OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
Quote:
James Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration most prominent among them.
A) in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration most prominent among them
B) where the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are a parallel array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration being most prominent among these
C) where the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration is most prominent among these
D) in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey is paralleled in an array of contrasted literary styles, and the stream of consciousness narration is most prominent among these
E) in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in a contrasting array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration most prominent among it
•
where should only be used to refer to
an actual physical place, a society, or a community.See Notes, below. (Although "where" almost always refers to a place, it
can refer to place-like things. I give two offical examples.)
Eliminate B and C
• in option D, plural
episodes does not agree with singular
isEliminate D
• In option E, the singular pronoun
it does not agree with its plural antecedent,
stylesEliminate E
The correct answer is A.EXPLANATIONTHE PROMPTQuote:
James Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration most prominent among them.
• in this sentence, the appositive, a common on the GMAT, is very long,
-- I just used an appositive in that last sentence.
-- For a bit more about appositives, see Notes.
THE OPTIONSQuote:
A) in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration most prominent among them
• the sentence created by this option is awkward
• that said, I see no errors
→
in which refers to the book (
in the book)
→ plural
episodes (of Homer's Odyssey) is correctly paired with the plural verb
are paralleled→ the plural pronoun
them correctly refers to
stylesTakeaway: do not ever eliminate an option on your first pass because you think it is awkward.
KEEP A
Quote:
B) where the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are a parallel array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration being most prominent among these
•
where almost always refers to an actual physical location, although a couple of official questions have allowed
where to refer to a society and a community.
See Notes
• James Joyce did not write episodes of Homer's Odyssey using a parallel array of contrasting literary styles.
→ that logic is absurd. The Odyssey, an epic poem, was written almost 3,000 years ago!
→ In Joyce's book
Ulysses, Joyce used the episodes of Homer's
Odyssey in certain ways
•
these should be followed by a noun.
→ the words
this, that, and
these are not pronouns. Neither is
those, most of the time.
-- such words "point" to a specific noun: Please study
these books on
this shelf rather than
those books on
that shelf across the room.
-- occasionally, the word
those can stand alone, if it refers to people.
Correct:
The leader is an immature bully; those who are not sycophants have short careers in his administration.• rather than try to decide whether this usage of
being is okay, we can note that option A is just fine without
being, concision is good, and this option contains other errors.
Do not assume that
being is always wrong. See GMATNinja,
here.
GMAC caught on to that bit of wisdom and in the last six years has published official questions in which
being is correct.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
C) where the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration is most prominent among these
•
where should be
in which•
these should be followed by a noun
•
with is a preposition. Prepositions are followed by nouns or noun phrases—not verbs.
Prepositions should not be followed by a clause.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey is paralleled in an array of contrasted literary styles, and the stream of consciousness narration is most prominent among these
• the plural noun
episodes does not agree with the singular verb
is•
these should be followed by a noun
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
E) in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in a contrasting array of contrasting literary styles, with the stream of consciousness narration most prominent among it
• the singular pronoun IT incorrectly refers to the plural noun styles
• contrasting is in the wrong place.
The array is not "contrasting."
The styles are contrasting.
ELIMINATE E
The best answer is A.NOTESAppositives• In option A, the subject is
James Joyce, the verb is
is known, and the object of the verb is the book
Ulysses.
• the rest, i.e., all of those words that are placed after the first comma and that refer to the book
Ulysses?
That long string of words is called
an appositive.
→ I don't care whether you know the jargon, but I do want you to recognize appositives quickly, because GMAC uses them frequently.
→ An appositive is a noun or noun phrase (noun + modifiers) that gives us extra or "bonus" information about a noun.
In other words, an appositive re-describes or renames the noun it is right next to.
WHERE• Where can always refer to a physical place.
Correct: He liked to think about the airport where he met her for the first time.
• On the GMAT, where can refer to some words that we do not typically associate with a physical place.
For instance, where can refer to a community or a society: In one official question,
where refers to
society.
That official question is
HERE.
In another official question,
where refers to
community.
That official question is
HERE.
In both cases, the groups are defined as all the people who live in a certain area.
COMMENTSThe novel
Ulysses, by the way, usually ranks #1 or #2 in classic lists of "Best 100" Novels written in English, and usually makes the top 10 in classic lists of the best 100 novels in any language.
These answers range from good to excellent. Nicely done.
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22 Jul 2020, 00:00
21%
(01:43)
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