The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or th

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT

• I detect no errors.
• Strip the sentence of nonessential modifiers to see whether the sentence still makes sense:
The French Revolution of 1830 . . . saw the overthrow of King Charles X . . . and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, who himself would be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne.
That sentence works.
Meaning? The French Revolution of 1830 included the overthrow of King Charles X and the ascent of Charles's cousin Louis-Philippe; after 18 precarious years on the thrown, Louis-Philippe was also deposed.

THE OPTIONS


• Option A seems fine.


• comma splice
-- the word his after the highlighted comma creates a new sentence.
-- two clauses (sentences) must be joined by more than a comma -- a conjunction is required
Eliminate B


• his cousin who should logically refer to Louis-Philippe, but Louis-Philippe does not appear—only Louis Philippe's ascent.
• the actual referent of his cousin who is ascent, a construction that makes no sense. An ascent is not a cousin.
Eliminate C


• reflexive pronouns such as himself are used to refer to the noun that immediately precedes the reflexive pronoun. That noun is deposition.
• a deposition is a thing. The reflexive pronoun himself must refer to a person.
• absurd meaning: this option implies that the deposition spent 18 years on the throne. (Um, no. Louis-Philippe spent 18 years on the throne.)
Eliminate D


• himself is a person and cannot refer to the non-human pronoun which.
• referent problem similar to that in (C): himself refers illogically to ascent rather than Louis-Philippe
Eliminate E

Reflexive pronouns in English are very effective. English does not repeat subject references very often.
Reflexive pronounse are most commonly used when the doer and recipient of the action are the same person or thing:
He gave himself an epinephrine shot.

In this case, the reflexive pronoun says, "and it happened to him, too!"
That is, the reflexive pronoun himself in option A (who himself would be deposed) is a very efficient way to say that what happened to Charles X also happened to Louis-Philippe.

If you want to know a little more about what else reflexive pronouns can do, see my post, here.

COMMENTS

Basim2016 , welcome to SC Butler.

Such variety in these good answers!
Variety is good.

Some of these answers are hilarious (in a good way -- they made me laugh).
I am glad to see people showing their personalities.
All of the answers display the right mindset: Dear GMAC, I am not fooled. I win. The End.
The depth and breadth of understanding evident on this thread is impressive.
Nice work. Kudos to all.

Hi,
Decision points:
1. Overthrow of..... ascent of..... C and E are gone.
2. Who not which or whose deposition,or his cousin is correct. B,D and E are gone.
Choice A is the winner.

Regards,
Basim.
3.

Posted from my mobile device

IMO correct answer is A

The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or the Second French Revolution, saw the overthrow of King Charles X,the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, who himself would be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne.


Present of parallelism marker "AND"

Items at both the end should be parallel

The French Revolution of 1830 saw the overthrow of King Charles X.......
The French Revolution of 1830 saw the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe........

2/3 Split

Choice C & E are incorrect for this; also use of possesiveness is not justified.

Between A, B & D



A) and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, who himself would be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne - Correct

B) and the ascent of Louis-Philippe, his cousin had himself been deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne - Tense shift, use of past perfect tense is not required - also two IC are separated with only a comma "," - Incorrect

C) and Louis-Philippe's ascent, his cousin who, after 18 precarious years on the throne, was deposed

D) and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, whose deposition himself would come after 18 precarious years on the throne - Use of Relative possesive pronoun "whose" is not correct to refer back a noun "Louis-Philippe" - Incorrect

E) and his cousin Louis-Philippe's ascent, which would himself be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne

B is incorrect because had himself been deposed is in past perfect tense, erroneously suggesting that this is the earlier action.

C is incorrect because Louis-Philip's ascebt cannot be modified as his cousin. Likewise in E, his cousin Louis-Philippe's ascent cannot be modified correctly as which would himself....

D is incorrect because himself cannot refer to whose deposition. The use of whose in the modifier shifts attention to the ascent rather than the person Philippe.

A is the answer. The use of who to set off the modifier implies focus is on Philippe, so himself rightly refers to Philippe.

My answer: A; My time: 1 minute 13 seconds

In reading the original sentence, I could not find anything particularly wrong. But we certainly want to check alternatives.

(B) "His cousin": Not clear about the person "his" refers to. Also: the use of past perfect tense in "had been disposed" is totally wrong.
(C) (1) "The ascent of A" is usually better than "A's ascent", (2) His cousin cannot be appositive of "ascent"
(D) "whose deposition himself"? Definitely "itself"
(E) Again, "which would himself" should be "which would itself" to begin with.

