saurabh182 wrote:
hi Shraddha,
nice article!
I have 2 discussion points though from the examples stated above:
1) "Although she had been known as an effective legislator first in the Texas Senate and later in the United States House of Representatives, Barbara Jordan did not become a nationally recognized figure until 1974, when she participated in the
hearings on the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, which were televised nationwide"
Here, I feel that "hearings....Nixon" is not a noun phrase but "impeachment of...Nixon" is. When we include "hearings of" to it, it sounds like a verb phrase. Considering this, the verb used after the modifier "which" shall be singular "was" and not "were" as "which" modifies "impeachment...Nixon" and not "hearings...Nixon".
Please suggest.
2) "Out of America’s fascination with all things antique have grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures that are bringing back the chaise lounge, the overstuffed sofa, and the daw-footed bathtub."
Here, I agree that correct choice is "B" but in the explanation given by mandyrhtdm mentions that the relative pronoun "that" modifies "market" but I feel it modifies the noun phrase "fascination with all things antique".
Please let me know if my understanding is not correct.
Thanks in advance
Regards,
Saurabh
Hi Saurabh,
Here is the first official sentence with the CORRECT OFFICIAL answer:
Although she had been known as an effective legislator first in the Texas Senate and later in the United States House of Representatives, Barbara Jordan did not become a nationally recognized figure until 1974, when she participated in the hearings on the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, which
were televised nationwide.
If you carefully notice the Verb after "which", it is plural "were". Now if "which" referred to impeachment and not to the "hearings", then the Verb would be singular "was" and not plural "were". This is from the grammatical standpoint.
Now let's look at the logical point here. It were the hearings that were televised nationwide and not the impeachment. Also Barbara Jordan participated in the hearings of the impeachment and not in the impeachment. Hence, "which" refers to "hearing" and not "impeachment".
Also , just because a word ends with "ing" does not mean it will be a Verb. For example, the word "meeting" is not a Verb. It's a Noun. "Hearing" has been used in the same manner in this sentence. It is a Noun.
Now let's look the other official sentence with the CORRECT OFFICIAL answer:
Out of America's fascination with all things antique has grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures that is bringing back the chaise lounge, the overstuffed sofa, and the claw-footed bathtub.
In this sentence "that" DOES modify "market". It is the market that is selling all those different kind of furniture that Americans are fascinated about. This is from the meaning standpoint.
From grammatical standpoint, "that" CANNOT jump over any Verb to modify a Noun entity. The Relative Pronoun "that" needs to jump over the Verb "has grown" to modify "America's fascination...".This is NOT allowed.
Hope his helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha