In 1905, The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton's novel about the

Two things conveyed by sentence:
The House of Mirth was published by Scribner's
Scribner was a reputable press

E has correctly used modifiers:
In 1905
The House of Mirth (modifier "Edith Wharton's novel about the blighted aspirations of Lily Bart" correctly modifies "the house of Mirth) was published by Scribner's, (modifier "a reputable press in the early twentieth century" correctly modifies "Scribner)

D:
Subject+comma+modifier+comma+modifier - wrong
The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton's novel about the blighted aspirations of Lily Bart, which was published by Scribner's

Also WHICH seems to modify "Scribner's". which cannot jump the entire modifier and modify The house of Mirth here.

Hope it is clear.

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

Here the modifier comes at the end; a reputable press in the early twentieth century modifies Scribner's. Once you spot the modifier, you know that it must directly follow Scribner's and you can eliminate every choice except (E). Since the modifier directly describes Scribner's, it should remain a modifier and not be separated from Scribner's by and [it] was. The addition of and suggests that what follows and and what precedes it are different ideas, that Scribner's and its reputation are equally and distinctly important to the sentence. For the purposes of this sentence, the two ideas are intimately related since the final phrase exists only to provide more information about Scribner's, not to be stressed in its own right. Therefore, the final phrase should modify Scribner's and you can eliminate (A) and (B). As for (C), being is unnecessary and therefore creates an error in expression. Finally, (D) suggests that Lily Bart was the reputable press. Only (E) uses the modifier correctly.

An 800 test taker knows that Sentence Correction questions containing modifier errors can be answered quickly and accurately by one who knows how they work. Since there's often only one choice that uses the modifier correctly, mastering modifiers can result in fast points.

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