In 1945, after a career as First Lady in which she shattered

Question

In 1945, after a career as First Lady in which she shattered expectations  more audaciously than either Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison ever had been, Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly by President Harry S Truman.

(A) more audaciously than either Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison ever had been, Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly by President Harry S Truman

(B) more audaciously than either Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison, President Harry S Truman had Eleanor Roosevelt appointed to be a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly

(C) with an audacity never matched in the case of Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison, President Harry S Truman had Eleanor Roosevelt appointed as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly

(D) with an audacity never matched by Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly by President Harry S Truman

(E) with an audacity never matched either in the case of Abigail Adams or of Dolly Madison's, Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed to be a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly by President Harry S Truman

kinjiGC · Accepted Answer

In 1945, after a career as First Lady in which she shattered expectations  more audaciously than either Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison ever had been, Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly by President Harry S Truman .

(A) more audaciously than either Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison ever  had been , Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly by President Harry S Truman

"Ever did" is correct as we are comparing the actions.

(B) more audaciously than either  Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison ,  President Harry S Truman  had Eleanor Roosevelt appointed to be a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly
 
1) comparing shattering with individuals.
2) Wrong modification -> President Harry S Truman
3) Very verbose construction -> had Eleanor Roosevelt appointed to be a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly

(C) with an audacity never matched  in the case of  Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison,  President Harry S Truman  had Eleanor Roosevelt appointed as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly

1) In the case of -> This is wrong construction as this is not the case. It should be audacity by X.
2) Wrong modification -> President Harry S Truman

(D) with an audacity never matched  by Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison ,  Eleanor Roosevelt  was appointed a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly by President Harry S Truman
 -> Correct as 1) Audacity by X or Y
2) Correct modification -> Eleanor Roosevelt

(E) with an audacity never matched either  in the case o f Abigail Adams or of Dolly Madison 's , Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed to be a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly by President Harry S Truman
 1) In the case of and apostrophe are redundant and in the case of is wrong as explained above.

syamee_u · Answer

modifier problem
who is first lady -- Eleanor Roosevelt 

So, B and C - illogical modifiers - out

A - 'had been' in correct - as past perfect is not required here
E - wordy 

D - best choice. I like it more if it has "appointed as"

stevegt · Answer

but if D is right, how could  Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison match audacity?

syamee_u · Answer

Audacity of XXX is never matched by   YYYY or ZZZZZ

here audacity of is implied in the comparison.

stevegt · Answer

in most of this type of questions, however, we often insert  (that of)  to eliminate ambiguity, like Audacity of XXX is never matched by  that of  YYYY or ZZZZZ, dont we?

vineetgupta · Answer

she shattered expectations with an audacity never matched by Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison...this means that Eleanor is compared to Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison with respect to audacity(a characteristic).

It is not the audacity of the two that is being compared.

terp26 · Answer

B is wrong because you need the phrase to modify Elenaor, yet Franklin is the name immediately following the phrase which incorrectly modifies him.

PTK · Answer

OA is D.

A- out for had been 
B,C- out for First Lady..., Harry Truman 
D-uses correct idiom appoint to
E- wrong idiom - apppoint to be, wordy.

gvij2017 · Answer

please, elaborate why A is wrong?

KaranB1 · Answer

gvij2017

The usage of "had been" is incorrect as it renders the violation of parallelism rule.

Usage of "did" or "had" could make the sentence grammatically correct.

MissionWin · Answer

Option A is incorrect because the sentence is supposed to be comparing actions. So, “ever had been” is the wrong verb as it refers to the action of existing or possessing a quality. “ever did” would be the right verb to use. B has a clear modification error, “more audaciously than…” is modifying “President Harry S Truman”. C shares the same problem and has another problem with the phrase “in case of”. This is not good construction it should be “matched by”, the sentence is not describing a case. E has the same problem, so the only choice remaining is D.

KittyDoodles · Answer

Hi Experts,

Please advise what's wrong with Option A.

Thanks
Kitty

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

KittyDoodles

The post above yours gets it just right. Feel free to follow up if we can clarify further.

Sroy1 · Answer

Would option A be deemed correct if the option reads "ever had" instead of "ever had been" ? Please explain.

In 1945, after a career as First Lady in which she shattered

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In 1945, after a career as First Lady in which she shattered

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