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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 19 Dec 2020, 20:58
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samgyupsal
Hi experts, (MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, egmat, AjiteshArun)

For answer choice A, can you ever have a short prepositional phrase right after a modifier as this option has? (e.g., "Turning away form...,in 1909 SL was...") or is this ALWAYS incorrect?
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Hi samgyupsal,

I'd hesitate to say that such a construction can never be correct, but it is certainly a sign that the option is unlikely to be correct.

Normally, I'd say that it could lead to ambiguity, but in option A there is no comma after in 1909 (such commas are usually optional in extremely short phrases like this one), which helps us understand that in 1909 is meant to modify something in the second half of the sentence.

1. Turning away from X, in 1909, she did something. ← This seems to be more ambiguous (did she turn away in 1909 or did she do something in 1909?)
2. Turning away from X, in 1909 she did something. ← This seems to be less ambiguous than (1)

D is still clearer than A though. In 1909 is close to became, which makes sense. Option A leads to "in 1909 she was the novelist who became..." and this doesn't convey the intended meaning well. Also, the inclusion of was the novelist who is awkward ("in 1909 she became the first..." would be better).
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 17 Jun 2021, 03:18
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Hi experts,

I think this is a difficult question in which uncommon things appear in the correct choice, such as "and also", usually consider redundancy, and modifier "in 1990" in the middle of the sentence. Would you please help to point out errors /concerns in each choice that make them right or wrong, including both uncertain and uncertain points? Thank you so much.
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 31 Jul 2021, 12:53
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AjiteshArun
please explain why option c is wrong
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 31 Jul 2021, 16:17
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saby1410

One can't be the first person doing something. We have to say "the first person to do" something.
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 02 Nov 2021, 13:09
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Hi Experts

GMATNinja VeritasKarishma EducationAisle ChrisLele mikemcgarry AjiteshArun egmat sayantanc2k RonPurewal DmitryFarber MagooshExpert avigutman EMPOWERgmatVerbal MartyTargetTestPrep ExpertsGlobal5 other experts

Can you please tell me if this phrase "A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden" is a Appositive Modifier?
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 02 Nov 2021, 13:22
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Vatsal7794

Can you please tell me if this phrase "A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden" is a Appositive Modifier?
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Yes, it is, but honestly there's no value in knowing the meaning of terms like "appositive" if you're studying GMAT SC. It's best just to think of this phrase as a modifier.
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 03 Nov 2021, 00:10
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Hi IanStewart

Thanks for the explanation. I know the terms are not important but sometime I get confused between Independent Clause and Appositive Phrase. That's Why i was confirming
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 04 Nov 2021, 00:35
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Vatsal7794

The difference is that the verb (turned) is contained in a modifier (WHO turned). So you can think of it as a simple appositive modifier (A novelist) with a long modifier attached to the noun (who turned . . . ). If we didn't have WHO, it would be "A novelist turned away from literary realism . . . ," and that would be a clause.
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 20 Jul 2022, 11:55
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Hi,

in choice E]

isn't the phrase ( after replacing 'THAT' with 'WHO')
''in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer who won'' is a modifier giving details about the novelist.


is there any other issue except 'who' v/s 'that'
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 24 Jul 2022, 03:48
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Hi, I have certain doubts in below options. Please review my understanding below.

(C) Selma Lagerl??f was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in 1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning

??? when I compared this option with d], both of them made same sense of meaning to me. The major difference I note here is of 'ing verbal-winning' describing the Swedish writer who is Selma only.
??? Although, when I try to speak the sentence, I do get a feeling of incompleteness and 'to win' sounds better.
Just wanted to be sure instead of going by the feel of it

??? Does meaning changes because of giving additional info through the use of -ing modifiers


(D) A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerl??f became in 1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win

(E) As a novelist, Selma Lagerl??f turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won

??? will this option be correct if we use 'who' instead of 'that'. My doubt is that 'becoming' is a verbal and option D] uses verb 'became'. Although meaning wise both looks same to me.
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 24 Jul 2022, 04:53
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I answered D.
But can someone please explain why option A is incorrect.

