vishumangal wrote:
Hi
generis,
Could you please explain me the role of a modifier considered.
As per the GMAT rules comma+ Verb-ed modifier modifies the preceding noun.
In option A Considered seems to modify that Faulkner which seems to be Incorrect. Ideally it should modify work.
Could you please explain this.
Hi
vishumangal , I am answering your tag.
I think you mean "comprised"?
The original sentence:
Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the
work of William Faulkner, comprised of a series of elegant short stories and a number of blockbuster, overpoweringly complicated novels, remains among the most revered in the American literary canon.
Comprised is a past participle (a verbED).
On the GMAT, almost always, comma + past participle modifies the immediately preceding noun or noun phrase.
In this case,
comprised modifies the
main noun, WORK, in the noun phrase
work of William Faulkner. **
Because the past participle
comprised modifies the noun
work, comprised is an adjective—
participial adjective, in jargon.
Comprised of .... gives additional information about Faulkner's
work.
Comprised tells us about one aspect of his "work": what kind of work it was. His writing was made up of two kinds of prose: short stories and novels.
-- participial adjectives can seem a little strange.
HERE is a challenging but very good article about participial adjectives.
Comprised means "consisting of" or "made up of" or "including" or "constituted by."
Comprised tells us the type or kind (or even content) of Faulkner's work.
This structure (comma + verbED) is not tested as frequently as comma + present participle (verbING).
One official question that tests the
comma + past participle construction can be found
here. (Alice Walker question)
SPOILER ALERT: The answer to an official question is revealed if you look under the spoiler
In that question, published is an adjective that modifies the book The Color Purple.
Comprised is an adjective that modifies the noun work.Hope that helps.
**Why can comprised "reach over" the phrase of William Faulkner to get to its target noun, work?
As is the case with almost all modifiers (I cannot think of an exception), if a noun is followed by a prepositional phrase, the prepositional phrase is essential, cannot be placed elsewhere, but is NOT the main noun.
So we allow modifiers such as comprised to "reach back" to the main noun in the noun phrase.
That main noun is work.
We can do the same thing with modifiers such as which.
Example: Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner, which consisted of short stories and novels, became revered.
For these two modifiers (comprised and which), an essential modifier trumps a nonessential modifier.
That is, if a nonessential modifier such as comprised or which is separated from its noun by an essential modifier, that fact is just fine because essential trumps nonessential but both "of William Faulkner" and "comprised" modify work.
(Even that can reach back. Correct: Despite some initial lack of enthusiasm, the work of William Faulkner that is exemplified by his novels became revered.)