The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the

The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother."

A) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and

B) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, being a tonalist, and

C) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, and

D) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, which he

E) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works with dark colors, and

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

• In option A, the phrase best known as a tonalist incorrectly modifies the noun works. Eliminate A

• Choice B makes a similar error: the works are still referred to as a tonalist.

• Choice C places the phrase best known as a tonalist so that it correctly modifies the painter James Whistler, and C makes no other errors.
Keep Answer C.

• Choice D present nonsensical meaning via the construction his works, which he played on haunting fashion, implying that the painted works are played. Eliminate D

• Eliminate option E because nothing in the sentence suggests that Whistler stopped emphasizing the melancholy mood of his works with dark color, and "used to" is not parallel with "played."

COMMENTS

new2on and greenbear , welcome to GMAT Club!

That OE is good.

I address GKomoku's question about the usage of commas directly below this post.

For excellent material on many aspects of SC, including the usage of commas and non-essential phrases and compound predicates, see dave13 HERE and HERE and comprehensively, HERE. That topic thread is a gem.

A couple of posts made me laugh.
Gordion knots, Bean, and Whistler's Mother,, all on the same topic thread?
Yes, please.

Levity is vivifying, period. (Full stop.) And levity also helps people train to take a tough test.
GMAT prep is hard. Humor helps people learn. Studies have proven so.

Creativity is a potent skill in business and in solving problems.
Creativity is vastly underrated and under-emphasized.

Even more impressive is a combination of creativity and humor.
Expanded horizons are indeed Good Things.

We have a lot of excellent answers.

I enjoyed reading this thread so much that everyone who has the correct answer gets kudos,
and a smiley face otherwise.

new2on , sanpreetsingh , greenbear , KanishkM , GKomoku , and dave13 -- thanks, all!
_________________

IMO C

The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist (modifying the painter), used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, and played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother." (while 'used' and 'played' displaying perfect parallelism)

Please correct me if I'm wrong

IMO C

The painter James Whistler used X and Y

The question tests parallelism as well as correct placement of an essential appositive (best known as a tonalist), which is separated by commas. Non essential appositive is not separated by commas.


For those who are not familiar with well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother." here is a link. Broaden your horizons

A Gordion knot. Perfect metaphor.

GKomoku , in a very strict technical sense, and depending on the manual of style,
yes: a single subject who does two verbs creates a compound predicate.
A compound predicate should not be separated by comma + conjunction unless the subject is mentioned again after the comma.

The GMAT will never test this rule because this usage of commas is dictated by different manuals.
Chicago says that the comma is obligatory.
Another that I can't recall at the moment says that the comma is not obligatory if the meaning is evident.

• Comma testing?
The GMAT does test whether there is a comma before which, though more rarely in recent years if OGs are to be believed.
The GMAT does test the Oxford comma, again, less frequently than GMAC used to do.
The GMAT does test comma splices
The GMAT does test whether commas are ineffective in a complicated list and should be replaced by semicolons.
Those four areas with respect to commas are the Big 4 of GMAC comma testing.

Sometimes we need commas even if they are allegedly prohibited.

For the purposes of incredibly strict adherence to rules of most style guides,
the comma before "and played" probably should not be in the sentence.

This sentence is not a run-on. If the definition of comma spice were stretched a lot,
this sentence might qualify as one. I doubt it.
Whatever you want to call this option's error, it not the sort that you will be expected to use to eliminate GMAC choices.

Comma splice errors are very obvious when they are tested by GMAC.
GMAC puts in the comma and leaves out the conjunction (the FANBOY). This way:
Comma splice: He smiled as he poured the wine, he handed her the glass.


So now what? In A and B, plural works cannot be modified by the singular "a tonalist."

You have to choose among C, D, and E.
-- which can never refer to a clause. Ever. The issue is tested fairly frequently.
-- Option E does not help in terms of the extra comma, and the word "used" is not correct

This art-craft-science business of sentence correction is hard.
Sometimes we find ourselves bound up in a Gordian knot.

