Making use of contemporary diaries and letters, Florey s

Hi,
Making use of contemporary diaries and letters, Florey’s complexity is brilliantly revealed by Lax.



The sentence means that Lax reveals Florey’s complexity by making use of contemporary diaries and letters.



Now let’s spot the errors in the sentence. This sentence has just one subject-verb, meaning we have just one clause here. This sentence starts with a verb-ing modifier “making”. This modifier denotes an action. Hence, the doer of that action should be the subject of the following main clause. However, Florey’s complexity is the subject here. So “making” is modifying Florey’s complexity. This modification is incorrect. It is Lax who has made use of the diaries and letters. Hence, the subject of the IC should be Lax.

POE:

A. Florey’s complexity is brilliantly revealed by Lax: Incorrect for the reason stated above.

B. Florey is brilliantly shown in all his complexity by Lax: Incorrect. Same modification error as in choice A.

C. Lax brilliantly reveals Florey’s complexity: Correct.

D. Lax brilliantly revealed the complexity of Florey: Incorrect. This choice uses the incorrect verb tense.

E. Lax’s study has brilliantly revealed the complexity of Florey: Incorrect. Verb-ing “making” is incorrectly modifying “Lax’s study”.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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verb+ing modifier -Making

(A)(B) out -passive voice and the verb+ing modifier is modifying Florey
(C)(D) tough tie
(E) is wordy study can not make use (making is modifying Lax's study)
(C) wins because;
Making is correctly modifying Lax, the intended meaning.

Hi e-gmat

Why are we choosing present tense over past tense in option D. C and D seems grammatically right.
Is it because the original one is written in present tense.

Hi there,

Yes, we choose present tense over the past because the original senetnce is written in present tense that sets the context of the action. Choice C retains that context by using present tense.

Thanks.
Shraddha
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Hi there,

Yes, we choose present tense over the past because the original sentence is written in present tense that sets the context of the action. Choice C retains that context by using present tense.

Thanks.
Shraddha
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Thanks egmat for an explanation,
I have choosen 'D'
I haven't rectified verb tense.

Hi shradha,

I m still not clear when u say original sentence is written in present form.......is it about changing the meaning?

In C, I feel the possessive is wrong. - Florey’s complexity
(apostrophe is used for possessive with living things only, NO?)

Someone, please clarify. Thanks!

egmat

please can you explain on choosing between C and D. IMO C and D both will make sense it will not matter

what tense is used.. there should be some other explanation for choosing D.. I chose D because C uses the possessive form, which I read somewhere is not preferable..

Hi there,

As I have already mentioned in my previous post, Choice C is preferred over choice D because the original sentence is written in present tense. There does not seem to be any apparent reason why we should choose the answer that is written in past tense. The context of the sentence is set in the present tense and there is no reason why we should rewrite in past tense.

Another reason for choosing choice C over choice D is that the use of possessive noun in choice C. Generally, the use of possessive for living things are preferred, but the use of possessiive for non-living things are not preferred. For example, Amy's cat, John' box. For non-living things: the button of the shirt (not shirt's button), the icing of the cake (not cake's icing).

In the given sentence. Florey is certainly a living thing. So using the possessive form is correct in choice C.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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Bumping for review and further discussion*.

*New project from GMAT Club!!! Check HERE

In the Manhattan SC book, the following sentence is shown in order to emphasize what a dangling modifier is:

Wrong: Using the latest technology, the problem was identified
Correct: Using the latest technology, the engineer identified the problem.

Explaination: The modifier using the latest technology needs to refer to someone who actually used the technology.

Thus, the sentence that follows the modifier does not necessarily have to be in present tense as shown in that example.

Now back to the question.

I think what makes C the preferred choice here is that it uses the correct possessive noun.

Making use of contemporary diaries and letters, Florey’s complexity is brilliantly revealed by Lax.
==>Lax(main subject)making use of contemporary diaries and letters, Florey's complexity is brilliantly revealed.

Option C is the best.

Official Gmat question
Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate produced an almost explosive expansion of commerce.


(A) Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate

(B) the relative isolation of Japan from world trade at the time and the Tokugawa shogunate’s prolonged peace, it

(C) being relatively isolated from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate

(D) Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time during the Tokugawa shogunate, prolonged peace

(E) its relative isolation from world trade then, prolonged peace in Japan during the Tokugawa shogunate



Japan is a non- living thing,But gmat prefer using its possesive form.

I thought the original sentence is past perfect (is revealed)? Because of that, D is more appropriate than C. But I reckon this question probably is not well designed, not sure if it is GMAT OG.

How can we ignore D solely only on the basis of Past tense?

"Verb-ing" modifies Past tense action, and it's fine.

We say "Scahin played well, hitting sixes back-to-back", and this is fine.

Can OG really test this concept ?

Hello samagra21,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the use of the simple past tense is incorrect here because the verb refers to information that is permanent in nature; remember, information that is permanent in nature is best conveyed by the simple present tense.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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C. Lax brilliantly reveals Florey’s complexity
D. Lax brilliantly revealed the complexity of Florey


But C is not a fact such as "The Sun sets in the east". I am confused.

Hello samagra21,

We hope this finds you well.

We understand the confusion, as the use of tense is ambiguous in this sentence.

In this context, Lax's actions can be considered information that is permanent in nature because the action is one that Lax performed through his writings.

To illustrate, we can write that "There is a wolf in the story of Red Riding Hood." or "In Oliver Twist, Dickens depicts the poverty of his time."

However, this fact is not made very clear in this sentence; rest assured that you will not face such an issue on an official GMAT question.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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