A) and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, who himself would be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne
--The French Revolution of 1830 saw the overthrow of King Charles X and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe
---who correctly refer to Louis Philippe (correct)

B) and the ascent of Louis-Philippe, his cousin had himself been deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne
----comma splice two independent clauses are connected by a comma
---use of past perfect is wrong (incorrect)

C) and Louis-Philippe's ascent, his cousin who, after 18 precarious years on the throne, was deposed
---how can an ascent be his cousin (incorrect)

D) and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, whose deposition himself would come after 18 precarious years on the throne
---whose deposition himself --is incorrect
---who himself would be deposed is correct---it correctly refers to Louis Philippe
---also deposed(verb)-- is preferred over-- deposition (noun) (incorrect)

E) and his cousin Louis-Philippe's ascent, which would himself be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne
---which is incorrectly modifying ascent ---express meaning that ascent would himself be deposed after 18 years on the throne (this does not make sense)
---incorrect

You see the word "and" and you should think of Parallelism. And the best way is to start with the non underlined portion (applicable in this case).

"saw the overthrow of King Charles X". A person cannot be parallel to this phrase. So options C and E are eliminated. We need a verb to be parallel to "the overthrow".
Note: You can argue C says "LP's ascent". Honestly that just makes things even worst. So C is still out.



IMO A.

The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or the Second French Revolution, saw the overthrow of King Charles X, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, who himself would be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne.


A) and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, who himself would be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne ( confused on passive relative clause rest all looks fine. So correct choice is A)

B) and the ascent of Louis-Philippe, his cousin had himself been deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne ( IC or improper modifier ( his cousin) at the end without proper connector . Wrong)

C) and Louis-Philippe's ascent, his cousin who, after 18 precarious years on the throne, was deposed ( IC or improper modifier(his cousin) at the end without proper connector . ascent is not modified further. so possessive is wrong. hence Wrong)


D) and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, whose deposition himself would come after 18 precarious years on the throne (deposition noun gives the wrong meaning of its earlier expectation. . Wrong)


E) and his cousin Louis-Philippe's ascent, which would himself be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne ( which is a wrong connector and the earlier noun is ascent. ascent cannot be deposed. . Wrong)

DECONSTRUCT
parallelism: "the revolution…saw THE OVERTHROW… and [saw] THE ASCENT"

B) "LP, his cousin had himself been deposed" who's cousin? LP's or Charles'? ambig; "had himself been deposed" imps he deposed himself, nonsense;
C) "ascent, his cousin" ascent doesn't have a cousin, wrong modifier, nonsense;
D) "the revolution [saw] the ascent of his cousin" who's cousin? ambig; "whose deposition himself" nonsense;
E) ""the revolution saw the overthrow… and his cousin ascent" imps the cousin is called "ascent", also who's cousin? out; "ascent, which would" modifies "ascent" not "LP" nonsense;

Answer (A)

Ahh! A classic SC problem! The question tests parallelism, an easy one to identify (because of the use of conjunction "and").

Hence, the correct answer should assure that the phrase:

saw
I. the overthrow of King Charles X...., and
II. the ascent.....

are parallel!!

A) and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, who himself would be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne - looks ok to me!

B) and the ascent of Louis-Philippe, his cousin had himself been deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne - what does "his cousin" refer to? Incorrect modifier!

C) and Louis-Philippe's ascent, his cousin who, after 18 precarious years on the throne, was deposed - not parallel. Incorrect, straightaway!

D) and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, whose deposition himself would come after 18 precarious years on the throne - What?? What does "whose deposition himself" mean? Chuck!

E) and his cousin Louis-Philippe's ascent, which would himself be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne - Ohh again, not parallel!!

I have posted the official explanation HERE.

Dear Generis,

Thanks for your comments.

Different day times, different Energy levels and so different replies.
I learnt from my recent low V25 score, that timing ruined me. For the next exam, I am developing a habit to be very focused just as we modify a question stem in DS .
My next target is to do SC in max 60 seconds.
Please keep on guiding us.
Your humble student,
Basim.

Posted from my mobile device

generis can u pls explain by taking an example the concept of what can "which" refer back after comma

The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or the Second French Revolution, saw the overthrow of King Charles X, the French Bourbon monarch, and his cousin Louis-Philippe's ascent, which would himself be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne

Like in the above example how could i be sure that Which is referring to Ascent and not another thing ?

Hi Alpha14 -

I was facing the same issue and hence, would recommend that you remember the following two rules for the use of "which"

Rule 1 - If you are using "which" at the start of the noun modifier, it must follow a comma.
Rule 2 - The ", which" must sit adjacent to the noun it is modifying.

Always remember these two rules and you would be in good shape!

Cheers
K

Basim2016 , of course energy levels will vary.
I am glad that you know what you need to do in SC.

I have no doubt that if you practice (especially if you practice splits, remember to compare answers, and move on if you cannot decide), you will improve your timing. I am sure that you can achieve your goal.

Hang in there. You are doing just fine.
_________________

Hi Alpha14 , in the above example you can be sure that which refers to ascent because

(1) the Modifier Touch Rule (modifiers must be next to the nouns they modify) is always the default (where you start) and ascent precedes which (thinkvision did a good job of describing the rule in the post above)

(2) which cannot jump back over a verb, and all of the other nouns before the verb saw are people except for overthrow (and ascent).
-- Overthrow is silly as an antecedent. Below are the possible candidates for which. The nouns are NOT stricken through.
The candidates are:
overthrow of King Charles X, the French Bourbon monarch and his cousin Louis-Philippe's ascent, which
-- which cannot refer to a person. A person takes who. Eliminate all the human beings as possibilities.
-- which cannot logically refer to overthrow. The overthrow would himself be deposed? No.