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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 26 Jul 2022, 20:50
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AlexSgmat
... But can someone please explain why option A is incorrect.
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This is option A:
Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Here are two major problems in A:

Option A begins with the modifier 'Turning away from literary realism to ... of northern Sweden,'.
An -ING modifier (like this one) MUST be followed by the subject of the modifier.
WHO turned away from literary realism? Selma Lagerlöf did. So we MUST have 'Selma Lagerlöf' after the modifier, but Option A has 'in 1909'.
This is reason enough to eliminate A straightaway.

Another problem is the clause 'Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who became the first woman'. It makes no sense at all!
Even this is reason enough to eliminate A straightaway.


Posted from my mobile device
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 19 Aug 2022, 10:36
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Hi DmitryFarber

Please review my understanding below

himanshu0123
Hi, I have certain doubts in below options. Please review my understanding below.

(C) Selma Lagerl??f was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in 1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning

??? when I compared this option with d], both of them made same sense of meaning to me. The major difference I note here is of 'ing verbal-winning' describing the Swedish writer who is Selma only.
??? Although, when I try to speak the sentence, I do get a feeling of incompleteness and 'to win' sounds better.
Just wanted to be sure instead of going by the feel of it

??? Does meaning changes because of giving additional info through the use of -ing modifiers


(D) A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerl??f became in 1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win

(E) As a novelist, Selma Lagerl??f turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won

??? will this option be correct if we use 'who' instead of 'that'. My doubt is that 'becoming' is a verbal and option D] uses verb 'became'. Although meaning wise both looks same to me.
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 21 Aug 2022, 05:02
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himanshu0123
Hi DmitryFarber

Please review my understanding below

himanshu0123
Hi, I have certain doubts in below options. Please review my understanding below.

(C) Selma Lagerl??f was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in 1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning

??? when I compared this option with d], both of them made same sense of meaning to me. The major difference I note here is of 'ing verbal-winning' describing the Swedish writer who is Selma only.
??? Although, when I try to speak the sentence, I do get a feeling of incompleteness and 'to win' sounds better.
Just wanted to be sure instead of going by the feel of it

??? Does meaning changes because of giving additional info through the use of -ing modifiers


(D) A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerl??f became in 1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win

(E) As a novelist, Selma Lagerl??f turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won

??? will this option be correct if we use 'who' instead of 'that'. My doubt is that 'becoming' is a verbal and option D] uses verb 'became'. Although meaning wise both looks same to me.
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Hello himanshu0123,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your queries, the demerits in Option C are largely stylistic, as you have identified - Option C uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "winning" in this sentence) to refer to the intent of the action "became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer"; please remember, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing") for referring to the purpose/intent of action. Further, Option C uses the needlessly wordy constructions "in addition to" and "Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist...", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Furthermore, replacing "that" with "who" will not make Option E correct, as the answer choice also features meaning errors; Option E alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "and wrote romantic stories...Sweden"; the use of "and" incorrectly implies that turning away from literary realism and writing romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden were two separate actions taken by Selma Lagerlöf; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism in order to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden. Moreover, Option E further alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "in 1909 becoming"; the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "becoming" in this sentence)" construction incorrectly implies that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a result, in 1909, she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a separate action in 1909, she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “becoming” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 30 Sep 2022, 12:26
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Dear Experts,

I have no doubt that (D) is the best. But I am not sure what is the crystal clear mistake or wrong in (A). I don't think "in 1909" is the main reason to eliminate (A)

either [In 1999 he did_____] or [In 1999, he did_____] is correct.

Are there other clear mistakes in (A)?
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 30 Sep 2022, 13:07
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Tanchat
Dear Experts,

I have no doubt that (D) is the best. But I am not sure what is the crystal clear mistake or wrong in (A). I don't think "in 1909" is the main reason to eliminate (A)

either [In 1999 he did_____] or [In 1999, he did_____] is correct.

Are there other clear mistakes in (A)?
Show more
There are some meaning issues in the (A) version. The clearest one is in this part of the sentence.

in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Notice that the boldfaced portion communicates that Selma Lagerlöf "became the first woman," as if she somehow became the first woman to exist. Of course, this meaning is nonsensical since Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist in 1909, long after the first woman existed.

