Though perhaps less visceral and emotionally satisfying than her

Veritas Prep OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

This correct answer contains an unusual sentence construction, but it is the only one that is error free: (A) reads: to write a best seller that moves between the comic and tragic, (and between) the satirical and the intimately personal. This type of repeated structure, in which the second part seems incomplete because it does not repeat all the words from the original structure, is uncommon but correct. All of the other answer choices contain fatal flaws: in (B), the “with the satirical and the intimately personal” is neither parallel nor logical in relation to the rest of the sentence. In (C) the present perfect “has moved” is incorrect and illogical – the tense must be the universal “present tense” to apply to something permanent. (D) and (E) are both incorrect because the participle “moving” makes it unclear what is being modified – it seems to indicate the sentence is about her ability to write while moving! The relative clause with “that” is required to show that the clause that follows is referencing “the best seller” and not the earlier action in the sentence. Answer is (A).

Though perhaps less visceral and emotionally satisfying than her previous novels, “The Namesake” attests to Jhumpa Lahiri’s ability to write a best seller that moves back and forth between the comic and tragic, the satirical and the intimately personal


A)that moves back and forth between the comic and tragic, the satirical and the intimately personal.

Here A is correct and error free. The best seller moves back and forth between the comic and the tragic and also moves back and forth between the satirical and the intimately personal.

D) moving back and forth between the comic and tragic, and the satirical and the intimately personal.

Here the use of verb+ ing without a comma modifies only the preceding noun or noun phrase when it should actually modify the entire preceding clause. Further, this structure does not require ‘and’ there.

In this case, it is the best seller/novel that moves back and forth between two opposites. Without the comma, ‘moving’ will modify the noun phrase - Jhumpa Lahiri’s ability to write a best seller. It conveys the wrong meaning here.

Hope this helps!

that moves back and forth between the comic and tragic, the satirical and the intimately personal.

Understand the sentence as follows: that moves back and forth between the comic and tragic, that moves back and forth between the satirical and the intimately personal.

This is a concept from English grammar - not a special tip or technique for GMAT. I would suggest that you check any good English grammar book (or even the internet, if you are confident about the authenticity of the source).

e.g.,
I must select between red, blue and green... correct.
I must select among those 3 colors...... correct.
Between A, B and C, B is the best.........correct
Among the boys standing there, the middle one is the best......correct

Between is used only for 2 things. How can we say chose between A, B & C ?
We always use among for selection for more than 2 items.
In option B, using with makes the list one with 2 entities :
1. comic and tragic, with the satirical
&
2. and the intimately personal
Please help clarify the doubt ?

Yes, between is used for two things. You would use among for A, B, and C. But that is not what is being done here. It's 1) the comic and tragic (between these two things) 2) the satirical and the intimately personal (between these two things)..not the comic and the tragic and the satirical and the intimately personal, or any other combination of these four items listed. In option B "with" is not correct. The satirical and intimately personal are separate from the comic and the tragic.

I must select between black, red and green... correct
I must select among these 3 colors... correct

The first example uses "between" because distinct colors are mentioned.
The second example uses "among" because all the colors are described within one group (3 colors - the distinct choices are no longer mentioned).

Instead of distinct colors, they could be distinct groups or distinct genres as well.

When registering for the annual music competition, you must choose a genre between pop, rock and jazz.
When registering for the annual music competition, you must choose among these 3 genres.
In the second example the three genres together form the group - the distinct choices that you may make are no longer mentioned (though each distinct choice in the first example is a group by itself).

Hello, Adi88. The comparison within each adjectival phrase is correct. That is, the first comparison made is between comic and tragic, while the second comparison made is between satirical and... intimately personal. Note that you could just as easily place the second comparison first, making this nothing more than an issue concerning coordinate adjectives. The rule there is that when you list two adjectives whose order is fixed, you do not place a comma between the adjectives; when you list two adjectives (even if those adjectives are phrases rather than single words) whose order can be transposed, you place the comma between them. The following are a few examples illustrating this rule.

1) The big brown bear attacked the hikers. versus
2) The brown big bear attacked the hikers.

Analysis: The order of the adjectives describing the bear in the above sentence is fixed, with the order going size-color. (Only a child would utter the second sentence, and it is not that I would argue that anything is inherently wrong with placing any adjective in whichever slot, as happens in languages such as Japanese, but I did not create the rules of English.)

3) Live a long, prosperous life. versus
4) Live a prosperous, long life.

