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555-605 Level|   Grammatical/Rhetorical Construction|                     
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 17 Feb 2021, 11:47
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ShankSouljaBoi
Ok I did go for A as others were quite wrong , but where is the full bonafide verb for subject G.H. Hardy ? Recognized does not work as the verb as there is a , in front of the subject of new I.C. G.H. Hardy.

only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but thanks to Hardy's recognition, Ramanujan was eventually elected to the Royal Society of London.

Highlighted is IC i dont care about.

Only one is a modifier so removed it. Now G.H. Hardy is the main subject of this IC ... But there is a comma after this so can recognized work as a verb ?????

The statement in red is incorrect: only one is not a modifier but is the SUBJECT.

An APPOSITIVE is a noun or noun phrase that serves to explain or define another noun or noun phrase.
OA: The mathematician mailed his theorems to three different British mathematicians; only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems.
Here, the portion in blue is an appositive for only one, conveying that ONLY ONE = G.H. HARDY.
An appositive is a NONESSENTIAL MODIFIER.
If we remove from A the nonessential modifier in blue, we get:
The mathematician mailed his theorems to three different British mathematicians; only one recognized the brilliance of these theorems.
In the green portion:
only one = subject
recognized = verb
Hello GMATGuruNY,
When I was reading the whole thread, I was thinking to ask the following question with new comment without quoting anyone's post, but you already discussed some sorta things with ShankSouljaBoi 's post. ShankSouljaBoi's post helps me to ask my query with quoting your last comment in this thread.
Quote:
A) In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan mailed 120 of his theorems to three different British mathematicians; only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but thanks to Hardy's recognition, Ramanujan was eventually elected to the Royal Society of London.
What if the choice A is something like below?

In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan mailed 120 of his theorems to three different British mathematicians-Mr. X, Mr. Y, and Mr. G. H. Hardy; only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but thanks to his recognition, Ramanujan was eventually elected to the Royal Society of London.

In this sentence, the bold part is the inserted part.
You said that if we remove the highlighted part, the meaning will not be changed. I think so as it is not the essential modifier; it is just an appositive. Here is my silly question :) : if we insert the bold part and remove the highlighted part, then how do we know that only one=Mr. G. H. Hardy?
Thanks in advanced..
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GMATGuruNY
It seems that you missed post. May I have your feedback sir? Thank you so much...
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 17 Feb 2021, 17:00
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TheUltimateWinner
What if the choice A is something like below?
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I applaud your quest for knowledge.
But when facing an SC, we are not tasked with fixing or revising answer choices.
Our job is straightforward: to ELIMINATE four answer choices, each for a concrete reason.
Since the GMAT does not require us to fix answers, it is my practice not to comment on revised answer choices.
I appreciate your understanding.
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 17 Feb 2021, 17:27
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The following should be noted:

Every modifier -- even a nonessential modifier -- adds meaning to a sentence.
If a nonessential modifier is omitted, some meaning will be lost.
The reason some modifiers are considered nonessential is that they are not GRAMMATICALLY required.
OA: In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan mailed his theorems to three different British mathematicians; only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but thanks to Hardy's recognition, Ramanujan was eventually elected to the Royal Society of London.
If we omit the modifier in blue, we get:
In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan mailed his theorems to three different British mathematicians; only one recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but thanks to Hardy's recognition, Ramanujan was eventually elected to the Royal Society of London.
The sentence above is grammatically sound.
For this reason, the modifier in blue is considered nonessential.

That said -- without the blue modifier -- the reference to Hardy creates confusion.
The issue could be resolved as follows:
In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan mailed his theorems to three different British mathematicians; only one recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but thanks to this mathematician's recognition, Ramanujan was eventually elected to the Royal Society of London.
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 07 May 2022, 14:19
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GMATNinja,
Hi sir,
I had the following question with respect to the official question:
n 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan mailed 120 of his theorems to three different British mathematicians; only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but thanks to Hardy's recognition, Ramanujan was eventually elected to the Royal Society of London.

(A) only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but
(B) they were brilliant, G. H. Hardy alone recognized, but
(C) these theorems were brilliant, but only one, G. H. Hardy recognized;
(D) but, only one G. H. Hardy, recognizing their brilliance,
(E) only one G. H. Hardy recognized, but these theorems were brilliant

My question is stated as below:
In case of 2 independent sentences or clauses separated by a ";", as in the OG question mentioned, is there a rule regarding which noun in the 1st clause will a pronoun in the 2nd clause(eg. they, their in the og question mentioned) refer to (will it be the closest noun or a noun farther back or are the nouns that can be referred to based on only plurality) ?
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 09 May 2022, 06:05
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prachi1525
GMATNinja,
Hi sir,
I had the following question with respect to the official question:
n 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan mailed 120 of his theorems to three different British mathematicians; only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but thanks to Hardy's recognition, Ramanujan was eventually elected to the Royal Society of London.

