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Difficulty:
Question Stats:
73% (01:18) correct 27% (01:20) wrong based on 710 sessionsKAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Step 1: Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors
The entire sentence is underlined, but don’t let that intimidate you. Use the Kaplan Method as you
normally would and look for common errors. In this case, the error is a misplaced modifier at the
end of the sentence. (Keep in mind that misplaced modifiers can occur anywhere in a sentence, not
just at the beginning.) Here, the modifier is the final phrase set off by a comma, “often his closest
friends and relatives.” This phrase should refer to “subjects,” but it’s placed right next to “portraits.”
Always ask yourself when you see a modifier, “What should this word or phrase refer to? Is it as
close to that word or phrase as possible?”
Step 2: Scan and Group the Answer Choices
As you scan, be on the lookout for where the modifier is placed. In these answer choices, the
modifying phrase appears in several different positions. Any choice placing it far from the word
it modifies—“subjects”—should be eliminated. In (B), the modifying clause, “who were often his
closest friends and relatives,” seems to refer to portraits rather than subjects. Choice (B) retains
the same problem as (A), so you can eliminate it. Choice (D) places the modifier immediately after
“subjects,” so this is likely to be your answer.
Step 3: Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains
In choice (C), “subjects of Egon Schiele’s portraits” seems to be one syntactical unit, so the phrase
“often his closest friends and relatives” appears correctly to modify subjects, even though it is not
directly adjacent to subjects. However, (C) is wrong because it is unclear whether “tend to be vividly
but disturbingly portrayed” refers to how these subjects are displayed in the portraits, or elsewhere;
perhaps biographers of Schiele depict them in this manner.
Finally, choice (E) is incorrect because the adverbial phrase “Vividly but disturbingly” appears to
refer to the verb “tended” rather than to the adjective “portrayed,” making it seem as if the subjects’
tendency to be Egon’s friends is what’s vivid and disturbing. Only choice (D) properly addresses this
misplaced modifier problem; it is therefore your correct answer. Moreover, choice (D), unlike (C),
makes it clear that the vivid but disturbing portrayal is in the portraits themselves.
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