Commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the Ameri

Question

Commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War was Union General Robert Anderson,
famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter".

A) Commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War was Union General Robert Anderson,
 famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter".

B) Robert Anderson, Union General and famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter", commanded Charleston Harbor's defenses
 at the start of the American Civil War.

C) Famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter", the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War were
 commanded by Union General Robert Anderson.

D) Commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War was Union General Robert Anderson,
 who was also famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter".

E) Union General Robert Anderson, famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter" was commanding the defenses of Charleston
 Harbor at the start of the American Civil War.

Explanation: 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc76mIWPllY

TestPrepUnlimited · Answer

Correct answer: A

(A): Correct. (A) is a little wordy, but it is the only option that is syntactically correct other than similarly-wordy (D). 
(B): Incorrect. (B)'s appositive creates an error. First, "Union General" needs an article (e.g. "the"). Second, the "and" causes an error by indicating some kind of verb (e.g. (B) could read "who  was  a Union General and  was  famously ...). (B) could be rewritten as such: "Robert Anderson, the Union General famously known ..." 
(C): Incorrect. (C)'s first clause incorrectly modifies the defenses, rather than the general. 
(D): Incorrect. (D) is a close second, but the "who was" suggests that the general is no longer known as such; the intended meaning, however, is still "known" by that moniker. 
(E): Incorrect. (E) needs a comma following "Sumter" to complete the nonessential clause. Further, the past progressive is improper here, as the sentence refers to a discrete action.

arpanghosh047 · Answer

Hi Experts Global,

Could you please elaborate on what is wrong with option E. Sure, commanded is more concise than was commanding, but other than that is there any additional issue? such as 'was commanding' can be only used when we have to talk about an action happening at the time when another action was occurring. For example - John was commanding the English forces when the French forces attacked England's borders?

Also I've taken your test series, and would appreciate if I can ask these doubts directly on your platform

ajaygaur319 · Answer

Couldn't convince myself from choosing  A  over  B ? Can someone take a look into it?

azamatboden · Answer

Could I ask if that is a typical 700+ question?

tittoo · Answer

Why is commanding right in choice A?
To me, it implies continuous action.

mSKR · Answer

Union General Robert Anderson, famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter", commanded Charleston Harbor's defenses
at the start of the American Civil War.
would have been correct.

Robert Anderson , Union General and famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter",  commanded Charleston Harbor's defenses
at the start of the American Civil War.
who is Robert who commanded - doesn't make much sense
Union general commanded defenses - make sense

Hence B is not out first choice.

Ritesh92gmat · Answer

Commanding is gerund in option A and hence acting as Noun (Subject)

jayesh11 · Answer

A. I initially thought that there is no main clause in this sentence. What's the subject and verb here?
 But, as this is written in passive voice, the sentence is correct. "famously..." acts as a proper modifier.

B. Union General and an essential modifier and hence cannot be mentioned in between commas. The designation should come before the name.
C. Again modifier issue. "Famously known.." "the defense.."
D. was also famously know - incorrectly means that he  was  know and is not known now as a Hero..
E. No main clause in the sentence - what's the subject and the verb? The verb was commanding falls in the modifying phrase. As this is written in Active voice, there should have been a comma before  was commanding .

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

A) Commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War was Union General Robert Anderson,
 famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter".
The meaning is perfect therefore let us hang on to it

B) Robert Anderson, Union General and famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter", commanded Charleston Harbor's defenses
 at the start of the American Civil War.
The commanding officier was Robert , this should be precisely conveyed by the sentence which is not the case since Hero of the fort could be attributed to aby officier who fought the war therefore out

C) Famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter", the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War were
 commanded by Union General Robert Anderson.
The defences were never known as Hero of the fort Sunter therefore out

D) Commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War was Union General Robert Anderson,
 who was also famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter".
who was addition in the end is making the sentence redundant therefore out

E) Union General Robert Anderson, famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter" was commanding the defenses of Charleston
 Harbor at the start of the American Civil War.
There can be a lot of heroes who can be attributed the same name , the reference should be perfectly pointing to Robert which is not the case therefore out

THerefore IMO A

jim441 · Answer

IF option E had a comma before " was commanding", what would be the best answer, Option A or Option E?

Also Does gmat test such errors (missing comma)? I chose E over A coz I thought that It's more direct (yes, i missed the comma)

Thanks

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  jim441 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, no; Option E would still be inferior to A due to its needless use of the simple past continuous tense phrase "was commanding".

Further, the GMAT does not directly test missing commas, but the absence of commas can sometimes lead to a failure to maintain a particular grammatical construction.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

wadhwakaran · Answer

A) Commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War was Union General Robert Anderson, famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter".  Correct (inverted sentence) i.e. Union General Robert Anderson was commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War

B) Robert Anderson, Union General and famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter", commanded Charleston Harbor's defenses at the start of the American Civil War.  Incorrect appositive as the first is Union General (noun) and the second is known as "Hero of Fort Sumter" (clause).

C) Famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter", the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War were commanded by Union General Robert Anderson.  Incorrect due to dangling modifier as Famously known as "Hero fo Fort Sumter" modifies the defenses

D) Commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War was Union General Robert Anderson, who was also famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter".  Seems fine but wordy in comparison with option A

E) Union General Robert Anderson, famously known as "Hero of Fort Sumter" was commanding the defenses of Charleston Harbor at the start of the American Civil War.  Incorrect as a comma after "Hero of Fort Sumter" was required to finish the appositive modifier.

RenB · Answer

bb   CrackverbalGMAT , 
1. I chose D here thinking the 'who was' in this option makes it more complete than option A. Can I consider the 'who was' in option D redundant?
Also, 
2. Meaning-wise, isnt 'who was' an actual possibility? The person was known as something. Makes sense to me. Does this kind of meaning split appear in the GMAT? If yes, which one to choose?

Kindly guide. TIA!

Kindly gu

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