OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)
THE PROMPTQuote:
Works produced in the Murakami style of art, named after the renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, combine the principles of traditional Japanese art with those of 1950s Japanese pop cultural images.
• Meaning? Strip the sentence first.
→ The sentence, stripped:
Works produced in the Murakami style of art
combine the principles of traditional Japanese art with those of 1950s Japanese pop cultural images.→ Rough meaning: Murakami is a style of art in which principles of traditional Japanese art are combined with principles of 1950s Japanese pop art images.
The word
principles is used in this context to suggest
defining characteristics or
elements.
Is it illogical to suggest that there are
principles of
1950s Japanese pop cultural images?
See the footnote.**
• Idiom
→ The absolutely correct idiomatic expression is to combine something with something.
Correct:
Combine A with BSuspect:
Combine A and B THE OPTIONSQuote:
A) combine the principles of traditional Japanese art with those of 1950s Japanese pop cultural images.
• I do not see any errors
• The plural subject
works is correctly paired with the plural verb
combine. • The principles of traditional Japanese art are logically be compared with the principles of (i.e.,
those of) pop cultural images.
Quote:
B) combine the principles of traditional Japanese art and the 1950s Japanese pop cultural images.
• illogical
→
principles are compared with
pop images• strange diction
→ This use of the word
the is not standard diction. The usage is weird. Native speakers should have flinched.
In this context,
the is used to introduce a noun as if we had heard mention of this noun earlier in the sentence. We have not.
The strange usage of
the, in turn, exacerbates the illogical comparison between
principles and
pop images.
• idiom: Combine A
with B is standard; combine A and B is iffy.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
C) combines the principles of traditional Japanese art with those of 1950s Japanese pop cultural images.
• Subject/verb agreement
→ The plural subject
works requires the plural verb
combine.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) combine the principles of traditional Japanese art and that of 1950s Japanese pop cultural images.
• pronoun error:
that should be
those→ the word
principles is plural. To make a new and different copy of
principles that will attach to
1950s Japanese pop cultural images, we need
those.
→ both
that and
those can be pronouns that stand for a new and different copy of a noun.
You can replace both words with the actual noun.
At the same time, we understand that this second noun (or copy pronoun) "belongs" to something else.
Correct: Riesling wine from Alsace-Lorraine is superior to that from Napa Valley. → → that = Riesling wine.
That refers back to and makes a new copy of Riesling wine, because the second Riesling wine is from Napa Valley, not Alsace-Lorraine.
You could repeat "Riesling wine" in place of
that.
We understand that we are not talking about the same Riesling wine.
ISSUE: when the word
that is a "make a new copy" pronoun,
that can refer only to singular nouns
Wrong: Riesling grapes from Alsace-Lorraine are superior to that from Napa Valley.
The word
grapes is plural. To make a new copy that will "belong" to Napa Valley, we need
those.
Similarly, to compare principles of old art with principles of modern art, we need the plural word
those.
• Idiom
Combine A and B is iffy. Combine A with B is always correct.
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
E) combines the principles of traditional Japanese art with the 1950s Japanese pop cultural images.
• illogical
→
principles are compared with
pop imagesWe need the words
those of to be placed before
the 1950s Japanese pop cultural images.• idiom: Combine A
with B is standard; combine A and B is iffy.
ELIINATE E
The answer is A.COMMENTSagarwal1993 and
Bacco361 , welcome to SC Butler.
warrior1991 , you raise an interesting point.
First, as far as I can recall (and I looked again), yes, part of the answer is based on idiom: GMAC prefers
combine with.
In the nonunderlined part of this official question, here, for example, we see Combine A with B.
Second, as I discuss just beneath option B, the word "the" is used in a way that suggests we have seen this noun before. We have not.
This issue is a matter of diction.
If we wanted to convey what you said, which I think is a fairly strained but plausible reading, we would omit the word "the," this way:
Works produced in the Murakami style of art ... combine the principles of traditional Japanese art and 1950s Japanese pop cultural images.In that sentence, a second "of" is implied, so that "principles" can carry over to both.
But that sentence is, quite frankly, horrible.
So on the one hand, we need to get rid of
the. The word is used improperly in that option.
On the other hand, after we eliminate
the, we have a strange sentence suggesting that principles can be combined with images.
This issue is not cut and dried—but on balance, option A is clearer and thus the better option.
I am glad to see new people.
Those aspirants who would like to post but feel shy or haven't gotten around to doing so: you have a standing invitation to post.
These answers are good: thoughtful and well-reasoned.
Nicely done.
**First, is this issue a decision point?
No. All of the options use the phrasing.
Second, I think that the pairing is logical enough to withstand scrutiny.
"Pop culture" encompasses music, fashion, art, and other things.
British pop art, for example [the images], was defined by characteristics different from American pop art.
Take a look at the first part of this short article, here.
Whatever underlay Andy Warhol's images of Coca Cola containers and of Marilyn Monroe was undergirded by principles different from those of Japanese pop art images.
Is it the best sentence in the world? No.