Quote:
Among the challenges faced by translators are whether to keep their translation as close as possible to the original source, or whether to take liberties that may allow an intended audience to better understand its content.
(A) faced by translators are whether to keep their translation as close as possible to the original source
(B) that translators face are whether to keep their translation of the original source as close as possible
(C) faced by translators is whether to keep their translation as close as possible to the original source
(D) that translators face are whether to keep their translation as close as possible to the original source
(E) that translators face is whether to keep their translation of the original source as close as possible
Hello, everyone. The feature of this question that immediately stands out to me is that it starts with a preposition. Such sentences are often inverted in structure to test subject-verb agreement. An example would be the sentence,
On the dashboard sits the keys. If you straighten out the grammatical structure, you can expose the problem:
The keys sits on the dashboard. How about we break this one down, piece by piece?
Split #1: faced by translators versus
that translators facePassive or active verb tenses are fine on the test. Sure, I might prefer a more active tense, but nothing is inherently wrong with the phrasing of this aspect of the original sentence. In short,
I would not eliminate anything on this consideration alone.
Split #2: are versus
isUnless we are talking about one of those pesky nouns that can go either way (such as
fish or
moose), this issue can prove decisive. Despite the length of the two
whether phrases, we still have a basic sentence that, once straightened out, reads
Whether to X, or whether to Y is/are among the challenges…Do not be fooled by
among. It is used to indicate that there are many challenges that translators face, nothing more. We should be focusing on the
whether part instead, and this takes a singular verb, even when presented in two parts. If you have trouble with the lengthier version above, consider a parallel sentence:
Whether to walk or drive is/are important right now. I think most people would be comfortable choosing
is, even if an extra
whether to were added before the second element. The sentence at hand is no different, and on these grounds,
we can eliminate 60 percent of the options, (A), (B), and (D).
If you are wondering about the comma between the two phrases, it is entirely optional. Sometimes when a phrase or clause launches into a lengthy description, an author might choose to mark a break from that description by using a comma.
Split #3: their translation as close as possible to the original source versus
their translation of the original source as close as possibleOne of the easier splits. You have to train yourself to spot the obvious targets first, or you risk running up the clock on some finer point you may not be all that comfortable with. (Worse yet, that finer point may not even prove crucial to the question at hand.)
It might not seem like a big deal to transpose different parts of the same description, but
as close as possible cannot function alone. It needs a noun to attach itself to. In casual conversation, we might say of a golfer,
He hit his shot as close as possible without it going in, but what we would really mean is that he hit his shot as close as possible
to the hole (or pin) without
the ball dropping into the hole (or cup).
Answer choices (B) and (E) cannot be correct in the original shell of the sentence.
With answer choices (A), (B), (D), and (E) all dropping out of the running, only (C) remains as the best choice. There are times in which the active voice may get the nod over the passive voice, particularly if parallelism is involved and the matching element is active, but passive constructs are not an automatic strike against a sentence. In sum:
Quote:
Among the challenges faced by translators are whether to keep their translation as close as possible to the original source, or whether to take liberties that may allow an intended audience to better understand its content.
(A) faced by translators are whether to keep their translation as close as possible to the original source
(B) that translators face are whether to keep their translation of the original source as close as possible
(C) faced by translators is whether to keep their translation as close as possible to the original source
(D) that translators face are whether to keep their translation as close as possible to the original source
(E) that translators face is whether to keep their translation of the original source as close as possible
Happy question-solving, everybody.
- Andrew
close
13 Jul 2022, 08:00
43%
(01:46)
wrong 
