As part of a unified scholarly approach, Symeon, an Eastern

Question

As part of a unified scholarly approach, Symeon, an Eastern Orthodox saint often called “The New Theologian,” collected texts describing existing traditions and relayed them to his readers in a tone of great devotion and  authority and borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice.

1.authority and borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice
2.authority, and borrowed from Asia some aspects of mystical practice
3.authority along with the aspects of mystical practice he borrowed from Asia
4.authority, borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice
5.authority borrowing some aspects of mystical practice from parts of Asia

Revised/edited Version of this question is  HERE (V04-07) .

TOPIC IS LOCKED AND ARCHIVED.

iamcste · Answer

Can I know source pls..Look like all have issues...Better would be C or D though

alpha_plus_gamma · Answer

D for me

Symeon did two things 1) collected texts and 2) relayed them, he did these two things "(by)borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice". (which is actually modifying both his actions)

Though B looks parallel it is wrong because if Symeon would have done 3 things, the sentence would have been
collected (comma) relayed , and borrowed.

pm4553 · Answer

D for me

borrowed vs borrowing = borrowing wins

D modifies this correctly.

GMAT TIGER · Answer

Gramatically D looks fine but the construction of the modifying phrase "borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice" looks awakward.

himanshujovi · Answer

So does it mean that since there is no ',' before relayed , instead there is 'and' - the logical coherence stops. Thereafter the "borrow" verb applies to both

PiyushK · Answer

I think OA is D.

But I am not satisfied with -ing modifier as it is not qualifying -ing tests.

S collected text and relayed them to his reader, borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice.

1. Test how : 
How S collected text or how relayed texts to readers ?

Ans : by borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice. Aspects is metaphorical how it can help in collection of texts or help in relayed text to readers. Borrowing aspects does not sound like a mechanism or mean.

2. Consequence or result. 
Clearly borrowing is not a consequence of collecting text or relaying texts.

Who can help on this ? surely give kudos to one who justify -ing in D.

mshrek · Answer

As part of a unified scholarly approach, Symeon, an Eastern Orthodox saint often called “The New Theologian,” collected texts describing existing traditions and relayed them to his readers in a tone of great devotion and authority and borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice.

A.authority and borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice
B.authority, and borrowed from Asia some aspects of mystical practice
C.authority along with the aspects of mystical practice he borrowed from Asia
D.authority, borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice
E.authority borrowing some aspects of mystical practice from parts of Asia

Show Spoiler

Hi Friends,
I am confused as hell on the usage of ,and. Following are my doubts
1) X , Y, and Z ( is this parallelism with 3 elements in list or "Z" is an independent clause here?)
2) X and Y ( when only 2 elements are there in a list do we need to add a comma before and ?)

Can some one dissect this question in different forms of sentence ? I am more in interested in knowing parallelism and dependent,Independent clauses here

Thanks in advance

PiyushK · Answer

It is required to underline the question.

Let me help you in dissecting this question:

As part of a unified scholarly approach,  Symeon  , an Eastern Orthodox saint often called “The New Theologian,”  collected  texts describing existing traditions  and relayed  them to his readers in a tone of great devotion and authority   and borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice.

In above sentence there are two verbs in parallel collected and relayed  and borrowing . In  and borrowing  borrowing is a participle -ing modifier, and it is not an action verb. Further author is trying to join this participle in a list with the help of conjunction and, and such construction is not parallel or does not fit into acceptable list format. In this question  X and Y and Z   is wrong. First one must understand what is the level of each element in the list. X + Y || Z or X || Y || Z or X + Y + Z || W
1. X + Y || Z -- for such level you can write sentence X and Y; and Z -- X and Y is a compound list separated by semicolon.
2. X || Y || Z -- sentence : X, Y, and Z.
3. X + Y + Z || W -- X, Y ,and Z; and W -- here X, Y, and Z is a compound list separated by semicolon.

As part of a unified scholarly approach, Symeon, an Eastern Orthodox saint often called “The New Theologian,” collected texts describing existing traditions and relayed them to his readers in a tone of great devotion and  authority and borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice.

A.authority and borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice  -- as mentioned above

B.authority, and borrowed from Asia some aspects of mystical practice  -- as mentioned above X and Y, and Z is wrong.

C.authority along with the aspects of mystical practice he borrowed from Asia  -- change in meaning; it implies that Symeon relayed texts along with aspects.

D.authority, borrowing from Asia some aspects of mystical practice  -- In option A, author tried to place borrowing parallel to verb; means an action closely related to the subject of the sentence. Here borrowing -ing modifier is modifying the subject and clause. Thus, meaning wise it is parallel to option A and correct.

E.authority borrowing some aspects of mystical practice from parts of Asia  -- here ing modifier is modifying authority, a meaning error.

Carcass · Answer

Moreover a proper title for the posted question

PiyushK · Answer

Carcass, I missed that .

Carcass · Answer

<img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/forum_simp0065.gif" alt=":computer" title="Computer" /> <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/grouphug.gif" alt=":circle" title="Circle of Friends" />

noTh1ng · Answer

In my opinion this SC question is more about meaning than parallelism. Every single answer choice except D (and partly E) changes the meaning, i.e. that he got devotion and authority from Asian mystical practices.

tvrs09 · Answer

Hi everyone,

Initially I was certain that the correct option is D,but upon observing closely,one would notice that there are two actions happening here - "collecting texts and relaying them".I am confused here as to which action is being modified by the modifier "borrowing ......".Does not this create ambiguity?

Please explain.

dominicraj · Answer

Hi TVRS,

Borrowing is a verb-ing modifier modifying the preceding clause.. In essence the actions of " collecting texts describing existing traditions and relaying them to his readers in a tone of great devotion and authority" was done by borrowing from Asia.

The other sentence which comes close is B. But as per B the borrowing and the relaying are not co-related..

Regards,
Dom.

aepmk · Answer

I feel the OA must be C because he read to readers with tone f devotion and with a tone of authority combined with some mystical practices that he borrowed from Asia - makes total sense .

If you look at D - how can he collect texts and relay texts by borrowing aspects of mystical practices. Is this an OG question ?

Posted from my mobile device

VerbalBot · Answer

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As part of a unified scholarly approach, Symeon, an Eastern

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