Published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of vis

Question

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
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Published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years .

A) Published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.

B) Beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, Edward S. Curtis made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian and published them in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.

C) More than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian made by Edward S. Curtis, beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, was published by him in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.

D) Having made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian, beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, the multivolume work in which Edward S. Curtis published them was regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.

E) Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)

THE PROMPT  
 
• Meaning?
-- Meaning is a little hard to sort out from option A alone, so "cherry pick" the important bits: 
• a magnificent book, 
• some guy named Edward S. Curtis "had taken" ("took"?) 40,000 photographs of American Indians, and
• a time period of about 30 years.

Those are the parts.
When meaning is hard to parse from the prompt, if you have not yet learned to glean meaning  as you go  through options, an approach 
I am thinking that I may need to teach, then try to rearrange these parts logically.
Someone did something for 30 years and his work was published:
 For about 30 years, Edward S. Curtis took more than 40,000 pictures of American Indians that were published in "a multivolume work (books) regarded as   magnificent."

As a matter of logic, whether the work was magnificent doesn't matter. I included the phrase in order to avoid confusing people about method, but  I  would have thought or written in shorthand, "huge book published."

• Modifiers

Whenever you see long sentences, start looking for modifier errors. 
The most heavily tested modifiers on the GMAT are noun modifiers.

The Modifier "Touch Rule" states that a noun modifier should be as close as possible to its noun and ideally should "touch" (be placed right next to) the noun.
Modifiers whose nouns are too far away are called "misplaced modifiers" or "dangling modifiers": their noun is too far away.

THE OPTIONS  
 
•  what  was published in a highly regarded multivolume work? 
 Not  Edward S. Curtis. That noun modifier mistake is fatal.

•  Published,  a past participle (a verbED), anchors the introductory statement.
Past participles must modify the subject of the subsequent clause, which almost always comes right after the comma.

I wrote a post about what six kinds of introductory statements must modify, including statements that are anchored by a past participle.
You can find that post  here .

• In English, past participles frequently are identical to the simple past tense of the verb. 
-- File this one (try to remember this pattern): Past tense verbs almost never begin a sentence. When a verb precedes a subject and thus the sentence is inverted, simple past tense verbs sound ridiculous. 
I am trying to think of an example of such a sentence and I cannot do so. 
 
→ Hence a verbED word at the front of the sentence is almost certainly a past participle and an adjective that describes a noun
→ Once again, a past tense verb is unlikely to precede a subject. Inversion of subject and verb in that case is rare. 
→ takeaway: if you see ______ED as the first word, assume that it is a participle and an adjective. Then investigate whether the introductory statement modifies the correct noun. 
 
• Verb tense is odd: we do not need  had made.  
-- Past perfect is used to speak about the earlier of two actions in the past but
(1) we have no simple past tense verb or time marker to "mark off" the later-in-time past event, although
(2) the logic of the sentence makes it clear that Curtis "had made" the photographs before the photos were published 
 • this option also nonsensically suggests that the American Indian began before the turn of the century and continued for thirty years.
ELIMINATE A

• I see no issues
•  what  or  who  began before the turn of the century and continued for 30 years? Edward S. Curtis. During that time period, he immortalized American Indians by photographing them. The introductory modifier phrase works correctly.
• the rest of the sentence seems fine
KEEP B

• the plural subject  photographs  does not match the singular verb  was 
• the passive voice weakens this sentence (but the S/V error is fatal)
ELIMINATE C

•  what  or  who  made the photographs? 
• Option D nonsensically suggests that the the  multi-volume work  was the thing that created more than 40,000 photographs.
Modifier error.
• this next bit is connected to style: it is very rare to see two ____ING (such as the way that having and beginning phrases are back on the market.
back to back.
ELIMINATE D

• I don't like this passive voice. Compare to (B), which is better.
• this phrase,  starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years  seems "tacked on" to the sentence.
-- it's true that adverbs and adverb phrases are freer to "move" around a sentence, but Curtis took photographs for 30 years. 
 . . . starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years  should be closer to "made more than 40,000 photographs"
• just as in (A), the verb tense  had made  is not needed. If possible, GMAT prefers simple present.
• Not as good as option B
ELIMINATE E

The best answer is B

NOTES

Option A is confusing. 
I know that a couple of test prep companies teach you to understand the meaning of the sentence before you review answer choices.
I don't agree with that approach. 
If Option A sounds like babble to you, I advise you to keep it and  move on .
The other options will help you sort out the meaning.

