Of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three most pro

Of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.

Issue: Construction

A. Of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.

B. Three most prominent record companies of all the ones that were involved in early jazz were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.
- Missing "the"; superlative degree requires the form to be "the three most ..."
(corrected version can be: "The three most prominent record companies of the ones involved in early jazz were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh")

C. Columbia, Victor, and OKeh were, of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three of them that were most prominent.
- "the three of them" is complex and awkward

D. Columbia, Victor, and OKeh were three most prominent of all the record companies involved in early jazz.
- Missing "the"; superlative degree requires the form to be "the most..."

E. Out of all the record companies that were involved in early jazz, three of them that were the most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.
- "three of them" is complex and redundant as it uses the pronoun "of them" even though the clause before comma already states that "Out of all ..."

Answer: A

raoshahb wrote


No, it is not a modifier; it is an introductory phrase that is a complement. If a modifier, one can dispense with it altogether without any loss of meaning. However, here in this context, the introductory complement supplies essential features such as that these companies were in involved in early jazz and that there were many other companies aside these three. Without this information, the sentence wouldn't make the meaning what it intends to convey.
More importantly, the question tests whether one can remember to use the definite article 'the' for the superlative degree and whether one can convey the meaning concisely.
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Grammatical Construction + Awkwardness/Redundancy

A: Correct. This answer choice uses the correct superlative adjective construction "preposition ("the" in this case) + superlative ("most prominent" in this case)". Further, Option A is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

B: This answer choice fails to maintain the correct superlative adjective construction "preposition + superlative", as it omits the preposition "the"; remember, "preposition + superlative" is the correct superlative adjective construction. Further, Option B uses the needlessly wordy phrase "all the ones that were involved", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

C: This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase "the three of them that were", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D: This answer choice fails to maintain the correct superlative adjective construction "preposition + superlative", as it omits the preposition "the"; remember, "preposition + superlative" is the correct superlative adjective construction.

E: This answer choice fails to maintain the correct superlative adjective construction "preposition + superlative", as it omits the preposition "the"; remember, "preposition + superlative" is the correct superlative adjective construction. Further, Option E uses the needlessly wordy phrases "Out of all the record companies that were involved" and "that were the most prominent", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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A. Of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh. - Correct

B. Three most prominent record companies of all the ones that were involved in early jazz were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh. - Incorrect. Passive and the sentence is not concise

C. Columbia, Victor, and OKeh were, of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three of them that were most prominent. - Incorrect. Awkward construction

D. Columbia, Victor, and OKeh were three most prominent of all the record companies involved in early jazz. - Incorrect - Superlative degree requires 'the most'.

E. Out of all the record companies that were involved in early jazz, three of them that were the most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh. - Incorrect - Passive construction

Answer: A

A.
- Correct.
- the prepositional phrase "of..." modifies the subject of the following clause "thee most prominent". it answer the question "most prominent out of what?
- Also, the use of "the" usually refers so something that is assumed by the writer to be known to the reader.
B.
- the lack of "the" is flawed.
- in the original sentence it conveyed a specific meaning.
- Example: "The girl with the black hat is my friend" or "girl with the black hat is my friend".
C.
X,Y and Z were the tree of them - this construction is redundant.
D.
- the lack of "the" is flawed.
- This constructed is very weird
- It will be phrased better as follows:X,Y and Z were the most prominent record companies involved in early jazz.
E.
- the use of "out of all companies, thee of them" is redundant (specifically "of them").

The OA is correct and explanations provided in the thread appear sufficient. If there are any specific questions, please post them here and then click again on the "Request Expert Reply" button – closing this request.

Of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.

Is the portion before the comma is a modifier ?? If yes, then what is it modifying? ==>"The three most prominent "

I am confused. Please someone explain.

daagh

Hi,

If we rectify article "the" mistake in option D, can we mark D as a correct choice (Gmat prefers active voice over passive) ?

ankitmining The GMAT does not prefer active voice. The passive form feels a bit different from D, but it's not wrong at all. It actually seems better to me, but I wouldn't say the active form in D is wrong at all. D would work alright if we added "the," although I'd cut "of all the" in that construction.
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Of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.

