farhanc85
anilvb
farhanc85
The discovery of gold near Deadwood, South Dakota, drew adventurers and created economic competition, leading to violence that claimed as many as 100 lives
A) leading to violence that claimed as many as 100 lives
B) leading to violence that claimed as much as 100 lives
C) with the effect of violence that claimed as much as 100 lives
D) with the effect that violence claimed as many as 100 lives lost
E) and led to violence that claimed as many as 100 lives
I think E is the right answer as led and claimed in second form...many is used for number
Can any one explain me why A is the right answer please?
Thanks!!
Hi Anil,
I agree with you on this one. Posting the OE but I am not entirely convinced with it. If anyone can explain in a better way please help.
Always consider how the underlined portion functions in the complete sentence. Here, the underlined portion of the sentence modifies the action expressed in the sentence.. Is the modifier logically placed? In this case, yes— "leading to violence" follows the verbs "drew" and "created" and is correctly placed. Something else we notice is the phrase "as many as." We know that "many" and "much" are often confused in writing. "Many" applies to things that can be counted, while "much" applies to things that cannot be counted. In this sentence, "many" refers to lives lost, which can be counted, so the usage is correct. There does not seem to be an error in this sentence.
Scan and Group the Answer Choices:
Before we mark (A) as the correct answer, let’s verify our analysis by looking at the other options. Choices (B) and (C) use the phrase "as much as" rather than "as many as." Choices (C), (D), and (E) all begin with a word or words other than "leading."
Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains:
Since we have already determined that "as many as" correctly modifies "lives," we can rule out choices (B) and (C) immediately. Choice (D) is wordy, replacing the concise "leading to" with "with the effect that" and repeating the same idea by using both "claimed" and "lost." Choice (E) is incorrect because, when we integrate it into the entire sentence, we see that the placement of "and" is incorrect. The sentence would have to read "drew adventurers, created economic competition, and led to violence" for (E) to be correct. Thus, we confirm that Choice (A) is, indeed, the correct answer.
Hi farhanc and anil.
This questions is about the usage of
Verb-ing modifier. The discovery of gold near Deadwood, South Dakota, drew adventurers and created economic competition,
leading to violence that claimed as many as 100 livesA) leading to violence that claimed as many as 100 lives
Correct. "Verb-ing" + comma ==> modify preceding clause (tell you the result or provide more information)
B) leading to violence that claimed as much as 100 lives
Wrong. "100 lives" is countable ==> "as much as" is wrong.
C) with the effect of violence that claimed as much as 100 lives
Wrong. "with the effect" is not as good as "leading to" which is correct and more concise. In addition. "as much as" is incorrect.
D) with the effect that violence claimed as many as 100 lives lost
Wrong. "that" modifies "effect", not "violence". In addition. the structure "with the effect that violence claimed..." is very ungrammatical (the better one is "with the effect of violence that claimed ....")
E) and led to violence that claimed as many as 100 lives
Wrong. "
and" is parallel marker, but the main parallel structure is not "
drew...and created...and led" <== wrong. The second part only provides
additional information for the preceding part ==> Verb-ing modifier is correct.
Hope it helps.
For more information about "Verb-ing modifier", please see:
verb-ed-modifiers-vs-verb-ing-modifiers-125611.htmlHope it helps.