Passage of the Day - Set 1

Interesting question Let's begin by analyzing the two choices:

Choice-1: "President Donald Trump's combative approach to world affairs is scrambling political dynamics in countries across the globe, bolstering some candidates who promise to stand up to the new U.S. leader and potentially reshaping America's alliances."

Analysis: Ok, so, President Donald Trump's combative approach to world affairs is scrambling the political dynamics in countries across the globe. Fair enough. The next part of the sentence is a comma + -ing structure. This means it must modify the preceding phrase or it must present the effects. Here, it is presenting the effects, which are:
1. bolstering some candidates who promise to stand up to the new U.S. leader
2. potentially reshaping America's alliances
Thus, 'potentially reshaping' is basically denoting one of the effects of President Donald Trump's combative approach and showing how approach is scrambling the political dynamics in countries across the globe. It is noteworthy to notice that the use of 'and' here makes 'bolstering' and 'reshaping' parallel.

Choice-2: "President Donald Trump's combative approach to world affairs is scrambling political dynamics in countries across the globe, bolstering some candidates who promise to stand up to the new U.S. leader and who potentially reshape America's alliances."

Analysis: Hmmmm. Interesting. This choice feels different from the first one. the word 'who' in the phrase 'who potentially reshape' plays an important role here. Similar to first choice, the comma + -ing structure is presenting the effects, which is bolstering something. So, what is getting bolstered?
1. some candidates who promise to stand up to the new U.S. leader, and
2. the ones who potentially reshape America's alliances.
Thus, 'who potentially reshape' is referring to those candidates who can reshape America's alliances. It is noteworthy to notice that the use of 'and' here makes 'who promise to stand up to the new U.S. leader' and 'who potentially reshape' parallel.

Now, with this understanding let's tackle the questions:

1. What is the meaning per choice 1?
Ans: Clearly, from our analysis it means that President Donald Trump's combative approach to world affairs is scrambling the political dynamics in countries across the globe, and this in turn is bolstering some candidates (who promise to stand up to the new U.S. leader) and is (potentially) reshaping America's alliances.

2. What is the meaning per choice 2?
Ans: Again, President Donald Trump's combative approach to world affairs is scrambling the political dynamics in countries across the globe, and this in turn is bolstering individuals who promise to stand up to the new U.S. leader and who who potentially reshape America's alliances.

3. Are the two meanings the same?
Ans: A big NO!

4. Is sentence per choice 1 logically sound?
Ans: Yes. The President's approach may have these effects.

5. Is sentence per choice 2 logically sound?
Ans: No. Can a few individuals, bolstered by the President's approach change America's alliances? Wow, I'd like to be a person who can change a country's alliances!

6. Is sentence per choice 1 grammatically correct?
Ans: Yes.

7. Is sentence per choice 2 grammatically correct?
Ans: Yes.

Hope I'm correct

P.S. Another interesting observation: if we add a comma before 'and' in the original sentence, it would again change the meaning completely. The meaning will then become: President Donald Trump's combative approach to world affairs is having three effects which are:
1. it is scrambling political dynamics in countries across the globe
2. it is bolstering some candidates who promise to stand up to the new U.S. leader, and
3. it is potentially reshaping America's alliances.

Here comes Passage for Feb 6

Here comes Passage for Feb 6