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Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's shor 24 Mar 2021, 06:39
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ravigupta2912
Can anyone explain the modifier in D? I presume it is an absolute phrase? “Evidenced in.. at the end of each piece”.
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Hi, it's not an absolute phrase; it is a past participial phrase and in this case, modifies famed and masterful use of irony.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses modifier related aspects of "past participial phrase", 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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Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's shor 07 Apr 2021, 19:55
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egmat
Hi all,

Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.

There has been a lot of discussion about the meaning conveyed by this sentence and many posters feel the even if Choice D is the correct answer, it does not communicate the intended meaning. Here is my take on this:



The main clause of this sentence says that Guy de Maupassant’s short stories have become classics. So, I feel that this is the crux of the sentence. Whatever extra information is present in the sentence is about why these stories became classics. The reason why his short stories have become classics is that Guy de Maupassant used irony in his writing in a masterful manner. His talent can be seen in the way he revealed a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.



ERROR ANALYSIS:

1. The opening verb-ed modifier “Famed for his…” is incorrectly modifying the subject of the preceding clause “many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories”. Who was famed? The writer Guy de Maupassant was famed and not many of his short stories. Hence, we have MODIFIER ERROR in this sentence.
2. Usage of “due to” is not correct here. Whether the usage of “due to” is correct or not can be checked by a simple test. Replace “due to” with “caused by”. If the sentence still makes sense, then use of “due to” is correct.

POE:

A. Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.: Incorrect for reasons discussed above.

B. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of how he famously and masterfully uses irony, evident in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece. Incorrect:
i. “because of” should be followed by a noun or clause beginning with noun.
ii. Non-possessive pronoun “he” cannot refer to possessive “of Guy de Maupassant's” because this entity is an adjective in this sentence that modifies “short stories”. A pronoun cannot refer to an adjective. It can only refer to a noun or another pronoun

C. Famed for using irony in a masterful way, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of the author slowly revealing a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.: Incorrect. This choice repeats the modifier error of choice A.

D. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of the author's famed and masterful use of irony, evidenced in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece. Correct.

E. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because he slowly revealed a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece, demonstrating his famed and masterful use of irony. Incorrect. . This choice repeats the same pronoun error of Choice B.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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Hi,

Thanks for the detailed answer.
But this question - https://gmatclub.com/forum/although-she-was-considered-among-her-contemporaries-to-be-the-better-208881.html - shows that pronoun can refer to possessive. Can you please help with what is wrong with option E then?
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Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's shor 04 Jun 2021, 23:46
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egmat
Hi all,

Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.

There has been a lot of discussion about the meaning conveyed by this sentence and many posters feel the even if Choice D is the correct answer, it does not communicate the intended meaning. Here is my take on this:



The main clause of this sentence says that Guy de Maupassant’s short stories have become classics. So, I feel that this is the crux of the sentence. Whatever extra information is present in the sentence is about why these stories became classics. The reason why his short stories have become classics is that Guy de Maupassant used irony in his writing in a masterful manner. His talent can be seen in the way he revealed a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.



ERROR ANALYSIS:

1. The opening verb-ed modifier “Famed for his…” is incorrectly modifying the subject of the preceding clause “many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories”. Who was famed? The writer Guy de Maupassant was famed and not many of his short stories. Hence, we have MODIFIER ERROR in this sentence.
2. Usage of “due to” is not correct here. Whether the usage of “due to” is correct or not can be checked by a simple test. Replace “due to” with “caused by”. If the sentence still makes sense, then use of “due to” is correct.

POE:

A. Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.: Incorrect for reasons discussed above.

B. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of how he famously and masterfully uses irony, evident in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece. Incorrect:
i. “because of” should be followed by a noun or clause beginning with noun.
ii. Non-possessive pronoun “he” cannot refer to possessive “of Guy de Maupassant's” because this entity is an adjective in this sentence that modifies “short stories”. A pronoun cannot refer to an adjective. It can only refer to a noun or another pronoun

C. Famed for using irony in a masterful way, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of the author slowly revealing a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.: Incorrect. This choice repeats the modifier error of choice A.

D. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of the author's famed and masterful use of irony, evidenced in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece. Correct.

E. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because he slowly revealed a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece, demonstrating his famed and masterful use of irony. Incorrect. . This choice repeats the same pronoun error of Choice B.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Hi,

Thanks for the detailed answer.
But this question - https://gmatclub.com/forum/although-she-was-considered-among-her-contemporaries-to-be-the-better-208881.html - shows that pronoun can refer to possessive. Can you please help with what is wrong with option E then?
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arya251294 Here is E
"Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because he slowly revealed a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece, demonstrating his famed and masterful use of irony."

Pronoun ambiguity is not an absolute rule. As far as I know, non-possessive pronouns can definitely refer back to possessive nouns. However, there is another issue in E if you notice the highlighted part. It's almost trying to say that the author himself was sitting at the end of each piece and revealed the tragic twist when a reader got to the end. Also, by using the word revealed, it seems like it was a one time thing and that is not what we're trying to achieve here. IMO, option D does a much better job at communicating a logical and clear meaning.

Hope this helps! :)
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Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's shor 20 Aug 2023, 08:45
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In option D, in "the author's use of irony", isn't "use" serving as a noun in this case? So why is "because of" the correct idiomatic structure here, and not due to? I was under the impression that "because of" modifies verbs, and "due to" modifies nouns.
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Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's shor 20 Aug 2023, 08:52
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A. Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate. - Not correct, Famed for his masterful use of irony should modify Guy de Maupassant, not his short stories

B. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of how he famously and masterfully uses irony, evident in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece. - Incorrect, Famously and masterfully is modifying the way he uses irony (not the intended meaning)

C. Famed for using irony in a masterful way, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of the author slowly revealing a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece. - Not correct, Famed for his masterful use of irony should modify Guy de Maupassant, not his short stories

D. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of the author's famed and masterful use of irony, evidenced in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece. (correct)

E. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because he slowly revealed a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece, demonstrating his famed and masterful use of irony. Incorrect - 'revealed' is written in past, as if the action happened in the past. Although this is a fact and should have been in present
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