Preceding David Griffith, photography in dramatic films

Question

Preceding David Griffith, photography in dramatic films consisted of virtually none other than  placing the actors before a stationary camera and showing them in full length as they would have appeared on stage.

(A) Preceding David Griffith, photography in dramatic films consisted of virtually none other than
(B) Before David Griffith, photography in dramatic films consisted of little more than
(C) Before preceding David Griffith, photography in dramatic films consisted of as much as
(D) Before Griffith, photography in dramatic films consisted in virtually
(E) Before Griffith, in dramatic films, photography little more than consisted of

Pls, explain

ps_dahiya · Answer

D

Sweet and concise.
correct idiom here is "consisted in".......
"consists of" is also correct but only when something is made of something"

dwivedys · Answer

Another vote for D - though it's a bit tricky because B isn't bad either except that D is more concise. Let us please know the OA...

rdw28 · Answer

I vote for B...

I like how it uses  consisted  with 'of' rather than 'in'

shampoo · Answer

I vote for B. I am not sure if 'consisted in' is correct idiom.

sperinko · Answer

Could it be (E). the "dramatic films" in the sentence brings some context instead of comparing "Griffith" with "Photography" as other options do.

sharadGmat · Answer

Vote for B... I think 'consisted in' is wrong usage..

u2lover · Answer

Consist in means â€œis inherent in or lies withinâ€

freetheking · Answer

We need to consider the difference betweeen "little more than" and "virtually".

sperinko · Answer

u2 lover and ps_dahiya....Thanks for the lucid explanation.

buzzgaurav · Answer

Simply irrefutable grammar. :wink:

Agree with D and ps_Dahiya of course.

jaynayak · Answer

True D is the correct choice.

We often make the mistake of using consist of in places like these.

Will make a note to avoid such mistakes.

freetheking · Answer

OA is D <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/1done.gif" alt=":done" title="Done" />

Gauss · Answer

Consist in means â€œis inherent in or lies withinâ€

shampoo · Answer

Ok, so D is right, but what makes B so wrong? consisted in vs. consisted of and virtually vs. little more than.

thanks

u2lover · Answer

from my earlier post here:

  in addition... B (and E ) seem to change the original meaning: "a little more" means in addition to placing actors and showing them blah-blah Griffith did something else, but the original says that these 2 are the ONLY things that Griffith did...   

hope it makes sense now as to why B is wrong... if you noticed this, then consisted of vs. consisted in isn't something to worry about :wink:

Preceding David Griffith, photography in dramatic films

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