The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers," spoken

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers," and it was spoken as a bouquet of roses that had just been picked from his garden was being arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Pronouns + Awkwardness/Redundancy

A: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular collective noun "bouquet" with the plural verb "were arranged"; remember, collective nouns are always singular. Further, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase "consisting of", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular collective noun "bouquet" with the plural verb "were arranged"; remember, collective nouns are always singular.

C: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the singular collective noun "bouquet" with the singular verb "was being arranged". Further, the sentence formed by Option C uses the clause "a bouquet of roses...was being arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill", conveying the intended meaning - that the bouquet of roses was in a vase on Pierre-Auguste Renoir's bedroom windowsill. Additionally, Option C avoids the pronoun error seen in Option C, as the only pronoun it uses is "his", clearly in reference to the possessive noun "Pierre-Auguste Renoir's". Besides, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D: The sentence formed by this answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "his garden in a vase on his bedroom windowsill"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that Pierre-Auguste Renoir's garden was in a vase on his bedroom windowsill; the intended meaning is that the bouquet of roses was in a vase on Pierre-Auguste Renoir's bedroom windowsill. Further, Option D uses the needlessly indirect phrase "during the arrangement of", leading to awkwardness.

E: The sentence formed by this answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "his garden in a vase on his bedroom windowsill"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that Pierre-Auguste Renoir's garden was in a vase on his bedroom windowsill; the intended meaning is that the bouquet of roses was in a vase on Pierre-Auguste Renoir's bedroom windowsill. Further, Option E suffers from a pronoun error, as the pronoun "they" lacks a logical referent. Additionally, Option E uses the needlessly wordy phrase "that had just been picked", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers", spoken as a bouquet consisting of roses just picked from his garden were arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.
corrected the typo

a. as a bouquet consisting of roses just picked from his garden were arranged
remove the modifier for easy reading, missing subject verb agreement.
b. as a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden, were arranged
c. as a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden was being arranged
being is acceptable, as other options have terrible error
d. during the arrangement of a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden
read back in original sentence - garden in a vase ??
e. while they arranged a bouquet of roses that had just been picked, from his garden
read back in original sentence - garden in a vase ??

There are other errors as well, but they are irrelevant for we have already identified our correct choice: C.

The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers," spoken as a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden was being arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.
I still don't get the answer C.
Dose " as" take a role as preposition?
And is it acceptable that a clause follows a preposition?
And to be short:
The artist last word was "flowers," spoken as a bouquet was being arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.
Does this sentence make sense?

Hi,
the role of 'as ' here is that of conjunction..
As a conjunction, AS can take various roles, one of which to describe a situation when one EVENT happens while the OTHER is in progress..
this is exactly 'as' is being used for...

Thank you.
But what is the role of "spoken" here then?

newconcept123

The past participle phrase modifier spoken as........bedroom windowsill modifies the noun "flowers". The word spoken is a past participle used to introduce this modifier. Compare this sentence with the following simpler example:

The house built beside the river is red.

built beside the river is a past participle modifier referring to the noun house. The past participle built performs the same function as that performed by the past participle spoken in the above example.

Hi
I fully understand your example, but in this question the structure is "spoken +as + a subordinate clause " which is different from yours "built + prep."
I think i never met such structure, can you give me more examples about this specific structure?
Thanks.

newconcept123

Ok I shall try to illustrate with some more examples of past participle modifier:

Frustrated with the senseless decisions from the management, John left his job.

The baby, tired from crying for hours, went to sleep.

The house, built beside the river, is red.

The house, built as another multi-storied building was being built a few yards away, could not be sold at a very attractive price.

(the modifier in the last example is very similar to the one given in the sentence - built + as + a clause).

Do you now see the similarity between the example I mentioned earlier with the one given in the sentence? My previous example did not include as and the clause; my point was to give a simpler example using a past participle modifier. Does this clear your doubt? Otherwise please feel free to comment.

You may also notice that there is a nested past participle modifier within the outer clause, which in turn is nested within another past participle modifier:

Innermost past participle modifier just picked from his garden modifies the noun roses.... nested within clause as a bouquet of roses....is bedroom windowsill.....which in turn is nested within the outer past participle modifier spoken....... is bedroom windowsill.

Hi egmat

Although this is not asked in the question, I have a doubt regarding the verb-ed modifier used in this sentence

As the verb-ed modifier is preceded by a comma , it is modifies the preceding noun. In this sentence it is modifying "flowers". How can flowers speak as the bouquet of flowers were being arranged.

Can you help me understand where I am going wrong?

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/verb-ed-modifi ... ver-verbs/

Hello pikolo2510,

I will be glad to help you out with this one.


Take a look at the following two sentences:


1. He spoke the word "flowers". (Active Voice sentence)

2. The word "flower" was spoken by him. (Passive Voice sentence)


In sentence 1., it is absolutely clear that the action of speaking is done by the subject he.

In sentence 2., although the subject of the sentence is The word "flower", we know that the word did not speak anything. A man did the action of speaking as evident by the verb phrase was spoken by him.


Now, the official sentence says: The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's last word was "flowers," spoken as a bouquet consisting of roses just picked from his garden were arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.

Pay attention to the word spoken, the verb-ed modifier. These modifiers are actually derived from passive voice verbs by dropping the helping verb. So spoken suggests that word "flowers" was spoken by the artist. He did the job of uttering that word. "flowers" did not speak anything.

Hence, use of spoken is absolutely correct in this official sentence.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

In A and B, were arranged (plural) does not agree with bouquet (singular).
Eliminate A and B.

D: the arrangement of a bouquet
A bouquet is an ARRANGEMENT of flowers.
Thus, the arrangement of a bouquet is redundant.
Eliminate D.

In E, they lacks a clear referent.
Eliminate E.

This is a meaning based question apart from the SV error in A and B.

Let us read D and E each together with the non-underlined parts.

D. during the arrangement of a bouquet of roses, just picked from his garden ---The word order and modification are wrong here ---' The phrase "in a vase on his bedroom windowsill' modifies his garden implying that the garden itself was grown in a vase in the windowsill. That is absurd.


e. while they arranged a bouquet of roses that had just been picked, from his garden--- the same problem as in D.

generis GMATNinja VeritasKarishma

Can you help me with the intended meaning and how C is correct with usage of being??

The use of "being" is not always incorrect. It is a valid English word! It is used to show a temporary state.
This has been discussed in detail here: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2014/1 ... s-part-ii/

In this question, the arranging of bouquet is a temporary state.

The roses were *just* picked from his garden so it makes sense that they were being arranged. "being arranged" shows continuous action in the past. So while they were being arranged, the artist said "flowers".

Hi

It really depends on the action that the verb and the subsequent clause is implying. In this question, the subsequent clause states, "were/was arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill". Here, clearly the bouquet is the noun which is "being arranged" and hence requires a singular verb.

In the option (D) of the OG question you have quoted, the subsequent clause states, "that ends up expressing overall dissatisfaction with the hotels' service". This should clearly refer to the plural "guests", and hence should require a plural verb.

Always try to go with intended meaning of the sentence rather than absolute rules like "A of B + verb should refer to A or B".

Is it appropriate for the "his" to refer to a possessive noun form? Isn't it discouraged?

This is in fact the most ideal usage: A possessive pronoun (his) referring to a possessive noun.