Most television is escapist, but reading modern novels continually

Question

Most television is escapist, but  reading modern novels continually reminds many people  that we live in an age of lost faith and growing anxiety.

A. reading modern novels continually reminds many people

B. reading modern novels frequently reminds many people

C. those who read modern novels continually realize

D. those who continually read modern novels realize

E. the reading of modern novels is what continually reminds many people

Akaushik1 · Answer

GMATNinja  kindly explain why D is correct and C is not

charanrana · Answer

OA :

Continually is a squinting modifier, unclear because it may refer to either reading or reminds. Choice D clarifies its reference. Choice E is vague and wordy.

Vasu49 · Answer

I would like to know if I eliminated A,B & E for the right reason. Because each of these choices contains the "people", the "we" in original sentence is badly linked to "people". If we replace "we" with "they" in the original sentence, then A,B & E would have made much more sense. Right?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Vasu49 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, no; the use of "we" is not incorrect here.

By using we, the author is trying to convey that all people - including the author - "live in an age of lost faith and growing anxiety", thus the use of "we" conveys a perfectly logical meaning and is grammatically acceptable.

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

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Akaushik1 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, another reason why D is superior to C is that on GMAT the "adverb + verb" construction is preferred over the "verb + adverb" construction.

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

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

The first and most important comment about "we" is that  GMAT SC sentences  NEVER  use the first or second person.  You will not ever encounter "I", "we", "you", or any of their derivative forms in an official SC sentence.

Please keep this fact in mind when you read the analysis below, because anything that specifically contains to the use of first person in this problem is irrelevant to the GMAT.

You can figure out that this isn't the issue with pure logic: If this were a valid complaint about "people", then it would also be a valid complaint about "those..." (which is also in the third person, unlike "we".)

Also, "we"  DOESN'T  stand for "people"!

In the context of this sentence, "people" (or "those who...") refers only to readers of modern novels. "We", on the other hand, means all of humanity, or at least everybody in the same culture as the writer and/or reader.

Ritesh1191 · Answer

GMATNINJA: Please help!
All other explanations are simply irrelevant.

Posted from my mobile device

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Ritesh1191 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here is a brief explanation for this question.

A. The placement of the adverb "continually" here is such that it is unclear whether it refers to "reading" or "reminds".

B. The placement of the adverb "frequently" here is such that it is unclear whether it refers to "reading" or "reminds".

C. The placement of the adverb "continually" here is such that it is unclear whether it refers to "read" or "realize".

D.  Correct.  Here, the placement of "continually" clearly indicates that it refers to "read". Further, Option D is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

E. The clause "the reading of modern novels is what continually reminds" is passive and needlessly indirect and wordy, leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

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

saisandeep1997 · Answer

Can we eliminate the first two choices by subject verb disagreement?

Reading novels...remind 
Reading novels...reminds(wrong)

Apart from the right reason you have?

Please do answer 🙂

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  saisandeep1997 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, we cannot, as the use of "reminds" in Options A and B is correct; in these answer choices, the verb refers to the action of "reading modern novels", which is singular.

We hope this finds you well. 
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Most television is escapist, but reading modern novels continually

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Most television is escapist, but reading modern novels continually

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