The puzzle -----including VS which includes !!!

[lambandme]

Though now eaten in large quantities around the world and harmless, the tomato is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, and was once thought to be poisonous itself as a result.

A) Though now eaten in large quantities around the world and harmless, the tomato is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, and was once thought to be poisonous itself as a result.

B) The tomato, though now eaten in large quantities around the world and harmless, is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, which includes belladonna, and it was therefore once thought to be poisonous itself.

C) Once thought to be poisonous itself, the tomato is harmless and now eaten in large quantities around the world, and is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna.

D) Though now eaten in large quantities around the world and known to be harmless, the tomato was once considered poisonous because it is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, which includes belladonna.

E) A member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, the tomato was once considered poisonous even though it is harmless and now eaten in large quantities around the world.


What I don't understand is the explanation for the phrase "including belladonna"

Here's the explanation given by MGMAT:

(A) Moreover, "including belladonna" is incorrect left dangling. It should be "which includes belladonna."
(C) The phrase "including belladonna" does not properly modify anything.
(E)The phrase "including belladonna" does not properly modify anything.
Why is it dangling? it's a noun modifier, and should directly modifies the noun before it which is the"nightshade family" ---makes perfect sense: belladonna is a member of the nightshade family.

Please help me on this~~~Thanks in advance!!

[messi10]

Hi lambandme,

This question has already been discussed here below:

confusion-in-sc-question-bank-q-7-t3222.html

If your query has not been discussed, please post it in that thread only. Do not start a new thread for the same question

Thanks

Sunil

[jnelson0612]

Thanks Sunil!

[harpreet1205]

Though now eaten in large quantities around the world and harmless, the tomato is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, and was once thought to be poisonous itself as a result.

A) Though now eaten in large quantities around the world and harmless, the tomato is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, and was once thought to be poisonous itself as a result.

B) The tomato, though now eaten in large quantities around the world and harmless, is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, which includes belladonna, and it was therefore once thought to be poisonous itself.

C) Once thought to be poisonous itself, the tomato is harmless and now eaten in large quantities around the world, and is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna.

D) Though now eaten in large quantities around the world and known to be harmless, the tomato was once considered poisonous because it is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, which includes belladonna.

E) A member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, the tomato was once considered poisonous even though it is harmless and now eaten in large quantities around the world.




Hi Ron,

In one of the study halls by Tommy (Jan 5,2012), he eliminated choices A,B,C,E saying that "harmless and now eaten in large quantities around the world"
both of the above are not parallel.

So my question to you is though both are adjectives why aren't they parallel, although I agree another participial phrase parallel to "now eaten in large quantities around the world" would be much better ?


Also in one of the study halls by you, you mentioned that "Not all parallel structures have perfectly matching components" and you even provided an example for that:
They argue just as frequently and about the same topic...blah blah...

you said that just as frequently and about the same are parallel. Based on this, my second question to you is :why can't we consider the answer choices(of the question) a special case just like the example you mentioned?


Is there something that I am missing?
Please Clarify

[RonPurewal]

Harpreet, that text color is annoyingly difficult to read. Please type your question without using color tags. Thank you.

(Color is ok for highlighting things, but it's difficult to read entire posts written in color, especially if the color is faint.)

You can eliminate choices A and B because "now" is placed before the entire structure "xxxxx and harmless".
So, those choices seem to suggest that the tomato is now harmless, but wasn't harmless in the past. Hmmm.

As for the other choices, remember that parallelism is a "beauty contest".
Your job is not to hypothesize "ideal" parallelism. Your job is to pick the choices that are MORE parallel than OTHER choices.
In this problem, the choices with "known" || "eaten" are more parallel than the other ones, so there's your decision.

In other words, I don't think anything is technically wrong with the choices that just say "harmless". But they are unquestionably inferior to the others -- and, in a multiple-choice problem, that's all you need.

[harpreet1205]

I will take care of that in future, just wanted to make sure that my question doesn't gets mixed up with the rest of text.

[RonPurewal]

I will take care of that in future, just wanted to make sure that my question doesn't gets mixed up with the rest of text.

All of your text is the same color. (Your questions are the same color as the text that comes before them.)

But, that issue aside, please use the default text color. (There's a reason why 99.999% of books in the world are printed in black ink on white-ish paper.)