Official Explaination By
egmatMeaning Analysis
Shakespeare
wrote several ‘problem plays’,
psychological dramas treading the line between tragedy and comedy,
and embodied the sociopolitical norms of his time.
The sentence says that Shakespeare wrote many plays known as “problem plays”. These “problem plays” are psychological dramas that are something between tragedy and comedy.
Then the sentence says that he embodied the sociopolitical norms of his time. This meaning is clearly illogical. It is his plays that embody the norms, not Shakespeare himself.
Error AnalysisThis sentence has the meaning error pointed out in the meaning analysis.
Answer Choices
Quote:
wrote several ‘problem plays’, psychological dramas treading the line between tragedy and comedy, and embodied
Incorrect: This choice has the error pointed out in the meaning/error analysis.
Quote:
wrote several ‘problem plays’, psychological dramas that tread the line between tragedy and comedy, embodying
Correct:
This is indeed the correct choice as the verb-ing modifier ”embodying” correctly modifies “problem plays”.
Note that in this choice, the verb-ing modifier is not associated with the comma that precedes it. This comma is the second of two commas that bracket the ‘FYI’ modifier “psychological… comedy.” The function of these two commas is to separate this modifier from the rest of the sentence. If we remove this modifier, we get:
Shakespeare wrote several ‘problem plays’ embodying the sociopolitical norms of his time.
So, the verb-ing modifier “embodying” correctly refers to the preceding noun, “‘problem plays’”.
Quote:
wrote several ‘problem plays’, psychological dramas treading the line between tragedy and comedy, they embody
Incorrect:
The two independent clauses “Shakespeare wrote…” and “they embody” are incorrectly connected using just a comma.
Quote:
in his several ‘problem plays’, psychological dramas that tread the line between tragedy and comedy, embodied
Incorrect:
This choice repeats the illogical meaning of the original sentence by saying that Shakespeare embodied the sociopolitical norms of his time.
Quote:
in his several ‘problem plays’, psychological dramas that tread the line between tragedy and comedy, embodying
Incorrect:
There is no verb for the subject “Shakespeare”.