Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an in

Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.

My Answer -> A

The Hoover Dam outshines the other constructions, hence only option present that satisfies this relationship is A. In other options, the comparison is done with either river, workers, or years.

I would vote for A.

The modifier with which the sentence begins should be placed as close to the noun being modified, as possible. All the other options have placed the noun - 'the Hoover Dam' far away.

Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.

(A) the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish. - CORRECT - all modifiers are in place and llism has been maintained by 'is' and 'took'

(B) the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, was tamed by the Hoover Dam that was built to be more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish it- REJECT - we are talking about hoover damn not CR . also llism hasn't been maintained .

(C) it took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers . REJECT - as per comma subject rule the SUBJECT -DAM is missing . 'outshining ....feat ' is modifying the dam

(D) for more than two years, 21,000 workers built the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers-REJECT - as per comma subject rule the SUBJECT -DAM is missing .

(E) more than two years were needed to complete the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that 21,000 workers built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers - REJECT - as per comma subject rule the SUBJECT -DAM is missing .

A humble request – Please give KUDOS if you like the explanation.

The answer is A.

Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.

Let us first dissect the sentence.
Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, - This part of the sentence is used to modify the noun hoover dam.
the Hoover Dam
built to tame the Colorado River, - modifies Hoover Dam
one of America’s most powerful rivers, - modifies Colorado River
is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.
HD is more than …and took… - SV pair


(A) the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish

(B) the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, was tamed by the Hoover Dam that was built to be more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish it
Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, - This part of the sentence is used to modify the noun Colorado river which is incorrect.
Also, this is a passive sentence. The rest of the sentence is a train Wreck.


(C) it took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers

This choice is a contender. Hoover dam is far away from the modifying phrase ‘Outshining…feat’

(D) for more than two years, 21,000 workers built the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers

Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, - This part of the sentence is used to modify the noun HD and not for more than two years..

(E) more than two years were needed to complete the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that 21,000 workers built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers
Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, - This part of the sentence is used to modify the noun HD and not for more than two years..
This is a worst choice.

A , IMO .

Meaning : The Hoover Dam is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.
The Hoover Dam outshines the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat .
Analysis :
Opening verb-ing modifier .. Outshining ..correctly describes to the Hoover Dam . Also verb-ed modifier built to tame the Colorado River correctly refers to Hoover Dam . The sentence is conveying a clear meaning .
A seems to have no error .

Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.

(A) the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish
--Correct

(B) the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, was tamed by the Hoover Dam that was built to be more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish it

-- 1. Opening modifier incorrectly modifies to the Colorado River ..
2. use of to be and it is creating confusion . so out .

(C) it took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers

-- 1. Same modifier issue as discussed in choice B.
2. Use of would is giving a unclear meaning in this context . -- out

(D) for more than two years, 21,000 workers built the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers

-- 1. Same modifier issue as discussed in choice B.
2. Use of would is giving a unclear meaning in this context . -- out

(E) more than two years were needed to complete the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that 21,000 workers built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers

-- 1. Same modifier issue as discussed in choice B. it cannot modify more than 2 years .

So A is correct .

Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.


(A) the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish - correct

1. "Outshining......" - Verb-ing modifier correctly modifies the noun "The Hoover Dam"
2. The sentence is constructed in simple past "built" and "took". No Verb sequencing error
3. Subject-Verb agreement is correct - the Hoover Dam .... built......and took
4. No pronoun and Idiom error.

(B) the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, was tamed by the Hoover Dam that was built to be more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish it - Incorrect
"Outshining......" - Verb-ing modifier is not logically modifying the "The Colorado River", because the Panama canal and Empire state building are created artificially while rivers are created naturally

(C) it took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers -Incorrect
The pronoun "it" is ambiguous and refers to the Panama canal and Empire state building.

(D) for more than two years, 21,000 workers built the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers - Incorrect
"Outshining......" should place close to the subject, Here verb-ing modifier and the subject are separated by Prepositional phrase


(E) more than two years were needed to complete the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that 21,000 workers built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers - Incorrect
"Outshining......" should place close to the subject, Here verb-ing modifier and the subject are separated by the clause

Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.

(A) the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish - Incorrect - the highlighted part seems to modify the river and not the Dam.

(B) the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, was tamed by the Hoover Dam that was built to be more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish it. - Incorrect. - The Colorado River is wrongly placed. Instead of Hoover Dam, its seems that The Colorado River is an incredible feat.

(C) it took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers - Correct - The Hoover Dam, is correctly placed and modified by "incredible feat".

(D) for more than two years, 21,000 workers built the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers
- Incorrect - sentence doesn't make sense. Modifiers are wrongly placed.

(E) more than two years were needed to complete the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that 21,000 workers built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers - Incorrect

Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.

The choice is correct- the modifier " Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat" correctly modifies Hoover Dam and " one of America’s most powerful rivers" correctly modifies Colorado River.

(A) the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish- Correct

(B) the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, was tamed by the Hoover Dam that was built to be more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish it- "Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat" must modify Hoover Dam. The Colorado river is not an incredible construction feat.

(C) it took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers- "Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat" must modify Hoover Dam. Ideally, Hoover Dam must be placed as close as possible to the modifier.

(D) for more than two years, 21,000 workers built the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers- "Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat" must modify Hoover Dam. Ideally, Hoover Dam must be placed as close as possible to the modifier.

(E) more than two years were needed to complete the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that 21,000 workers built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers- "Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat" must modify Hoover Dam. Ideally, Hoover Dam must be placed as close as possible to the modifier.

A


Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.

(A) the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish correct answer

(B) the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, was tamed by the Hoover Dam that was built to be more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish it modifies colorado river- illogical

(C) it took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers modifies place holder it- illogical

(D) for more than two years, 21,000 workers built the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers modifies workers- illogical

(E) more than two years were needed to complete the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that 21,000 workers built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers modifies more than two years- illogical


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Error log/Key Concepts
Combination Concept: Division into groups

Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat, the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish.

(A) the Hoover Dam built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, is more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish - ( The given prompt is correct, the noun modifier "Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat," is correctly referring to Hoover Dam) - Correct

(B) the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers, was tamed by the Hoover Dam that was built to be more than 726 feet tall and took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish it (The given prompt is incorrect, the noun modifier "Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat," incorrectly refers to the Colorado River) - incorrect

(C) it took 21,000 workers more than two years to finish the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers (The given prompt is incorrect, the noun modifier "Outshining the Panama Canal or even the Empire State Building as an incredible construction feat," incorrectly modifies it) - incorrect

(D) for more than two years, 21,000 workers built the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that would tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers (Misplaced modifier error ) - incorrect

(E) more than two years were needed to complete the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam that 21,000 workers built to tame the Colorado River, one of America’s most powerful rivers (Misplaced modifier error ) - incorrect

This is a classic modifier problem.

A simplr question should be asked after the first comma, "What outshined the panama canal or the empire state building?" The answer should be given immediately after the comma.

(A) is the only one that answers the question, and all others can immediately be eliminated.

In every other answer choice, the Hoover Dam (the structure that outshined the panama canal and empire state building), is placed too far away from the initial description and thus are all modifier errors.

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