fozzzy wrote:
How is the comparison maintained in this sentence? Totally stumped by this question I picked D. Detailed analysis anyone? Thanks!
Minivans carry as many as seven passengers and, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.
A. Minivans carry as many as seven passengers and, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less,
B. Minivans, which carry as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles, they cost less,
C. Minivans carry as many as seven passengers, in comparison with most sport utility vehicles, and have a lower cost, they
D. Minivans, carrying as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less,
E. Minivans, which carry as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles the cost is lower, and they
I will give it a try....Option B,C and E are ruled out
I Chose D while solving it under timed condition but I think A is the Answer.
So now Lets look at Sentence Structure of A
Clearly Subject is : Minivans
Verb: Consider Sentence Structure
" Compared with most sport utility vehicles,Minivans
carry as many as seven passengers and
cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.In this structure verbs are Carry and List of others verbs having structure V2,V3,v4 and v5
Here Compared with most sport utilitiy vehicles is a Verb-ed modifier and it is the placement of this modifier which creates a confusion.
Now let's look at Sentence Structure D
"Minivans, carrying as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less,
Carry is converted to Carrying (Verb-ing modifier). Verbing modifier after comma does one of the 2 things
1. present result of the preceding clause or
2. Present additional information about the clause.
In this sentence structure, we only have a Subject which is Minivans and not a complete clause and hence the placement of this modifier does not look appropriate.
Moreover this construction also changes the meaning of the sentence.
Note that Noun modifier should be close to the noun entity being modified. In this Sentence Structure, we have Noun, Modifier 1(verb-ing), Modifier 2(Verb-ed).
Modifier 2 could have been better placed
Clearly A looks better
Comments welcome!!