SC Q177 Louisiana Purchase
Rohit,
You are right about the rule
of “being†but whatever you have said with “With†seems is unwarranted because
there is no reason to it.
You can use the word “with†when
you want to talk about two simultaneous actions as well. If both those actions
are in the continuous form then the usage of “while†is preferable.
Hope that helps.
In the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States acquired 828,000 square miles for about four cents an acre, which more than doubled the country’s size and that brought its western border within reach of the Pacific Ocean.
A. In the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States acquired 828,000 square miles for about four cents an acre, which more than doubled the country’s size and that brought
B. For about four cents an acre the United States acquired, in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, 828,000 square miles, more than doubling the country’s size and it brought
C. With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States acquired 828,000 square miles for about four cents an acre, more than doubling its size and bringing
D. The United States, in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, for about four cents an acre, acquired 828,000 square miles, more than doubling the country’s size, bringing
E. Acquiring 828,000 square miles in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States bought it for about four cents an acre, more than doubling the country’s size and bringing
OA is
C I picked D – my argument against C was that ‘its’ is ambigious, did it double the size of Louisiana or the US? Please help! Thanks!I think the OA is C.
In D, modifier ‘for about four cents an acre‘ should be placed after ‘acquired 828,000 square miles‘ that it modifies.
Also, ‘doubling….’ and ‘bringing…..’ both modifies the preceding clause ‘the United States acquired….’. Hence, should have an ‘and’ in between.
C – Correct structure
<Modifier> the United States acquired 828,000 square miles <modifier>, more than doubling its size and bringing….(parallelism)
Also, as ‘doubling…’ is modifying the preceding clause, ‘its’ correctly refers to the subject of the clause(US).
Admin, please correct me if i am wrong.
Hi ,
ITS clearly indicate to US so hence the option is correct , and we need brining because the action of purchase is the cause of brining the border close
I want a clear explaination on why E is wrong
As per my understanding, in E, ‘it’ does not have a clear antecedent.
Also,meaning-wise, doubling and bringing should modify the ‘United States acquiring X in Louisiana’ not by ‘how much United States acquired that’. The modifier structure is unclear in E(meaning-wise)
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks a lot for your explanation Kunal!
Still a bit confused though 🙁 Not entirely convinced that the ‘it’ is unambiguous.
Add a ‘please’ to your questions Abhishek – your friends are here trying to help. 🙂
Gowri
A: incorrect use of ‘which’
B: What brought the country’s western border within reach of the Pacific Ocean? no legitimate antecedent for ‘it’.
C: Correct.
D: ‘and’ missing before ‘bringing’. This, and putting ‘for about 4 cents an acre’ ahead of ‘acquired 828,000 square miles’ impact the clarity of the sentence. Issues here are about clarity of meaning and not simply grammar.
E: Poor construction. Look at a parallel:
Buying four pounds of sugar at the grocer’s, Nancy bought it to make cake.
‘it’ can stand for ‘828,000 square miles’ (we shouldn’t treat the miles separately and treat this as plural) but when you put the noun back in place of the pronoun, the construction is just really ugly.
Another issue with E is that a Comma + ing modifier should have some relationship with the preceding clause. In option E, ‘the United States bought it for about 4 cents an acre’ is the preceding clause and this talks about how much the US paid. The -ing modifier talks about the result of the purchase. No direct relationship.
I find C also incorrect ..reason being usage of with.
It looks like US did Louisiana Purchase and simultaneously bought xyz acres of land……which is not the case
Please help where am i wrong in this interpretation