Cut the knot by choosing the lesser of two evils.
"comma + which" can never modify a clause
-- this rule is among the most airtight of GMAC rules
-- comma usage other than the 4 areas mentioned above is not tested.
-- except in the case of a splice, which is connected to the absence of a conjunction, comma usage is considered a matter of style.
-- choose grammar over style

I am glad that you did not automatically reject "being."
But in B, plural works are not a singular tonalist.

The answer is C.
_________________

A) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and

B) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, being a tonalist, and

C) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, and

D) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, which he

E) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works with dark colors, and

A- too far modifier, tonalist should modify James, but written so far.
B - same as A, in addition usage of being seems stylistically incorrect.
D - "which" is incorrectly refering to works.
E - Unparallel Used to.... and played.

Hence, C is the Answer.

D is the answer.

The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother."

A) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and
- "best known..." is upposed to modify James not "works"

B) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, being a tonalist, and
- best known..." is supposed to modify James not "works"

C) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, and
- here "and" shows meaning parallelism, however, the phrase after "and" is to further explain by giving an example of specific work of James'. So C is out left with D using "which" is more accurate.

D) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, which he
- Correct

E) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works with dark colors, and
- meaning change "emphasize the melancholy mood"

IMO C

I want to learn, if i went wrong somewhere, Inline is my reasoning

Tonalist is a person, who depicts his/her mood through art. So by this is mind, IMO the modifier should refer back to the painter and not his work.

With this in mind, we can remove A and B.

A) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and
Eliminated because of the above reason

B) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, being a tonalist, and
Eliminated because of the above reason, being(not in the process, he is a tonalist) is also there

D) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, which he
Eliminated D, how did he played his works ??, Incorrect.

Now C and E

C) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, and
I will go with this, its more precise than E and meant, he used dark colors to emphasize and played on, IMO Better parallel construction.

E) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works with dark colors, and
Now E could have been better, if it was used to emphasize and used to play.
_________________

The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother."

Meaning analysis:
1. The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works
2. The painter James Whistler played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother."
3. Also The painter James Whistler was best known as a tonalist.

Error analysis: let's see sentence (A) structure -->


We have 1 subject with 2 verbs perfectly // to each other. This is two separate actions that the painter did, not connected with one anoter. Only v-ed modifier seems weird. It has to modify "painter", but illogically modifiy "workd". I've never seen the case when v-ed modifier was placed so far from the modifying entity.

POE

A) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and

B) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, being a tonalist, and

(sentence structure is exactly same as (A) but now we have "v-ing" modifier in face with "being" - which is not welcome on GMAT, exept 2 cases: 1. part of the passive voice progressive tence 2. as subject of the clause (noun), in our situation none of them acceptable)

C) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, and

(we have our v-ed modifier close to its modifying entity, but have another problem. comma + FANBOYS introduces new IC, but we don't have any subject for our new IC. In fact this 2 active verbs "used" and "played" can be connected with simple "and" without any comma, we do not need any new IC, just one clause with two equal verbs.)

D) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, which he

("which" preceded by comma can modify only preceding noun, "which" can jump over pp if this pp cannot be placed anywhere in the sentence without distorting its meaning. here "which" cannot refer nither "works" or "melancholy mood" - illogical)

E) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works with dark colors, and

(same as in (C), no IC, also placement change of emphasize slightly changes the meaning of the sentence)

I've eliminated all answer choices
I'm 100% sure that (D), 90% that (C) and (E) are wrong.

So let's back to (A) and (B)

A) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and
B) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, being a tonalist, and
(please don't get confused comma before "and", this is a comma pair of modifier , best known as a tonalist, and it goes with modifier, so there is no comma between two active verbs of the sentence)

The only divverence between them is modifier.
v-ed vs v-ing
As I told I've never seen the case when v-ed modifier was placed so far from the modifying entity and be correct, it usually comply with touch rule.
But v-ing is more flexible.

