Can someone explain why D is wrong?
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A and D are same wrt meaning , only difference is placement of modifiers which is also separated properly by 'comma' then why not D?

IMO answer is B.. What's the OA??


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Because in option D the 2 modifiers are separated by "and" and considering parallelism, if the first modifier starts with a verb i.e. Written the second modifier should also start with the verb i.e printed
Hope this helps.


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Hi!

Please post the official explanation as well.

Cheers!

Hi Saga,

In terms of parallelism between the two modifiers, choices D and B (supposedly the OA) are identical. Both the choices use "and" to join "written" and "first printed" - the "first" part in "first printed" does not break the parallelism.

Also, "written" in D is used not as a verb but as a verb -ed modifier/adjective.

Cheers!

Hi Anurag,

Did you mean to write B and D?

Cheers!

Source: Nova GMAT

Jurassic Park, written by Michael Crichton, and which was first printed in 1988, is a novel about a theme park of the future in which dinosaurs roam free.

(A) Jurassic Park, written by Michael Crichton, and which was first printed in 1988,
(B) Jurassic Park, written by Michael Crichton and first printed in 1988,
(C) Jurassic Park, which was written by Michael Crichton, and which was first printed in 1988,
(D) Written by Michael Crichton and first printed in 1988, Jurassic Park
(E) Jurassic Park, which was written by Michael Crichton and first printed in 1988,

answer is B
written by ...and printed in is a modifier which modifies the Jurassic Park

We cannot say that D is wrong grammatically.
B and D convey same meaning but B is slightly better construction than D.
In D, the subject (Jurassic Park) comes into picture after 2 continuous modifiers. This kind of construction,although not wrong, is not preferred in GMAT.

If B were not in the options list, D could have been the next choice


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Choice B and D both seem correct.
Please help

Hi Valardohaeris,

While I agree with you that D is correct grammatically and that both B and D convey the same meaning, I don't completely agree that placing 2 back to back modifiers is a problem with the GMAT. Let me quote an official sentence here (OG 12; Q44), which is the correct answer for its corresponding question:

Seldom more than 40 feet wide and 12 feet
deep but running 363 miles across the rugged
wilderness of upstate New York, the Erie Canal
connected the Hudson River at Albany to the
Great Lakes at Buffalo, providing the port of New
York City with a direct water link to the heartland
of the North American continent.

As you can see, the long modifying phrase in the beginning has two contrasting components, and the subject comes after this phrase - the phrase itself may seem odd initially. But it is indeed the correct answer. Now, I know that you said that D would have been the answer, had B not been there, but in essence mostly when GMAT gives preference to one construction over the other, the logic is quite understandable.

However, in the question at hand, I can't seem to understand the preference one bit. I would be really interested to see what the OE is in the source. My experience with official questions tells me that this question in its current form is not representative of the kind of decisions one has to make while choosing one choice over the other in actual GMAT questions. Of course there is the other possibility that I have actually missed something in the question.

Cheers!

Hi neetis5



Indeed I was talking about B and D

I think, both D and B are grammatically correct. Suggestions from experts?

We could split all sorts of hairs between (B) and (D), but the bottom line is that either one would be acceptable on the GMAT. The modifier placement is correct in both, and there's no significant difference in meaning between the two. And don't worry: you'd never see an official question that forces you to make a choice quite like this one.
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Hi Neetis5,
Thanks for a new question ..
But if we see other choices in the OG question you have mentioned, the incorrect choices have some serious grammatical errors. The correct choice consisting of 2 modifiers is little bit long wrt modifiers however is the best choice among all the options.

In the Jurassic park question, we have B and D both grammatically correct choices. And B is preferable here and I see no reason other than the continuous modifiers ( which emphasise modifiers rather than the subject) for ruling out D.

I would rather say that this kind of question is least likely to appear in actual GMAT tests. :D


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Totally agree! As I mentioned in the previous post as well, when it comes to preference for a construction, the GMAT is rather clear. And so I too concluded the same:



Cheers!

This choice does not have any verb for the Subject.


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Hope it helps
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Why is option b better than option d? I dont find anything wrong with either options.