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705-805 Level|   Modifiers|      
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sayantanc2k
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His campaign for sanitary conditions in operating rooms finally succes 11 Mar 2017, 13:15
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AR15J
sayantanc2k
AR15J
Please help how Choice A is the correct choice? In other posts, I saw that first phrase is an absolute modifier in choice A, but I am not convinced.

I selected choice C.

Option C does not make any sense. The cause and effect events have been reversed in option C - because Sir Joseph lent his name, the campaign was successful, not the other way round. The success came later ("eventual").

In A the first part is an absolute phrase:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/his-campaign ... l#p1814499

In case you are not convinced, please mention specifically why do you think it is not an absolute phrase.


Thanks sayantanc2k,
As you mentioned in the previous post--

absolute phrase = noun + noun modifier
His head held high, Owen walked out of the store
"held high" is modifying his head

At first glance of the given question, it seems that the main verb is removed from the first part of the sentence(His campaign for sanitary conditions in operating rooms finally successful). First part did not seem to be absolute modifier because noun modifiers for absolute modifiers are generally verbing/verbed phrases or subordinate clauses (with relative pronoun). Noun modifier in this example seems awkward. However, noun modifier, in this example, is just an adjective modifying the "campaign"

Noun (noun phrase): His campaign for sanitary conditions in operating rooms
Noun modifier: finally successful

How did you determine that because Sir Joseph lent his name, the campaign was successful?

I could not establish cause and effect relationship.
How did I try to understand the question-- his campaign for X successful, he did Y. I could not determine which event (X or Y) occurs first.
1. His campaign for X was successful, that's why he did Y
2. He did y, that's why his campaign was successful.
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A noun modifier is functionally nothing but an adjective. An adjective is the most basic form of noun modifiers. Past participle and present participle may also be used as noun modifiers, but fundamentally they are all adjectives for the noun they refer to. There is no justification that the most basic form of modifier, the adjective, cannot be used in an absolute phrase.

Note the word "eventual" in option C - this word depicts that the success came AFTER he lent his name. Thus lending cannot precede success. Thus option C is wrong.
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His campaign for sanitary conditions in operating rooms finally succes 12 Mar 2017, 06:55
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AR15J
I selected choice C.
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Hi AR15J, C tries to establish a causal relationship, where there is none.

So, in that sense, it totally changes the meaning of the original sentence.
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His campaign for sanitary conditions in operating rooms finally succes 02 Dec 2022, 03:49
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i was reading the discussion here and noticed that someone wrote that the use of past perfect in B is wrong. Can you shed some light on it?

thanks
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