Part of the reason why this version conveys that nonsensical meaning is that it uses the wording "who became the first woman AND was also the first to win ...."

We see that the sentence does not convey that Selma Lagerlöf "became the first woman to win."

Rather, it separates the idea that she "became the first woman" from the idea that she "was the first to win," using "and" to connect the two events in list form. It thus communicates that she did two separate things, "became the the first woman" and "was the first to win."
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 30 Sep 2022, 23:41
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Tanchat
Dear Experts,

I have no doubt that (D) is the best. But I am not sure what is the crystal clear mistake or wrong in (A). I don't think "in 1909" is the main reason to eliminate (A)

either [In 1999 he did_____] or [In 1999, he did_____] is correct.

Are there other clear mistakes in (A)?
There are some meaning issues in the (A) version. The clearest one is in this part of the sentence.

in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Notice that the boldfaced portion communicates that Selma Lagerlöf "became the first woman," as if she somehow became the first woman to exist. Of course, this meaning is nonsensical since Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist in 1909, long after the first woman existed.

Part of the reason why this version conveys that nonsensical meaning is that it uses the wording "who became the first woman AND was also the first to win ...."

We see that the sentence does not convey that Selma Lagerlöf "became the first woman to win."

Rather, it separates the idea that she "became the first woman" from the idea that she "was the first to win," using "and" to connect the two events in list form. It thus communicates that she did two separate things, "became the the first woman" and "was the first to win."
Show more


Hi MartyTargetTestPrep

Thank you for your response and knowledge :)

Could you elaborate more about Rather, it separates the idea that she "became the first woman" from the idea that she "was the first to win," using "and" to connect the two events in list form. It thus communicates that she did two separate things, "became the the first woman" and "was the first to win.

Because the last part in (A) is similar to (D) Selma Lagerlöf became in 1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win
became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 20 Nov 2022, 12:45
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Anshul1223333
Hi,

in choice E]

isn't the phrase ( after replacing 'THAT' with 'WHO')
''in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer who won'' is a modifier giving details about the novelist.


is there any other issue except 'who' v/s 'that'
Show more
Sorry that we're late to the party, Anshul1223333! We'll toss in our two cents, just in case we're not too late to help.

If "in 1909..." is a modifier, does that mean that Selma Lagerlöf "turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories" in 1909? The sentence structure in (D) makes it clearer that Selma BECAME the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in 1909 -- and that the stuff about "turning away" and "writing romantic stories" is background information that's NOT confined to 1909.

Also, the -ing modifier "becoming" seems to describe the action of the preceding clause. To see why that's an issue, let's move that modifier to the beginning of the sentence:

    "Becoming (in 1909) the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories, becoming the first woman..."

It doesn't really make sense for an action specific to 1909 to modify Lagerlöf's actions over the course of her career. Again, the structure in (D) is better: the main part of the sentence tells us what Lagerlöf did in 1909, and the opening modifier just gives us more information about her.

Lastly, in this context, "turned away from literary realism TO write romantic stories" is better than "turned away from literary realism AND wrote romantic stories":

  • The latter (from choice E) makes it sound like those two actions ("turned away" and "wrote") are separate and perhaps unrelated.
  • The former (from choice D) makes it clearer that she gravitated AWAY from X and TOWARDS Y, and that makes a bit more sense.

None of those are very concrete errors, but taken together, they give us enough reason to choose (D) over (E).

I hope that helps!
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the 20 Nov 2022, 12:47
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himanshu0123
Hi, I have certain doubts in below options. Please review my understanding below.

(C) Selma Lagerl??f was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in 1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning

??? when I compared this option with d], both of them made same sense of meaning to me. The major difference I note here is of 'ing verbal-winning' describing the Swedish writer who is Selma only.
??? Although, when I try to speak the sentence, I do get a feeling of incompleteness and 'to win' sounds better.
Just wanted to be sure instead of going by the feel of it

??? Does meaning changes because of giving additional info through the use of -ing modifiers


(D) A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerl??f became in 1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win

(E) As a novelist, Selma Lagerl??f turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won

??? will this option be correct if we use 'who' instead of 'that'. My doubt is that 'becoming' is a verbal and option D] uses verb 'became'. Although meaning wise both looks same to me.
Show more
Notice how (C) splits the sentence into two independent clauses, and that kinda makes it feel like those two parts are separate and unrelated: (

    1) Selma was a novelist, and
    (2) Selma won the prize... maybe for writing poetry or something?

