generis wrote:
Project SC Butler: Day 28 Sentence Correction (SC2)
Although
films about the American West depict coyotes as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills, in reality these gregarious creatures live in stable groups that occupy the same territory for long periods.
(A) films about the American West depict coyotes as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills
(B) in films about the American West coyotes are depicted to be solitary animals that howl mournfully on the tops of distant hills
(C) coyotes are depicted as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills in films about the American West
(D) films about the American West depict coyotes as if they were solitary, mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills
(E) films about the American West depict coyotes to be solitary and mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills
OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONMy comments are in blue typeface. Or red.• Choice A is best
• In choice B,
depicted to be is unidiomatic.
The correct idiom is depicted as.In visual mediums, to depict means to portray, to illustrate, or to represent.
In written mediums, to depict means to describe or to portray.
All of those verbs take "as," not "to be."• The phrase
in films about the American West is misplaced in choice C
so that one cannot tell whether it indicates where the distant hills are,
where the animals howl, or where coyotes are depicted as solitary creatures;
the phrase should appear next to the word it is meant to modify.
That word is coyote.• Choice D is
wordy and awkward • Choice E contains the faulty
and unidiomatic construction
depict . . . to beCOMMENTSWelcome to GMAT Club,
gmatconqueror2018 ,
Mahmoudfawzy83 , and
Darshi04 The official explanation for option (C) is excellent.In general, look for splits; in particular, look for different placement of a prepositional phrase such as that in (A) and (C)
(
in films about the American West)
GMAC is moving the prepositional phrase around for a reason. That reason almost always
is connected to correct placement of a modifier and its modified word.
If ever someone has the urge to eliminate an answer immediately because it seems "awkward" or "wordy" or both,I urge that this someone
resist that urge. Find another error, or keep the option until there are only two answers that remain.
(D) creates meaning issues and a lot of confusion... coyotes as if they were
solitary,
mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills
We put commas between
"coordinate adjectives."Are "solitary" and "[mournfully] howling" coordinate adjectives?
"Mournfully" modifies "howling." Occasionally we are allowed to insert a comma in such a case IF
we can put an "and" between the descriptors without a meaning change.
... depict coyotes as if they were solitary and mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills
(Not great. Not horrible.)
... coyotes as if they were mournfully howling and solitary animals on the tops of distant hills
(Are they the ONLY animals on the tops of the hills?)
(D) is awkward. If we want to call something "awkward," however, we had better be able to
explain why. The string
solitary, mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills creates
a halting effect.
Nor is that phrase as clear or concise as that in (A)
solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills. One more item to notice about (D)We can use "as if they were" in the present tense.
Using "as if they were" emphasizes the counterfactual or hyperbolic aspect of a film's inaccurate depiction of coyotes.
The use is similar to the idiom:
Not only X but also Y
The "also" adds emphasis to the thrust of the logic.
The phrase "as if they were" is similar.
Takeaway: Do not
automatically choose "depict as" over "depict as if they were." Give the two options some thought.
(We do not have to think in this case. The other part of the sentence is stylistically and rhetorically inferior to other options.)
Answers are very good!
Mahmoudfawzy83 has very good analysis but fails to write the meaning of the sentence.
Darshi04 has one error in otherwise very clear analysis but lays out the meaning of the sentence.
It's a tie. Kudos to both.