The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were : SC Archive

dwivedys

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 09:49

Ashwin_Mohan wrote:

The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were a president, a senator, and a governor that had been traveling to Washington, D.C. together on the Liberty Express in 1907.

A)The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were a president, a senator, and a governor that had been traveling

B)The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were a president, a senator, and a governor, who traveled

C)A president, a senator, and a governor were the first political passengers on modern railroad cars who traveled

D)A president, a senator, and a governor who were the first political passengers on modern railroad cars to travel

E)A president, a senator, and a governor were the first political passengers on modern railroad cars traveling

Please do explain your answer.....

I believe "who traveled" should be as close to the dignitaries who actually traveled as possible. I will choose B..

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 10:09

dwivedys wrote:

B)The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were a president, a senator, and a governor, who traveled

C)A president, a senator, and a governor were the first political passengers on modern railroad cars who traveled

I believe "who traveled" should be as close to the dignitaries who actually traveled as possible. I will choose B..

But doesnt that mean who is refering to three antecedents?

On first glance I liked C, but then I realized the modifying phrase started by 'who' is not next to the word 'passengers'. So I am unhappy with C too.

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 10:14

gluon wrote:

dwivedys wrote:

B)The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were a president, a senator, and a governor, who traveled

C)A president, a senator, and a governor were the first political passengers on modern railroad cars who traveled

I believe "who traveled" should be as close to the dignitaries who actually traveled as possible. I will choose B..

But doesnt that mean who is refering to three antecedents?

On first glance I liked C, but then I realized the modifying phrase started by 'who' is not next to the word 'passengers'. So I am unhappy with C too.

You seem to suggest that a sentence such as the one below would be wrong -

The passengers who were killed in the aircrash could not be identified.

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 10:20

dwivedys wrote:

gluon wrote:

But doesnt that mean who is refering to three antecedents?

On first glance I liked C, but then I realized the modifying phrase started by 'who' is not next to the word 'passengers'. So I am unhappy with C too.

You seem to suggest that a sentence such as the one below would be wrong -

The passengers who were killed in the aircrash could not be identified.

Actually I am quite happy with this sentence. 'who' is refering to only one noun 'passengers' and the modifying phrase 'who were killed' is right next to 'passengers'.

My problem with B: who is refering to three nouns namely president, senator and governor.

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 10:24

I am split between B and C, but will choose B.

'who' should be near to what it is referring to. plus word 'together' later in the sentence can indicate that who is referring to all 3 passengers.

dwivedys

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 10:25

gluon wrote:

dwivedys wrote:

gluon wrote:

But doesnt that mean who is refering to three antecedents?

On first glance I liked C, but then I realized the modifying phrase started by 'who' is not next to the word 'passengers'. So I am unhappy with C too.

You seem to suggest that a sentence such as the one below would be wrong -

The passengers who were killed in the aircrash could not be identified.

Actually I am quite happy with this sentence. 'who' is refering to only one noun 'passengers' and the modifying phrase 'who were killed' is right next to 'passengers'.

My problem with B: who is refering to three nouns namely president, senator and governor.

That's even more surprising - the three nouns form a compound subject which is plural and so is Passengers

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 10:41

E for me.

I believe the subjects should start with the sentence..
'who' is redundant.

What's the OA?

dwivedys

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 10:44

ArvGMAT wrote:

E for me.

I believe the subjects should start with the sentence..
'who' is redundant.

What's the OA?

E suggests that the rail road cars were TRAVELING TOGETHER (look at the non underlined part). The together can only be used for the individuals who were traveling not for the vehicle in which they were traveling as E suggests.

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 11:36

dwivedys wrote:

That's even more surprising - the three nouns form a compound subject which is plural and so is Passengers

Yes, the three nouns do form a compound subject but they are still three different nouns. My confusion comes from the understanding that a pronoun should refer to one and only one antecedent.

Gaah... this language frustrates me.

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 11:46

gluon wrote:

dwivedys wrote:

That's even more surprising - the three nouns form a compound subject which is plural and so is Passengers

Yes, the three nouns do form a compound subject but they are still three different nouns. My confusion comes from the understanding that a pronoun should refer to one and only one antecedent.

Gaah... this language frustrates me.

I share your frustration. There's nothing elegant about all this. But that's the irony of the Time we live in.

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 11:49

bmwhype2 wrote:

empty_spaces wrote:

in B you mean to say that "who" only refers to the "governor" ...thats why its wrong?

bmwhype2 wrote:

not 100% sure of my answer

Ashwin_Mohan wrote:

The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were a president, a senator, and a governor that had been traveling to Washington, D.C. together on the Liberty Express in 1907.

A)The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were a president, a senator, and a governor that had been traveling

B)The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were a president, a senator, and a governor, who traveled

C)A president, a senator, and a governor were the first political passengers (on modern railroad cars) who traveled

D)A president, a senator, and a governor who were the first political passengers on modern railroad cars to travel

E)A president, a senator, and a governor were the first political passengers on modern railroad cars traveling

yes.

ok C is wrong.

A president, a senator, and a governor were the first political passengers (on modern railroad cars) who traveled

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

Updated on: 25 Jul 2007, 15:59

OA is B,

reason explained is the difference in meaning that is created between B and C. I unfortunately choose C and got it wrong!!!

Now here is something I want to understand, can anyone tell me how the meaning has changed between B and C??

Originally posted by Ashwin_Mohan on 25 Jul 2007, 12:13.
Last edited by Ashwin_Mohan on 25 Jul 2007, 15:59, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 12:50

Ashwin_Mohan wrote:

OA is C,

reason explained is the difference in meaning that is created between B and C. I unfortunately choose C and got it wrong!!!

Now here is something I want to understand, can anyone tell me how the meaning has changed between B and C??

Can you clarify? Is OA B or C??? How is OA C and you picked it and got it wrong?

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 22:07

Ashwin_Mohan wrote:

OA is B,

reason explained is the difference in meaning that is created between B and C. I unfortunately choose C and got it wrong!!!

Now here is something I want to understand, can anyone tell me how the meaning has changed between B and C??

after reading your post i reread B and C. I am not sure if this is the correct explanation, but if it comes down to the meaning, this is what i understand.

B talks about the 'The first political passengers on modern railroad cars' who happens to be a president, a senator, and a governor. whereas, C talks about a president, a senator, and a governor who were the first political passengers on morder railroad cars.

do i make any sense?

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Re: The first political passengers on modern railroad cars were [#permalink]

25 Jul 2007, 22:07