(D) does a better job of tying those two parts together, and that's one vote against (C).

The next problem with (C) is the phrase "in addition to". At first glance, this makes it sound as though Selma AND some other writer won the prize. Again, not a concrete error, but another small vote against (C).

And yes, "winning" is a problem. It seems to be modifying "in 1909 she became the first woman" -- as if she was WINNING the prize WHEN she became the first woman?

And if "winning" modifies "woman" (or "writer"), what does it mean to become a woman/writer winning the prize? Does that mean that after 1909 she was perpetually winning the prize? That sounds kinda fun, but also illogical.

There aren't really any concrete rules we can rely on here, but "winning" seals (C)'s fate, and (D) is a much better option.
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Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the Updated on: 27 Jul 2023, 15:43
Originally posted by Shrihari12 on 24 Jul 2023, 11:49.
Last edited by Shrihari12 on 27 Jul 2023, 15:43, edited 2 times in total.
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ExpertsGlobal5
Dear friends,

Here is a detailed explanation for this question -
spriya
Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

(A) Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win

(B) She turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and novelist Selma Lagerlöf in 1909 became the first woman as well as the first Swedish writer that won

(C) Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in 1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning

(D) A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerlöf became in 1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win

(E) As a novelist, Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won


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Attachment:
SC01.jpg

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in 1909, she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Pronouns + Verb Forms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• "that" cannot be used to refer to human beings.
• The infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing") for referring to the purpose/intent of action.
• The introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “becoming” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

A: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrases "Turning away from literary realism...northern Sweden" and "was the novelist who became the first woman"; the construction of these phrases illogically implies that Selma Lagerlöf was the first women in existence because she turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a separate action, in 1909, she became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Further, Option A uses the passive voice construction "was the novelist who became", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the nouns "woman" and "writer" with the pronoun "that"; please remember, "that" cannot be used to refer to human beings. Further, Option B alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "and wrote romantic stories...Sweden"; the use of "and" incorrectly implies that turning away from literary realism and writing romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden were two separate actions taken by Selma Lagerlöf; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism in order to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden.

C: Trap. This answer choice uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "winning" in this sentence) to refer to the intent of the action "became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer"; please remember, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing") for referring to the purpose/intent of action. Further, Option C uses the needlessly wordy constructions "in addition to" and "Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist...", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D: Correct. This answer choice avoids the pronoun errors seen in Options B and E, as it does not use a pronoun to refer to the nouns "woman" and "writer". Further, Option D uses the phrases "A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories...Sweden", "became...the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win", conveying the intended meaning - that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism in order to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a separate action, in 1909, she became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Additionally, Option D uses the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + win" in this sentence) to refer to the intent of the action "became...the first woman and also the first Swedish writer". Besides, Option D is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the nouns "woman" and "writer" with the pronoun "that"; please remember, "that" cannot be used to refer to human beings. Further, Option E alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "and wrote romantic stories...Sweden"; the use of "and" incorrectly implies that turning away from literary realism and writing romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden were two separate actions taken by Selma Lagerlöf; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism in order to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden. Moreover, Option E further alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "in 1909 becoming"; the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "becoming" in this sentence)" construction incorrectly implies that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a result, in 1909, she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; the intended meaning is that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a separate action in 1909, she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “becoming” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Hi GMATNinja, MartyTargetTestPrep , I was able to get the right answer following the process of elimination but I'm not sure if the the use of 'win' in "Selma Lagerlöf became in 1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win" is correct or not? The entire sentence is in past tense but then we are using a present tense as a verb.
Or have we considered the writer's win as a general truth or a fact, because then the use of present tense will be justified.
Please help,
thank you.
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