souvik101990 wrote:
Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters; accused of spying for Germany in the First World War, she was finally executed by a firing squad for treason in France.
A. Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters;
B. Like many others acting as double agents and treading in dangerous waters, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, was
C. Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters was
D. As with many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treading in dangerous waters was
E. As with many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters was
This is one of the best question I have ever encountered, but a bit easy if you notice the error.This question test your usages of semi colon and the subject verb agreement.
Lets discus few things. 1) when two independent clause are there i.e both clause independently contain their own subject and verb then both sentence has to be separated by semi-colon. Or comma preceding For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So [FANBOYS] . If we use comma without FANBOYS between two independent clause then the sentence will be grammatically incorrect. Or simply use semi-colon between two independent clause.
2) Subject and verb should agree in number.
How to approch? Read the Non-underlined portion: the clause 'she was finally.....' is an independent clause [ has its own subject (she) and verb (is started)] started with a comma. As this independent clause is started with a comma without FANBOYS means the preceding clause can not be independent clause. The preceding clause has to be either dependent clause or modifier that modifying the independent clause ( she was finally....) or that modifying the subject (she).
Now reject the options that make the preceding clause independent (i.e has a verb and subject of its own)Option B:: 'Like many others....' is modifier giving extra information about Mata Hari. ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' is also extra information about Mata Hari. Hence read the sentence without this extra information.
Mata Hari was accused of spying for Germany in the First World War, she was finally executed by a firing squad for treason in France. Hence two independent clause is separated by just a comma without using FANBOYS. Hence this is grammatically incorrect.
Option C: Has the same error. ' Like many others .....' , ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' ,and ' treaded in dangerous waters [verb-ed modifier] ' are modifying Mata Hari. Now the sentence will read the same as option A. .
Mata Hari was accused of spying for Germany in the First World War, she was finally executed by a firing squad for treason in France. Hence two independent clause is separated by just a comma without using FANBOYS. Hence this is grammatically incorrect.
Option D: Has the same error. ' As with many others....' , ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' , ' treading in dangerous waters [verb-ing modifier] ' are modifying Mata Hari. Now the sentence will read the same as option A. .
Mata Hari was accused of spying for Germany in the First World War, she was finally executed by a firing squad for treason in France. Hence two independent clause is separated by just a comma without using FANBOYS. Hence this is grammatically incorrect.
Option E: Has the same error. ' As with many others....' , ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' , ' treaded in dangerous waters [verb-ed modifier] ' are modifying Mata Hari. Now the sentence will read the same as option A.
Mata Hari was accused of spying for Germany in the First World War, she was finally executed by a firing squad for treason in France. Hence two independent clause is separated by just a comma without using FANBOYS. Hence this is grammatically incorrect.
Option A: ' Like Many others...' and ' ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' are the extra information. Here ' treaded ' does not work as a modifier but rather as a main verb of this clause, whose subject is Mata Hari. Now read the sentence.
Mata Hari treaded in dangerous waters ; accused of spying for Germany in the First World War, she was finally executed by a firing squad for treason in France.. Here, ' accused of spying for Germany in the First World War' is acting as a verb-ed modifier that is modifying ' she '. And two independent clauses (1. Mata hari treaded.... 2. she was finally...) are separated by a semicolon.
Hence correct answerLets come to Like vs As:1) 'Like' is never used in a clause that contain verb. But ' like ' can be used used in a sentence i.e that contains many modifiers and other clauses. Note: verb can not be used in with 'like' i.e ' Like has to be followed be some phrase or modifier. Example 1: 'Like he does' is wrong because 'like' can not be use in a same clause. Example 2: ' Like many others who do there work ' is correct. Because the clause ' who do there work' does not contain the work 'like'. Here ' like ' is clearly out of that clause. Moreover, her 'Like' is followed by a noun ( others).
Hence in all the options use of 'like' is correct.2) 'As' is always be used in a clause if it is used in comparison context. Here in all the options 'as' is used in a comparison context, so needed verb. But there is a word
eclipse, which allows 'as' to be used without verb only if 'as' is followed by prepositional phrase. Here in option D and E 'As' is followed by prepositional phrase (with many others who acted as double agents), hence using 'as' without verb here is grammatically correct.
Eclipse means it uses the verb implicitly rather than explicitly. . That means 'as' with prepositional phrase is mentioned with the verb but to shorten the sentence we use eclipse. For example: As in the last quarter, the company exceeded its revenue goals this quarter. This sentence means : As
it did in the last quarter, the company exceeded its revenue goals this quarter.
Hence in all the options use of 'As is correct.e-gmat explains all these things very clearly and logically.
I gave lots of efforts - writing so long and how to clearly write it - towards this question to clarify all doubts. +1 kudos if it helped you.