Because of the flood of immigrants between 1905 and 1910, so

Question

Because of the flood of immigrants between 1905 and 1910, so overcrowded were the school buildings on the lower East Side beyond their capacity that the city converted a hospital ship into a school where ten thousand children received instruction.

(A) so overcrowded were the school buildings on the lower East Side beyond their capacity
(B) so overcrowded beyond their capacity were the school buildings on the lower East Side
(C) school buildings on the lower East Side were overcrowded so far beyond their capacity
(D) school buildings on the lower East Side were so overcrowded
(E) lower East Side school buildings were so overcrowded

I dont have the OA. IMO E.

rohitgoel15 · Answer

Whats the diff between D and E. I chose E as its the same as D, but more concise.
Any comments.

vageesh · Answer

i prefer D rather than E, whats the OA

saorabh · Answer

Here the modifier "Because of the flood of immigrants between 1905 and 1910" shold modify the school not the east side. Hence D

q10nik · Answer

But I think Lower East Side - is a modifier that modifies school buildings:

Lower East Side  school buildings  - So I would guess E, but D sounds appealing as well. Could anyone explain please?

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

Interesting debate here - and q10nik is correct that "Lower East Side School Buildings" is a noun phrase which just has the subject "buildings" (the rest are adjectives/modifiers).

Does anyone have the source? This one seems a little touchy between D and E. I don't have a grammatical reason for eliminating either D or E...like many here, I'd pick D but only based on clarity. In D, the modifier starting with "on" makes a clear sentence:

The school buildings (on the lower East Side) were so crowded that...

Whereas in E the modifier placed before "school buildings" could make for a confusing read:

The lower East Side school buildings... Are these the lower buildings on the east side? The buildings on the lower east side? I suppose that too many adjectives in a row in E may cause some confusion as to which adjective describes which word, whereas the placement of "on" in choice D removes that guesswork.

That's a subtle difference and nothing that I'd say is a completely fatal flaw in E, but pitting one against the other I'd select D for that reason.

Gonaives · Answer

I chose D. 
Sentence has better, clearer flow.

metallicafan · Answer

+1 D

In E, "lower East Side school buildings" means "school buildings of lower East Side", which is not the right meaning because it seems that the East side is an owner or something like that.

reatsaint · Answer

I chose E, but I get what Brian is saying now.

Because of the flood of immigrants between 1905 and 1910, so

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