrase modifier "to Susan Huntington Dickinson" to a noun to which "which" would logically refer, "letters."

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

08 Mar 2019, 03:47

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prav04 wrote:

Isn't 'Which' in the option 5 shouldn't modify the preceding noun and that is Dickinson??

Hi prav04, in option 5, which cannot modify Susan Huntington Dickinson for following two reasons:

i) Grammatically, which cannot modify a person (Susan Huntington Dickinson here). If the intent is to modify a person, then the appropriate relative pronouns are who/whom/whose

ii) Notice that option 5 says:....which were written... The presence of were (a plural verb) indicates that which is modifying something plural, while Susan Huntington Dickinson is obviously singular.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses modifier issues of which, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

02 Mar 2020, 10:39

Had a small doubt in E,
It says Emily's letters to D....outnumber her letters to anyone else
Here her can't refer back to possessive Emily's, so how is it correct?

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

02 Mar 2020, 13:55

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GDT wrote:

Had a small doubt in E,
It says Emily's letters to D....outnumber her letters to anyone else
Here her can't refer back to possessive Emily's, so how is it correct?

Hello, GDT. Both EducationAisle and egmat addressed this very concern in responses that are on the second page of this thread. Please refer to that page to see whether your question is answered. If not, feel free to post again and specify what was not addressed before.

Happy reading.

- Andrew

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

02 Mar 2020, 21:10

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GDT wrote:

Had a small doubt in E,
It says Emily's letters to D....outnumber her letters to anyone else
Here her can't refer back to possessive Emily's, so how is it correct?

Responding to a pm:

... her letters ...

"her" is used as possessive pronoun here. Note that it is followed by a noun - letters.
"her" letters means "Emily's" letters.
The possessive pronoun is referring back to a possessive noun.

That said, note that GMAT is quite flexible in the usage of pronouns. Even subject/object pronouns can refer back to possessive nouns.

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

18 Apr 2020, 00:16

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.

-ing modifiers denote either the how aspect or the result of the action of the preceding clause.

Here it does not make sense to say that the letters were written by outnumbering or that the result of such action was outnumbering something else.
Hence option A is incorrect.

Option b, c and d are not parallel

Option E has no errors and therefore is correct

(A) Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering

(B) Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

(C) Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering

(D) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering

(E) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

06 Oct 2020, 20:47

Hello!

While I understand there is a modifier error in A, the "which" in E refers to "letters". Shouldn't which have a singular antecedent?

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

06 Oct 2020, 22:56

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aditisodhani wrote:

Hello!

While I understand there is a modifier error in A, the "which" in E refers to "letters". Shouldn't which have a singular antecedent?

Hi aditisodhani, you ask a good question. Let's look at the construct of E:

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, which were written over a period.....

Notice the construct states: which were written

Since we have a plural verb (were) for the subject which, it clearly means that which can only refer to a plural antecedent; in this case, the nearest plural antecedent is letters.

On the other hand, if the construct was: which was written, then which could have only have referred to a singular antecedent.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses modifier issues of "which", their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

14 Dec 2020, 13:10

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.

Quote:

(A) Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering

Emily Dickinson’s letters [...] outnumbering her letters to anyone else.
1. I see no verb here
2. The -ing modifier "outnumbering" is modifying the entire preceeding clause, which is incorrect. We need it to modify ED's letters.

Quote:

(B) Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

Parallelism

Quote:

(C) Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering

Parallelism

Quote:

(D) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering

outnumbering has nothing to do with a period beginning, therefore, it must not be parallel

Quote:

(E) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

31 Jan 2021, 01:47

@egmat,@daagh

Dear moderators please help me with this ,
I had read that placing ',' + 'ing modifier' in the end of sentence modifies the subject of the sentence
and using this rule - I feel outnumbering is modifying the subject - Emily Dickson's letters to Susan

Please help getting really confused here

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

31 Jan 2021, 08:37

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shauryahanda wrote:

I had read that placing ',' + 'ing modifier' in the end of sentence modifies the subject of the sentence
and using this rule - I feel outnumbering is modifying the subject - Emily Dickson's letters to Susan

Hi Shaurya, you might want to to thru this post .

