In his earlier poems, William Butler Yeats often used

Question

In his earlier poems, William Butler Yeats often used mythical imagery,  in part so his poems reflected Ireland's colorful lore and legends  and partly because his ideas were too controversial to express outright.

A. in part so his poems reflected Ireland's colorful lore and legends
B. in part because of the reflection of Ireland's colorful lore and legends
C. partly because of the colorful lore and legends of Ireland
D. partly so that colorful lore and legends of Ireland could be reflected
E. partly to reflect Ireland's colorful lore and legends

When I saw - In part and partly i knew the answer in 20 seconds. Chose C - which is wrong from some reason.
Went for the parallel construction of Partly because of X and Party because of Y.

Can someone explain why C is not the answer here?
thanks

Vercules · Accepted Answer

Hi roygush, Answer choice (C) though parallel, changes the original meaning of the sentence. The sentence expresses that William Butler used mythical imagery so that his poems reflected the lore and legends of Ireland. Choice (C) changes the meaning, saying William Butler used mythical imagery because of the lore and legends of Ireland. The lore and legends were not responsible for the use of mythical imagery, but were wanted by William Butler to be reflected in his poems. A good example of a situation where logic trumps the apparent parallelism Another example in which logic trumps parallelism. studies-of-performance-reports-show-that-working-in-a-147279.html Hope it helps, Vercules

roygush · Answer

Yea i figured that meaning is above all.
Thanks alot for your help.

warabull · Answer

Can someone explain why D is not the answer ?
I fell for D as I thought that "Colorful lore and legends" is parallel to "his ideas" (Both nouns)
And also, please elaborate on the parallelism maintained by the option E. 
My understanding is that "to reflect " is breaking the parallelism with "because his"

Thanks in advance.

KanupriyaS · Answer

Hi Warabull, I will try to explain to the best of my knowledge. D says "....could be reflected" whereas the sentence mentions he has used it..(already done in the past). 'could be' conveys that it hasn't been done yet. In E it clarifies the intended meaning that he did it to reflect Ireland's colorful lore and legends. Moreover, the 'so that' in D is redundant. Hope my explanation makes sense. Any feedback is appreciated. Kudos if my explanation helped you

Good Luck!!

ynk · Answer

"because of" should be followed by noun.and that's why '©' is wrong.
please tell me if my reasoning is right or wrong?

vishwaprakash · Answer

Hi  ynk  ,

"Because of" is an adverbial phrase and can modify verb or clause.

Eg : Because of rain, "Football match was cancelled" - So "Because of rain" modified the whole clause.

In this question, C is wrong since it says "William Butler Yeats often used mythical imagery, because of of the colorful lore and legends of Ireland. However actually 
William Butler Yeats often used mythical imagery to show colorful lore and legends of Ireland

Option C changes meaning

shyind · Answer

Parallelism in E) is good ..

to reflect ... to express

Dirky · Answer

A. in part so his poems reflected Ireland's colorful lore and legends

In part is not parallel to partly

B. in part because of the reflection of Ireland's colorful lore and legends

Same as A.

This answer also changes the meaning of the sentence. He didn't write it because of the reflection of Ireland's lore and legends he wrote it to reflect Ireland's lore and legends.

C. partly because of the colorful lore and legends of Ireland

Similar meaning issue to B.

D. partly so that colorful lore and legends of Ireland could be reflected

This answer has a meaning issue also. WB used mythical imagery to reflect Ireland's lore and legends not so they could be reflected. Could be sounds like someone else might be doing the reflecting.

E. partly to reflect Ireland's colorful lore and legends

Parallel and has the correct meaning

Aksh19 · Answer

Hi,

Can anyone point out issues with option A.

Thanks,
Ak

thangvietnam · Answer

sc test LOGIC and CLEAR. choice C is not clear. no need to have a causal relation here

Funsho84 · Answer

Is imagery considered a noun here? If so, does partly modify imagery? I thought adverbs can't modify nouns.

I was stuck between A and E so I chose A.

gvij2017 · Answer

In E , partly + infinitive clause and partly + dependent clause 
How could it be correct parallel sentence.
Please explain.

DharLog · Answer

In his earlier poems, William Butler Yeats often used mythical imagery,  in part so his poems reflected Ireland's colorful lore and legends  and partly because his ideas were too controversial to express outright.

A. in part so his poems reflected Ireland's colorful lore and legends
B. in part because of the reflection of Ireland's colorful lore and legends
C. partly because of the colorful lore and legends of Ireland
D. partly so that colorful lore and legends of Ireland could be reflected
E. partly to reflect Ireland's colorful lore and legends
-----------

E - pure parallelism - our choice.

(And we need the verb "reflect", that is why C is out)

faat99 · Answer

the ans lies on meaning:
1. We need partly for parallelism -> A/B out
2. C: the action of reflect is gone -> change of meaning = wrong
3. D: could be reflected != to reflect -> change of meaning = wrong

to reflect / to express is not parallel as suggested by someone above.

In his earlier poems, William Butler Yeats often used

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In his earlier poems, William Butler Yeats often used

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