SC from "The Times of India"

Question

Guys , 
I was reading the newspaper and I came across the following sentence.

Although in the country at the invitation of Red cross society of China , bringing Argentine 
players to take part in exhibition games , Maradona's visit sparked speculation that he was
about to become head coach of country's national team.

Now , I felt that the clause  "Although in the country at the invitation of Red cross society of China"  and 
and the phrase  "bringing Argentine players to take part in exhibition games"  are both modifying Maradona and
therefore  Maradona's visit  is not appropriate . Also since the two modifiers are side by side , one would obviously not
touch the noun it modifies . So my question is what could be the correct structure for the above sentence.

BKimball · Answer

I think the point the newspaper is trying to convey here is the following:

"Although he happened to be in the country, Maradona was not about to become the head coach of China's national team. Rather, he was accompanying Argentina players who were playing an exhibition game at the invitation of the Red Cross of China."

I'm not sure if this is what they meant to say, but it illustrates two really critical points about studying for the GMAT and reading the newspaper simultaneously:

1. Many, if not most, newspapers do not hold themselves to GMAT standards. Whether you're reading the Times of India, the New York Times, the Financial Times, or any other newspaper, you cannot justify a sentence correction answer by telling yourself that you saw a similar structure in a periodical.

2. Especially relevant for those of you from Commonwealth countries: The GMAT is an American test, so be sure you follow American grammar rules. For example: You must make collective nouns singular. Even though in Commonwealth English we would consider the following nouns to be plural, on the GMAT they are singular:

Family
Army
Team
Government
Everyone

Hope this all helps

Brett

Raths · Answer

Once again...Tnx Brett....

Werewolf · Answer

BKimball's point holds true for many other instances as well. Even when the President of the United States is giving a speech, he'll sometimes use incorrect grammar forms. You can notice many mistakes (by GMAT standards) in TV series, hollywood movies, etc. They are accepted forms of conversational speech and speakers can take certain liberties outside of the GMAT world.

daagh · Answer

Having been with news-reporting for sometime, my point of view is that the newspaper’s point was to stress that Maradona was likely to become the head coach, (in spite of all those involved in the issue apparently calling a different tune for the time being) although he seemed to bring Argentine players at the invitation of the Red Cross of China to take part in an exhbhibition game.

In order not to alter this intent, it is vital that we do not change the order of stress; it may be seen, that the bringing part is placed in the subordinate clause, while the speculation part in stated in the main clause.

On the other hand If the stress were to be placed on bringing, then the sentence would have to be: Although Maradona sparked speculation that he was about to become head coach of country's national team, he was indeed in China at the invitation of the Red cuss of China, bringing Argentine team players to take part in an exhibition game

As long as all of the multiple modifiers mean to modify the appropriate noun, it shouldn’t really be the cause of concern. We may well ignore the parenthetical modifier temporarily, and ascribe the initial modifier to the noun

To set right the extant misplacement of modification, if Maradona's visit was changed to simply Maradona, the problem may be simply solved.

Any takers?

SC from "The Times of India"

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