OG12 - Emily Dickinson's letters

[samarpan_bschool]

Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and ending shortly before Emily's death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else

A. Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and ending shortly before Emily's death in 1886,
outnumbering

B. Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and ended shortly before Emily's death in 1886, outnumber

C. Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and that ends shortly before Emily's death in 1886 and outnumbering

D. Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother, ending shortly before Emily's death in 1886, and outnumbering

E. Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and ending shortly before Emily's death in 1886, outnumber

OA:

SPOILER: later

[cliq]

A. written ....outnumbering .. two different tenses

B. begins ..ended .. two different tenses
C. written ... outnumbering .. not parallel

D. same issue as C

E. were written.. outnumber
beginning ..ending


IMO E

[adi_800]

Got this one wrong d first time i solved...
it is E but i had gone for A...

[samarpan_bschool]

Hi cliq and adi800,

The relative pronoun 'which' in option E refers to 'letters'.

However, as a rule, 'which' should refer to the noun immediately preceeding it and NOT the closest noun (source: Manhattan SC). In our case this noun is 'Susan Huntington Dickinson'. Is it not a violation of the usage of 'which'?

Can you throw some light on this? Am i missing something?

Thanks in advance !

[samarpan_bschool]

Originally Posted by adi_800

Got this one wrong d first time i solved...
it is E but i had gone for A...

same here adi !! OA is E

[12rk34]

The first part of the original sentence 'were written' indicates passive voice. Here we can not use participle phrase because participle is used for doing the action i.e. for active voice. So 'A' is wrong. ('Ounumbering' should modify the noun that is doing action but here it modifies 'letters')
'Begins' and 'ended' are not parallel in 'B'.
'Beginning' and 'that ends' are not parallel in 'C'. 'And outnumbering' is awkward.
'D' is awkward as 'outnumbering' has been made parallel to 'begining' and 'ending'.
'E' is concise and grammatically correct.
Hence E

[samarpan_bschool]

Originally Posted by 12rk34

The first part of the original sentence 'were written' indicates passive voice. Here we can not use participle phrase because participle is used for doing the action i.e. for active voice. So 'A' is wrong. ('Ounumbering' should modify the noun that is doing action but here it modifies 'letters')
'Begins' and 'ended' are not parallel in 'B'.
'Beginning' and 'that ends' are not parallel in 'C'. 'And outnumbering' is awkward.
'D' is awkward as 'outnumbering' has been made parallel to 'begining' and 'ending'.
'E' is concise and grammatically correct.
Hence E

Thanks 12rk34. I want one more clarification.

In option E 'which' refers to Emily's letters and not susan dickinson, the reason being 'to susan dickinson' is a prepositional phrase. Hence, the relative pronoun 'which' refers to 'Emily's letters', the noun immediately preceeding 'which'.

Am i correct in saying this??

[12rk34]

Originally Posted by samarpan_bschool

Thanks 12rk34. I want one more clarification.

In option E 'which' refers to Emily's letters and not susan dickinson, the reason being 'to susan dickinson' is a prepositional phrase. Hence, the relative pronoun 'which' refers to 'Emily's letters', the noun immediately preceeding 'which'.

Am i correct in saying this??

Yes 'which' refers to 'letters' and there is no ambiguity on this issue because of plural verb 'were'. Also in general the rule of 'relative pronoun refering to immediately preceding noun', can be modified to 'most prominent noun' (a term used by 800Bob) to include the exceptions where 'prepositional phrases' are involved. It is similar to 'patchwork of green fields' example in this link :
http://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sent...en-fields.html (patchwork of green fields)

[samarpan_bschool]

Thanks a ton 12rk34

[cliq]

Originally Posted by samarpan_bschool

However, as a rule, 'which' should refer to the noun immediately preceeding it and NOT the closest noun (source: Manhattan SC).

I have manhattan SC 2003 ed.
It has this example -
Cars come in many colors, which can be very cool or very ugly.

Here cool and ugly can be colors also and Cars also. It says to avoid 'which' in such conditions only. But as long as such an ambiguity is not there, i guess using which is fine.


Also look at OG 11 - Q102.