Issue: Construction

A. Of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.

B. Three most prominent record companies of all the ones that were involved in early jazz were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.
- Missing "the"; superlative degree requires the form to be "the three most ..."
(corrected version can be: "The three most prominent record companies of the ones involved in early jazz were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh")

C. Columbia, Victor, and OKeh were, of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three of them that were most prominent.
- "the three of them" is complex and awkward

D. Columbia, Victor, and OKeh were three most prominent of all the record companies involved in early jazz.
- Missing "the"; superlative degree requires the form to be "the most..."

E. Out of all the record companies that were involved in early jazz, three of them that were the most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.
- "three of them" is complex and redundant as it uses the pronoun "of them" even though the clause before comma already states that "Out of all ..."

Answer: A

Where three most prominent companies is not preceded by a definite article, it is unidiomatic. To indicate that these three were more prominent than any others, it should say the three most prominent companies. If the intention were, instead, to indicate that these companies were merely among a number of highly prominent ones, it should say three of the most prominent companies.

I eliminated A believing it has no subject, can someone please pinpoint what the subject is in (A)?

Hi Harsh, the subject is the three most prominent (companies).
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Request Expert Reply:
Hi honorable experts,
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, AjiteshArun, VeritasPrepHailey, BrightOutlookJenn,
What role the highlighted part plays? Is it modifier or anything else? If the part is modifier, then I did not find any difference between choice A and D! It seems that choice D is the backward construction of choice A. Am I missing anything?

Thanks...
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Ellipsis is the omission of words whose presence is implied.
Generally, only words that appear EARLIER IN A SENTENCE may be omitted.

A: Of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three most prominent [?] were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.
Here, it's crystal clear that the bracketed portion refers to the phrase in blue, which appears EARLIER IN THE SENTENCE:
Of all the record companies involved in early jazz, the three most prominent [record companies] were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.
This usage of ellipsis is correct, since the implied phrase in brackets appears earlier in the sentence.

D: Columbia, Victor, and OKeh were three most prominent [?] of all the record companies.
Here, the phrase in red seems to be implied in the brackets, but this phrase does NOT appear earlier in the sentence.
As a result, the ellipsis in D is inferior to that in A.
Eliminate D.

An idiomatic reason to eliminate D:

SUPERLATIVES are modifiers that express the greatest degree of a quality:
best, strongest, most popular, etc.
Generally, a phrase that refers to superlative members of a group must be preceded by the.
Mary is THE BEST PLAYER on the team.
John is one of THE STRONGEST BOYS in school.
THE TWO MOST POPULAR FLAVORS are vanilla and chocolate.

D: Columbia, Victor, and OKeh were three most prominent.
Here, the superlative in red is NOT preceded by the.
Eliminate D.
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Hi GMATGuruNY - How would you eliminate E ?

E: of all the record companies that were involved in early jazz, three of them
Here, the phrase in red is redundant with the phrase in blue.

E: Out of all the record companies
Here, the phrase is red distorts the intended meaning.
Generally, out of is used to express movement from one place to another, as in the following sentence:
Mary walked out of the room.
In E, the intent is not to express movement, so the usage of out of is unwarranted.

E: three...that were the most prominent
This wording could imply that MORE THAN THREE companies were the most prominent, as follows:
If a total of TEN companies were the most prominent, then Columbia, Victor, and OKeh would constitute THREE that were the most prominent.
The intended meaning of the original sentence is that no companies besides Columbia, Victor, and OKeh were considered the most prominent, as expressed by the OA:
The three most prominent were Columbia, Victor, and OKeh.
Here, the usage of THE conveys that no other companies were considered the most prominent.
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Hi AndrewN sir

An easy query:

Is the so important ? I usually ignore it for my selection/rejection in SCs.
For this particulate question, I shortlisted A and D . I choose D as it is more easy and direct than A. ( I ignored the )

I want to understand how the made big difference here? Please share other examples , if any, such as the that can make differences between right and wrong in GMAT world?

Thanks AndrewN sir

Hello, mSKR. Regarding the importance of the in this particular sentence (and in sentences that feature superlatives in general), I would refer you to the post above by GMATGuruNY, particularly the commentary at the end. As for other types of sentences in which the article may make the difference, I would advise you not to worry about every possibility. Just see what you come across during the course of your studies. (I can think of two cases off the top of my head in which the article—a/an versus the—can be of paramount importance: in appositive phrases (to determine what message needs to be conveyed, as well as whether commas are necessary) and in dictating the subject-verb agreement of a "counting" word such as number (a number of will take a plural agreement, while the number of will take a singular agreement).

- Andrew
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