(A) only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but
(B) they were brilliant, G. H. Hardy alone recognized, but
(C) these theorems were brilliant, but only one, G. H. Hardy recognized;
(D) but, only one G. H. Hardy, recognizing their brilliance,
(E) only one G. H. Hardy recognized, but these theorems were brilliant

My question is stated as below:
In case of 2 independent sentences or clauses separated by a ";", as in the OG question mentioned, is there a rule regarding which noun in the 1st clause will a pronoun in the 2nd clause(eg. they, their in the og question mentioned) refer to (will it be the closest noun or a noun farther back or are the nouns that can be referred to based on only plurality) ?
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Hello prachi1525,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in the case of independent clauses joined by a semicolon, there is no rule governing which noun in the first clause a pronoun in the second refers to; in such cases, the appropriate reference is determined by the logical relationship between the two clauses and the intended meaning of the sentence.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 24 Jul 2022, 00:01
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Why in option A comma is used after "G.H Hardy". According to my understanding "G.H Hardy" must have a verb for it and so no comma should be there. It appears as if it is verb-ed modifier and not the verb for the subject "G.H Hardy".
Please clarify.
Due Regards..
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 24 Jul 2022, 00:57
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himanshu0077
Why in option A comma is used after "G.H Hardy". According to my understanding "G.H Hardy" must have a verb for it and so no comma should be there. It appears as if it is verb-ed modifier and not the verb for the subject "G.H Hardy".
Please clarify.
Due Regards..
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Hello himanshu0077,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in Option A, "G. H. Hardy" is an appositive that refers to the pronoun phrase "only one"; "G. H. Hardy" is off-set by a pair of commas because it is extra information that is inserted into the middle of the sentence.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 01 Apr 2023, 08:04
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Hello Everyone!

Let's take a look at this question, one problem at a time, and narrow it down to the correct answer! To get started, here is the original question:

In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan mailed 120 of his theorems to three different British mathematicians; only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but thanks to Hardy's recognition, Ramanujan was eventually elected to the Royal Society of London.

(A) only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but
(B) they were brilliant, G. H. Hardy alone recognized, but
(C) these theorems were brilliant, but only one, G. H. Hardy recognized;
(D) but, only one G. H. Hardy, recognizing their brilliance,
(E) only one G. H. Hardy recognized, but these theorems were brilliant

After a quick glance over the options, it's clear that each one is written very differently from the next, so this could be a trick one to answer. The major difference I noticed right away was the word "brilliant/brilliance." What is brilliant in this sentence? The theorems that Ramanujan wrote. So let's check to make sure each sentence is using the adjective "brilliant/brilliance" to refer to the theorems:

(A) only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but --> OK

(B) they were brilliant, G. H. Hardy alone recognized, but --> WRONG
(By putting "they" directly after the word "mathematicians," it changes the meaning! This is saying that Hardy thinks the mathematicians are brilliant, not the theorems! So this is wrong.)

(C) these theorems were brilliant, but only one, G. H. Hardy recognized; --> OK

(D) but, only one G. H. Hardy, recognizing their brilliance, --> WRONG
(It's not clear if the pronoun "their" is referring to the theorems or mathematicians. In fact, this option doesn't even mention the theorems, which is a problem!)

(E) only one G. H. Hardy recognized, but these theorems were brilliant --> OK

We can eliminate options B and D because they use misplaced or vague pronouns. Now that we've narrowed it down to 3 options, let's look at each one more closely to identify other problems:

(A) only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but

This option is CORRECT! It's clear that G.H. Hardy is the only one of the 3 mathematicians that thought Ramanujan's work was brilliant, and it's also clear that the word "brilliance" is referring to the theorems.

(C) these theorems were brilliant, but only one, G. H. Hardy recognized;

This option is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, it changes the original meaning when it "but only one, G.H. Hardy recognized." This option is saying that Hardy only thought one of the theorems was brilliant, instead of the intended meaning of saying that only one of the mathematicians thought all of Ramanujan's work was good. Second, the semicolon on the end isn't necessary. We already have a semicolon before the word "these," so the second one is just unneeded.

(E) only one G. H. Hardy recognized, but these theorems were brilliant

This option is INCORRECT because the phrase "only one G.H. Hardy recognized" is vague. It's not clear if Hardy only recognized one of the mathematicians (which doesn't make logical sense), or if he only recognized one of the theorems, which also doesn't make sense. He is the only mathematician that recognized ALL of Ramanujan's work as brilliant.

There you have it - option A is the correct answer!


