Hello Everyone!
This looks like a complicated question that mainly deals with modifiers, so let's dive in! First, let's take a close look at the original question, and highlight any major differences between the options in
orange:
Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington
Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.
(A) Dickinson
were written over a period
beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and
ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886
, outnumbering(B) Dickinson
were written over a period
that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and
ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886
, outnumber(C) Dickinson
, written over a period
beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that
ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886
and outnumbering(D) Dickinson
, which were written over a period
beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother,
ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886
, and outnumbering(E) Dickinson
, which were written over a period
beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and
ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886
, outnumberAfter a quick glance over the options, a few things jumped out that we can focus on:
1. were written / ,written / ,which were written
2. beginning / that begins
3. ,outnumbering / ,outnumber / and outnumbering / ,and outnumberingOne thing we can easily see in options C, D, and E is the use of a non-essential clause. Non-essential clauses are placed between commas, and they provide extra details that are "non-essential" to the overall meaning of the sentence. To make sure non-essential clauses are used properly, you can do this quick test:
1. Cross out/remove the non-essential clause
2. Read what's left over. If the leftover part can still work as a complete sentence, it's a good use of a non-essential phrase. If the leftover part isn't a complete sentence, the non-essential phrase doesn't work.Example:
My brother, who loves to spend his weekends at farmer's markets, prefers organic vegetables.
My brother,
who loves to spend his weekends at farmer's markets, prefers organic vegetables.
My brother prefers organic vegetables. --> GOOD
Halloween, which is my favorite holiday, more than Christmas or Easter.
Halloween,
which is my favorite holiday, more than Christmas or Easter.
Halloween more than Christmas or Easter. --> BAD
So let's take a closer look at the options to make sure their non-essential clauses work. To make this easier, I've added the entire sentence to each option:
(A) Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else. -->
No non-essential clause (save for later)(B) Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber her letters to anyone else. -->
No non-essential clause (save for later)(C) Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson,
written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering her letters to anyone else.This is
INCORRECT because if we cross out the non-essential phrase / modifier, what's left over cannot stand alone. Connecting the non-essential phrase to the modifier left us with no verb!
(D) Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson
, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering her letters to anyone else.
This is
INCORRECT because if we cross out the non-essential phrase, what's left over doesn't make sense on its own. This tells us the non-essential phrase isn't being used properly here. In fact, this option is also missing a verb thanks to a bad non-essential clause!
(E) Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson
, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886,outnumber her letters to anyone else.
This is
OKAY for now! If we remove the non-essential phrase, what's left over still works as a complete sentence!
We can rule out options C & D because they are missing a verb, thanks to incorrect use of non-essential phrases!Now that we only have 3 options left, let's take a closer look at them to find any other problems:
(A) Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886,
outnumbering her letters to anyone else.
This option is
INCORRECT because the modifier "outnumbering her letters to anyone else" is so far away from what it's modifying (Emily Dickinson's letters). The GMAT prefers that modifiers are directly before or after what they're modifying, so they are less confusing for readers.
(B) Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson
were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886,
outnumber her letters to anyone else.
This is
INCORRECT because we have two competing verbs here! The phrase "outnumber her letters to anyone else" doesn't work here because it's supposed to be a modifier, but it was rewritten to be a verb phrase?? This doesn't work, so let's rule it out too.
(E) Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson,
which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber her letters to anyone else.
This is
CORRECT! The modifier (highlighted here in green) is clearly directly after what it's modifying (Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickens). It's also punctuated properly to indicate that the modifier is "non-essential," and could be removed without changing the original meaning.
There you have it - option E is the correct choice! This was a tricky question, but if you know how to check modifiers and non-essential clauses for correct wording and punctuation, it's a lot easier to spot problems!
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