My first rule in SC is  don't get stuck .
If I cannot eliminate an option by the time I am finished reading it, I keep it and move on.
(The second rule in SC is eliminate the four most incorrect answers. Do not look for the one best answer.)

COMMENTS

I am impressed. 
These answers range from very good to outstanding.

Very nicely done! Happy kudos.

ArunSharma12 · Answer

Ans: E

A)  Published  in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology,  Edward S. Curtis  had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.;  Published.. can not modify Edward S. Curtis.

B) Beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, Edward S. Curtis made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian and published them in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.

C) More than 40,000  photographs  of the American Indian made by Edward S. Curtis, beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years,  was  published by him in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology. photographs is plural whereas verb used is singular was

D)  Having made  more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian, beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years,  the multivolume work  in which Edward S. Curtis published them was regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.;  Modifier error - having made logically modifies Edward S. Curtis

E) Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.;  correct choice

shameekv1989 · Answer

Published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.

A)  Published in a multivolume work  regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology,  Edward S. Curtis  had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.  - Modifier Error

B) Beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, Edward S. Curtis made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian and published them in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.

C)  More than 40,000 photographs  of the American Indian made by Edward S. Curtis, beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years,  was published  by him in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.  - Subject Verb disagreement among many other issues

D)  Having made more than 40,000 photographs  of the American Indian, beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years,  the multivolume work  in which Edward S. Curtis published them was regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.  - Modifier Error

E) Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian  published  in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.  - "published" should be a verb instead of a modifier. As a modifier it seems to convey as if Edward made the photographs of already published American Indians which is not the intended meaning

Answer - B

KumarSri · Answer

IMO B,

A) Published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.
 Modifier Error - Incorrectly conveying that Edward S is published in a multivolume work. Hence eliminate.

B) Beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, Edward S. Curtis made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian and published them in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.
 Correct Answer

C) More than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian made by Edward S. Curtis, beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, was published by him in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.
 First issue is indirect speech which is not preferred and second issue is that SV agreement error "was" is used for "more than 40,0000". Hence eliminate

D) Having made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian, beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, the multivolume work in which Edward S. Curtis published them was regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.
 Modifier Error - Incorrectly conveying multivolume work made made more than 40,000 photographs. Hence eliminate.

E) Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.
 Tense Error- "had", there is no time sequence here and this choice also the distorts the intended meaning of the original sentence as visual anthropology is for some thirty years. Hence eliminate

sambitspm · Answer

Published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.

Fact1 -> Photographs are published and not Edward. Hence A is removed
Option C -> is refering to Edward twice.
Option D -> Edward made the photographs and not multivolume work.
Option E -> Visual Anthropology didn't start before the turn of the century. Edward's work did.

A) Published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology, Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian starting before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.

B) Beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, Edward S. Curtis made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian and published them in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.
 
C) More than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian  made by Edward S. Curtis , beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years, was  published by him  in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.

D)  Having made more than  40,000 photographs of the American Indian, beginning before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years,  the multivolume work  in which Edward S. Curtis published them was regarded as a magnificent piece of visual anthropology.

E) Edward S. Curtis had made more than 40,000 photographs of the American Indian published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of  visual anthropology, starting  before the turn of the century and continuing for some thirty years.

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here

VerbalBot · Answer

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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Published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of vis

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Published in a multivolume work regarded as a magnificent piece of vis

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