Analysis: The order of the adjectives modifying the notion of life can go either way, and the sentence is palatable. Thus, the comma is necessary to separate the adjectives.

Here is an example I came across in my tutoring from an old ACT, describing a pinball machine:

5) The machine is sometimes your ally, sometimes your enemy.

Analysis: Notice how the two phrases can be interchanged. Thus, the comma is again necessary.

Now, our sentence:

Though perhaps less visceral and emotionally satisfying than her previous novels, “The Namesake” attests to Jhumpa Lahiri’s ability to write a best seller that moves back and forth between the comic and tragic, the satirical and the intimately personal.

Analysis: Each phrase contains two adjectives, and those two phrases could just as easily be placed in the opposite order, thereby justifying the use of both the comma and the comparison marker between, since only two adjectives are being compared at a time.

I hope that helps. Feel free to ask further questions if you have them. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

You are right but in the sentence "that moves back and forth between the comic and tragic, the satirical and the intimately personal" doesn't "the" show the parallelism marker to be "between"......and then "between" would be comparing 3 things??

The absence of comma made me think that the satirical and intimately personal are one list items !
Isn't it a rule in gmat that a comma should precede and when there are more than 2 items?

Please explain !

A comma before the last item is optional.
In GMAT generally it is found that a comma is used before the last item. However in any official explanation I have not found that a comma is mandatory.

I do not see any problem with the use of "moving" here (present participle without comma) - it correctly modifies the noun it touches ("best seller"). The problem with D and E is the wrong usage of "and".

There is none. A present participle (verb-ing) modifier without a comma may act in the same way as a that-clause does.

I saw a bird flying above the tree.
I saw a bird that was flying above the tree.

Both the above sentences have the same meaning and are grammatically correct. In the same way "...best seller that moves... " and " ...best seller moving...." are both correct.

OptimusPrepJanielle:
Between is used only for 2 things. How can we say chose between A, B & C ?
We always use among for selection for more than 2 items.
In option B, using with makes the list one with 2 entities :
1. comic and tragic, with the satirical
&
2. and the intimately personal
Please help clarify the doubt ?

I understand why 'moving' is wrong here structurally. However, can anyone explain using the grammar rules why does the 'moving' refer to 'write' and not 'best seller' since it is a verb-ing modifier without a comma which modifies the preceding noun,which happens to be 'Best seller' here. sayantanc2k ?
Thanks in advance.

Hello, Green2k1. I interpreted the beginning of (D) and (E) in probably the same way as you, that the phrase beginning with moving back and forth would modify a best seller. A best seller moving and forth? That construct does not work as well as adopting a clause: a best seller that moves back and forth. Is it possible for a VERB-ing modifier to reach back and comment on an entire phrase rather than a single noun at the end of that phrase? Sure, it happens all the time in real life. On the GMAT™ in SC, I would expect it to comment on the last preceding noun. In any case, I would not lose sleep over what to do if I might see an -ing modifier without a comma. I would be cautious about getting behind an answer that I thought violated a general tendency, and I would look to see how other answer choices addressed the same issue.

As for "that," "which," and the -ing phrase as a modifier, they are NOT used interchangeably. The first two are similar, but that clauses tend to be restrictive in nature, while which clauses are non-essential.

1) The book that was on the table was red.
(You need to know that the red book was on the table, as opposed to somewhere else, or that the color of the book on the table, whichever book it was, was red.)

2) The book, which was on the table, was red.
(You need to know that the book was red, but the information on its whereabouts is not essential.)

3) The book, having sat on the table for four days, was red.
(I probably would not opt for this construct, in all honesty, but it is not necessarily incorrect. It just leaves the door open to the nonsensical interpretation that because the book sat on the table for a while, it was red (as though it had changed color).)

The first two clause markers are used as adjectives to modify a noun that comes before, although sometimes you may see such a modifier jump over the object of a preposition to modify the preceding noun: The committee on public safety, which met twice a month... No one could reasonably argue that public safety was meeting twice a month.

In the end, as with many grammatical topics, I would urge you to use your best judgment on the question at hand. You are always given five answer choices to examine, after all.

I hope that helps. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

I agree,

A may be correct but I kept failing to understand how..

either there is an extra THE fragment or it needed proper parallel marker.

On occasion, the correct answer choice in sentence corrections is still not the most ideal way of stating ideas. It's simply the most correct relative to the other choices.