(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, outnumberingIn this sentence the parallelism between "beginning" and "ending" is correct.
The problem with this sentence is the use of the "COMMA + ING-MODIFIER": "outnumbering". This is a mistake because a "comma +ING-modifer" must
modify the entire preceding clause and
be in the same time frame than the main action.
The relation between the clause and the ING-modifier does not make sense and they are not in the same time frame. A) is WRONG.
(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, outnumberThis is a run-on sentence. There are two independent clauses (subject + verb) that are not linked by any means (not even a comma, which would still be wrong). B) is WRONG.
(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
There are quite a few problems here, including the "and". The connector "and" implies a certain degree of independence between the 2 elements it separates. Therefore using "and outnumbering" in this sentence makes non sense. (+parallel issue by using "outnumbering"). C) is wrong.
(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 outnumberingSome of the same problems as in C). D) is WRONG
(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, outnumberE) is our last option and it must be CORRECT as we eliminated all other choices.
Here, "which" is correct because it is separated from "letters" by a prep phrase. The "which" allows to fix our problem in B) as "which were written..." becomes a modifier of "letters".
"Outnumber" is the right verb form.
ywilfred wrote:
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.
(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
Comma + which : LINK 1 & LINK 2 & LINK 3https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1998/12/13/268003.html?pageNumber=146https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/13/books/two-belles-of-amherst.htmlDickinson's surviving
letters to Susan
, which began ardently a few years before Susan's marriage and continued almost until the poet's death in 1886,
outnumber her letters to anyone else. After an examination of these cryptic messages, Ellen Louise Hart and Martha Nell Smith have emerged up in arms for Susan. In compiling ''Open Me Carefully'' (which includes more than 20 poems and one letter not previously connected to Susan), they aim to show that the women enjoyed a long, close relationship, one whose workaday exchange of ''letter-poems'' (Susan's term) contributed to ''the texture of their daily life.'' Even more urgent, however, is their intent to champion Susan as Dickinson's ''primary reader'' -- the person they believe exerted the most significant, sustaining influence on Dickinson's poetic and erotic sensibility.
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