Let's choose different path. Ignore red tag "being" - but not always wrong, we've just alerted when we see "being".
Let's replace "being" with another v-ing modifier "acting", "performing" whatever...


v-ing modifier preceded by comma modifies whole preceding clause and has subject as a doer of the action.

So Acting as a tonalist, The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works and and played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother."

This has perfect sence.

I think B is the answer

generis please help untangle this gordian knot
_________________

Hello greenbear, how are you?

Let's understand intended meaning of the sentence.

Generally The painter James Whistler did 2 things:
1. used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works
2. played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother."
Also The painter James Whistler was best known as a tonalist.

"used" and "played" separate active verbs of subject "the painet"

but "which" distorts this meaning, please see sentence structure:


"which" preceded by comma can modify only preceding noun, "which" can jump over pp if this pp cannot be placed anywhere in the sentence without distorting its meaning. here "which" cannot refer nither "works" or "melancholy mood"

hope this is helpful
_________________

*gasp*

En plus, Whistler's Mother, mentioned at 2:15

dave13 , you win funniest post of the month. (It's early in the year yet. This post will be a contender for funniest post of the year.)

I'm not sure how a non-native speaker can draw on more iconic snippets of Anglo-American culture than most native speakers are even aware of.
How doesn't matter, really. You just do.

Yet again, thanks for the laugh, which, as I mentioned above, helps with the learning. . . . and pretty much helps with everything.

Your reservoir is impressive. And your timing is impeccable.
_________________

generis Can you please breif why used to and played is not parallel ?

teaserbae , "used to" in English suggests that Whistler emphasized the melancholy mood of his work for some period of time, and then he stopped doing so.

American teachers used to emphasize grammar. [The teachers do not emphasize grammar now.]

Sometimes "used to" means an ongoing habit in the past.
They used to visit to a favorite coffee shop and [to] solve crossword puzzles together.

In that case, we would need used to emphasize and used to play on shadows.
1) put "used to play" into the sentence. The phrase makes the last part of the sentence nonsensical.
2) alternatively, check the meaning of the sentence.

E) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works with dark colors, and played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother."
At some point, the rules don't help.

This sentence suggests two separate events/charactistics that are not separate.
melancholy mood, dark colors, and haunting shadows all describe Whistler's work.
They all describe qualities of a tonalist.
The sentence suggests, though, that for some unknown period of time Whistler previously used dark colors to convey a message.
Maybe he stopped using them. Maybe he did not. AND he "always" played on haunting shadows.

So did he, or did he not, infuse the painting "Whistler's Mother" with a melancholy mood, which he emphasized with dark colors?

More importantly, can you justify choosing E over C?
Can you write an explanation that convinces people that E is the better answer?

If nothing else, remember that "used to" means "at one time," and introduces vagueness about when and in which paintings he used to emphasize a melancholy mood.

Hope that helps.
_________________

The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother."

A) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and --> misplaced modifier: modifier "best known as a tonalist" is not closed to "The painter James Whistler "

B) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, being a tonalist, and --> same a A

C) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, and --> correct

D) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, which he --> meaning change. C is better

E) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works with dark colors, and --> "dark colors" should be closed to "used", C is better

The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, and played on haunting shadows in his most well-known piece, "Whistler's Mother."

A) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, best known as a tonalist, andWorks wasn't known as tonalist. Man was known as Tonalist.

B) The painter James Whistler used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, being a tonalist, andWorks wasn't known as tonalist. Man was known as Tonalist. Even the use of being is incorrect.

C) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, and

D) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used dark colors to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works, which hewhich modifies works, which doesn't fit with the rest of the sentence.

E) The painter James Whistler, best known as a tonalist, used to emphasize the melancholy mood of his works with dark colors, and "used to emphasize" and "and played on haunting" are not parallel

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
_________________