Basically, in addition to modifying the subject of the preceding clause, such participial phrases should also be either a result or a description of the previous clause.

That's where A falters - the fact that Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period, has nothing to do with these letters outnumbering her letters to anyone else.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses this aspect of participial phrases. Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

31 May 2021, 23:35

Answer is E. Simpler way to think is breaking down into 'non-essential' vs 'essential' modifiers
For example, if we want 'outnumber her letters to anyone else' to modify the first part, than the underlined portion should be non-essential. Rather the sentence should still make sense if we remove this portion

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

17 Jun 2021, 14:12

Here, in the correct answer, Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, written over a period..., could someone please tell me the usage of "modifier that starts with past perfect"?

I know for a fact that "comma+ing" modifiers are adverbial modifiers and no_comma+ing modifiers are noun modifiers. Similarly, can someone point out to me the usage of "modifier starting with past perfect"?

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

17 Jun 2021, 14:38

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Revankumar wrote:

Here, in the correct answer, Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, written over a period..., could someone please tell me the usage of "modifier that starts with past perfect"?

I know for a fact that "comma+ing" modifiers are adverbial modifiers and no_comma+ing modifiers are noun modifiers. Similarly, can someone point out to me the usage of "modifier starting with past perfect"?

Actually, to be clear, a comma + ing modifier acts adjectivally and adverbially at the same time.

Regarding the modifier "written ...," its a past participial phrase, and those are generally noun modifiers, though in a few cases I have seen them used adverbially.

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

17 Jun 2021, 20:53

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Revankumar wrote:

Here, in the correct answer, Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, written over a period..., could someone please tell me the usage of "modifier that starts with past perfect"?

I know for a fact that "comma+ing" modifiers are adverbial modifiers and no_comma+ing modifiers are noun modifiers. Similarly, can someone point out to me the usage of "modifier starting with past perfect"?

Hi Revankumar,

To add to MartyTargetTestPrep's response, written is a past participle, not a present participle (", ing").

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Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

18 Jun 2021, 07:12

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Revankumar wrote:

Here, in the correct answer, Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, written over a period..., could someone please tell me the usage of "modifier that starts with past perfect"?

Hi Revankumar, past perfect tense will always have the following construct:

had + past participle

Since there is no had in the sentence under consideration, it is not past perfect tense; written is jut a past participle (as AjiteshArun has already mentioned).

Quote:

I know for a fact that "comma+ing" modifiers are adverbial modifiers and no_comma+ing modifiers are noun modifiers. Similarly, can someone point out to me the usage of "modifier starting with past perfect"?

Again, I am assuming that you mean to ask:

can someone point out to me the usage of "modifier starting with past participle"

Well, this is not an easy question to answer, but broadly, the following works:

i) When a past participle phrase appears at the beginning on a clause, the past participle modifies the subject of the clause. For example:

Written in Sanskrit, the Upanishads are a veritable part of India's mythology.

The past participle phrase (written in Sanskrit) modifies the Upanishads.

ii) When a past participle phrase appears at the end of a phrase/clause, the past participle modifies the noun/noun-phrase preceding preceding it (whichever makes sense). For example:

Fossils of the arm of a sloth, found in Puerto Rico in 1991, have been dated at 34 million years old, making the sloth the earliest known mammal on the Greater Antilles islands.

The past participle phrase (found in Puerto Rico..) modifies fossils.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Past perfect tense, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

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Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

19 Jun 2021, 06:58

MartyTargetTestPrep wrote:

Revankumar wrote:

Here, in the correct answer, Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, written over a period..., could someone please tell me the usage of "modifier that starts with past perfect"?

I know for a fact that "comma+ing" modifiers are adverbial modifiers and no_comma+ing modifiers are noun modifiers. Similarly, can someone point out to me the usage of "modifier starting with past perfect"?

Actually, to be clear, a comma + ing modifier acts adjectivally and adverbially at the same time.

Regarding the modifier "written ...," its a past participial phrase, and those are generally noun modifiers, though in a few cases I have seen them used adverbially.

One more question here is, what is the participial phrase modifying? It should modify the letter, but since it is before a proper noun Huntington Dickinson, it looks like it is modifying the name. So this is correct right?

gmatclubot

Re: Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written [#permalink]

19 Jun 2021, 06:58

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Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written