(3) ascent is in the default position and is a thing. which refers to ascent (albeit illogically and nonsensically).
(4) the illogical would himself be deposed that follows which = ascent is fatal.

Stop looking. You're done. The sentence is flawed.

• Longer analysis

The Modifier Touch Rule

Following the Modifier Touch Rule is the default, so unless you see an exception to the rule, start by looking at the noun that comes right before which
.
The Touch Rule says that a noun modifier should be next to (should "touch") the noun it modifies.

Okay, well, in this case, we do two things.
1) We see whether we have the conditions to create an exception to the touch rule (we don't - see below) and

2) even if an exception to the touch rule were possible, we realize that all the antecedent nouns are human except for ascent and overthrow, but which cannot logically refer to overthrow so there's no need to try to get around the rule.

We can conclude
(A) that which refers to ascent because which never refers to people, and that which would himself be deposed is absurd. An ascent is not a himself who can be deposed.
or
(B) that which should be who, but that word won't work because Louis-Philippe's is an adjective that describes ascent. Louis-Philippe, the person, is not present, so who wouldn't work.

From #2, we infer that which indeed refers to ascent, and that an ascent is not a "himself" who will be deposed.
From that inference, we eliminate this answer and move on.

We found the antecedent of which
-- by following the touch rule and
-- by looking at other possible antecedents. Except for the words ascent and overthrow, every available noun is a person.
Use the default. Which refers to the noun right before it, ascent.

Conclusion? Which refers to ascent and the ascent most certainly did not "himself" get deposed.

• One of the most common exceptions to the Modifier Touch Rule

One of the most common exceptions to the touch rule arises when a string of prepositional phrases come between the "main noun" and the modifier "which."

Let's return to #1. None of these sentences qualifies as an exception to the modifier touch rule, but many correct official answers violate the touch rule.

• when can intervening words come between a noun and the modifier which?

Let's use a different sentence.
MGMAT uses this example: The box of nails, which is nearly full, belongs to Jean. (6th edition, p 59)

Things to note
-- Which is a nonessential modifier.
-- The most common exception to the touch rule derives from the fact that the modifiers referring to the same noun cannot both be placed right after the noun.
Essential modifiers "trump" nonessential modifiers.

The essential modifiers (the prepositional phrases) are placed right after the noun.
Because it is less important than the essential modifiers, the which-clause is placed after them.
Finally, which is allowed to "reach back" over the prepositional phrases to get to its noun.

In the sentence in blue typeface, the noun "box" is modified by (1) of nails and (2) which is nearly full.

The modifiers can't both be placed right next to the noun.
-- Of nails is essential. (Which box? The box of nails.)
-- [Which is nearly full] is not essential.

The essential modifier trumps the nonessential modifier; however, which is allowed to reach back to its noun, box.
Which thus reaches back to the main or head noun of the noun phrase.

This setup is probably the most common exception to the touch rule on the GMAT.

If essential modifiers follow a noun that also is modified by a which-clause, the which-clause will not be adjacent to the main noun that it modifies, but that fact is okay.

• Bottom line: in this case, which still modifies the nearest preceding noun

The default rule holds: which should modify the nearest possible logical noun.

In this sentence, which is constrained by
(1) the touch rule (closest noun)
(2) logic (which refers to a thing and ascent is the only thing-like noun before which), and
(3) the absence of conditions for an exception to the touch rule.

which refers grammatically but illogically to ascent.

• Exceptions to the modifier touch rule (not present here, but common)

I discuss the which-clause exception on SC Tips N Tricks.
Start with this post, here, in which dave13 asks about [comma + which].

In this post, here I answer with analysis similar to that here, but in that post I include a couple of official examples.

(The whole SC Tips thread starts HERE. It's a fantastic resource.)

Hope that helps. If not, ask about what is still confusing, tag me, and I will be happy to try to help.


*** Test yourself

In 1963 in The Progressive, James Baldwin published My Dungeon Shook — Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation, an essay of searing beauty about race and racism in America, which was subsequently re-published along with another essay in the non-fiction book The Fire Next Time.

What does which refer to?

Show Spoiler

Not America. America was not subsequently published.
In this case, which refers to essay because the noun essay is followed by essential prepositional phrases.

_________________

Hi generis,

I have a doubt regarding the usage of reflexive pronouns.

Is he himself, I myself correct construction.

Eg: I myself poured a cup of coffee.
What are rules governing reflexive pronouns

Posted from my mobile device

who himself would be deposed after 18 precarious years on the throne.

can anybody explain how(use of would is right in this sentence).

"would be deposed"

Isn't the sentence in future tense?

I didn't understood the meaning. please explain.