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Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal, based on what we have learnt from the E-gmat course, Pronouns can refer to a far away noun while "relative pronouns" (who, whose, who, which , that) must be placed immediately to the noun which they are referring to. Option B says, "they" were brilliant. So according to my logic, "they" can refer equally to "mathematicians" or to "theorems". So I had two questions. 1. Can "they" act as a "relative pronoun" ? 2. Is it necessary for a pronoun to refer to the closest noun if there are two preceding nouns in a sentence? E-gmat can you please answer this ?
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 24 May 2023, 19:41
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(A) only one, G. H. Hardy, recognized the brilliance of these theorems, but - correct as mathematicians followed by only one, GH Hardy
(B) they were brilliant, G. H. Hardy alone recognized, but - no clear antecedent for "they"
(C) these theorems were brilliant, but only one, G. H. Hardy recognized; - mathematicians incorrectly followed by these theorems
(D) but, only one G. H. Hardy, recognizing their brilliance, - lacks main verb
(E) only one G. H. Hardy recognized, but these theorems were brilliant - changes the meaning as it says that GH Hardy recognized only one theorem
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 02 Jun 2023, 00:15
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Would love it if one of the experts could clarify.
1. Is it fair to say that D is also wrong because a FANBOY cannot follow a semi-colon, only a comma?
2. Also is the use of the semi-colon in C correct, as I feel it leads to an incomplete IC?

Here is my thought process:

The part "these theorems were brilliant, but only one, G. H. Hardy recognized" is a fragment as it lacks completeness. This is because "recognized" lacks an object, making the thought incomplete.

To clarify, a complete sentence (or an IC) needs at least a subject and a verb, and it should also express a complete thought. If any of these components is missing, the clause is not complete, or a fragment.

Here in option (C), the second part ("only one, G. H. Hardy recognized") doesn't complete the thought started by "these theorems were brilliant." The verb "recognized" lacks an object (i.e., what did G. H. Hardy recognize?), rendering the clause incomplete.


Thanks for your help.
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 07 Jun 2023, 11:09
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TargetMBA007
Would love it if one of the experts could clarify.

Is it fair to say that D is also wrong because a FANBOY cannot follow a semi-colon, only a comma?

Also is the use of the semi-colon in C correct, as I feel it leads to an incomplete IC?

Here is my thought process:

The part "these theorems were brilliant, but only one, G. H. Hardy recognized" is a fragment as it lacks completeness. This is because "recognized" lacks an object, making the thought incomplete.

To clarify, a complete sentence (or an IC) needs at least a subject and a verb, and it should also express a complete thought. If any of these components is missing, the clause is not complete, or a fragment.

Here in option (C), the second part ("only one, G. H. Hardy recognized") doesn't complete the thought started by "these theorems were brilliant." The verb "recognized" lacks an object (i.e., what did G. H. Hardy recognize?), rendering the clause incomplete.

Thanks for your help.

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Quote:
Is it fair to say that D is also wrong because a FANBOY cannot follow a semi-colon, only a comma?"
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It is true that a semicolon isn't strictly necessary here, since we have the conjunction ("but"). Does that make the "but" wrong? Maybe, but the GMAT doesn't ascribe to many black-and-white rules like this, so you're better off being conservative and looking for other decision points. At the very most, you'd want to use this point as a small vote against (D), rather than a reason to eliminate it right away.

Quote:
Also is the use of the semi-colon in C correct, as I feel it leads to an incomplete IC?
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"Hardy recognized" can certainly qualify as an independent clause. It's not a very interesting sentence, but it's a sentence with a subject ("Hardy") and a verb ("recognized"). The lack of an object does not automatically make it an incomplete sentence. For example, "Tim wrote" is a complete sentence, and so is "Tim wrote a book."

That said, the meaning of "but only one, G. H. Hardy recognized" isn't clear at all. And the use of multiple semicolons further confuses things. (A) is a much better choice.

I hope that helps!
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 23 Jul 2023, 08:27
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I have a problem in understanding the sentence construct.

That is the usage of "BUT" in the second clause. Shouldn't "but" be used to show contrast? Here the two parts before and after the "but" are not showing any contrast.

Because of this usage, I had to reject this answer choice and then became puzzled with the remaining answer choices!
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In 1913, the largely self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanu 28 Jul 2023, 21:14
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gmatbd
I have a problem in understanding the sentence construct.

That is the usage of "BUT" in the second clause. Shouldn't "but" be used to show contrast? Here the two parts before and after the "but" are not showing any contrast.

Because of this usage, I had to reject this answer choice and then became puzzled with the remaining answer choices!
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There's an implied contrast here:

  • Given that his brilliance was only recognized by one of the three mathematicians, it would be reasonable to guess that he was NOT elected to this presumably exclusive society, and that he was simply overlooked and/or forgotten about.
  • BUT, despite the fact that only one of the three British mathematicians recognized Ramanujan's brilliance, Ramanujan was STILL eventually elected to the Royal Society of London (thanks to Hardy's recognition).

So there's still a contrast, and the "but" is OK.

I hope that helps!
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