dcummins wrote:
Been a bit since i've posted here, but i'll give it a go!
Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural harbor for Erie, Pennsylvania, has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and so diverse are its forests and wetlands so that some botanists say it is one of the rarest and finest ecological preserves in the world.
The sentence is logically setup to denote two features of Presque Isle Park - that it has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and that it is has diverse forests and wetlands that x....
The way the original sentence is setup is illogical and incorrect in that it incorrectly joins a non-parallel element.
Apply the carry-over finite verb to see
A. (has) so diverse are its forests and wetlands so
SV- Agreement issue here. The two features described relate to the singular Presque Park.
A is incorrect
B. (has) so diverse as its forests and wetlands are
B is incorrect.
This is just illogical. 'Has so diverse....are' initially the sentence seems to want to compare or discuss the extent of the diversity of the wetlands and forests.
Also, this could be illogically interpreted to say that the diversity of the forests causes the botanists to say it is....
We would typically say 'Such diverse...that'
Or
X is SO diverse THAT
C. (has) with so diverse forests and wetlands
Combining the finite-verb carryover seems to be the only option to make this grammatically parallel.
The phrase isn't logically or grammatically parallel with the preceding parallel element - 'has five and a half miles of sandy beaches' - and cannot be its object.
D. (has) such a diversity of forests and wetlands
Lets integrate this into the sentence:
Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural harbor for Erie, Pennsylvania, has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and such a diversity of forests and wetlandsthat some botanists say it is one of the rarest and finest ecological preserves in the world.
Presque Isle State Park (singular subject) has:
(1)five and a half miles of sandy beaches
AND
(2) such a diversity of forests and wetlands
THAT.....some botanists say...
D logically articulates that Presque has two features. Lets see the carryover:
Presque Isle State Park (singular subject) has five and a half miles of sandy beaches AND (has) such a diversity of forests and wetlands THAT.....some botanists say
The structure of the second parallel element flows on to logically and grammatically substantiate WHY some botanists say that Presque is one of rarest and finest ecological preserves.
E - Incorrect for the same reason that C is incorrect in that we cannot logically/ grammatically join '(has) of such diversity'.
Also, when we use the word 'such' in this context, we typically denote the extent of something.
For example:
Dan has such a thick beard that razor blades snap on first stroke.
BB is such a great moderator that forum participants highly respect him.
It is confusing in this sentence in that such can be taken to give examples, but if we carefully read the non-underlined component ('that some botanists say...') we clearly see that the only logical meaning that could be conveyed here is that of extent. i.e. such <x> that <y happens>
Hi, thank you for the detailed explanation.
Can you pls explain:
1. why has is parallel after and (making A wrong). Isn't it possible to say "it has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and i
ts forest and wetlands are so diverse"
2. in the option D, it gives
"Such ... that..." structure, isn't that wrong.