The work of Byron and Shelley, like other poets of their era

[shaw.s.li]

The work of Byron and Shelley, like other poets of their era, explored themes of love and beauty, which gave rise to the school of poetry known as Romanticism.

a. The work of Byron and Shelley, like other poets of their era, explored themes of love and beauty, which gave rise to the school of poetry known as Romanticism.

b. Byron and Shelley, like other poets of their era, explored themes of love and beauty in their work, giving rise to the school of poetry known as Romanticism.

c. Like other poets of their era, Byron and Shelley's work explored themes of love and beauty, giving rise to the school of poetry known as Romanticism.

d. Love and beauty are themes explored by the work of Byron and Shelley, like they were by other poets of the era, and they gave rise to the school of poetry known as Romanticism.

e. The school of poetry known as Romanticism rose from the works of Byron and Shelley, which was like that of other poets of the era in exploring themes of love and beauty.

I got the question right, but I just want to ask about choice E. Is choice E also wrong for using "which"? which modifies the noun directly in front. In this case, is the noun "the works of Byron and Shelley" or just "Byron and Shelley"? If the noun is Byron and Shelley, I thought you can't use which to modify people.

[george.kourdin]

think that which is modifying the works here. you are right when you say that who must modify people. so one of the 3 errors in this particular sentence is <was> instead of <were> since works are plural.

with that said, i think that wrong answers are wrong for a reason - they have mistakes so some things must be grammatically incorrect for the answer to be wrong. can't use the wrong answer as the holy grail of whats right it WILL have mistakes. i think the goal of evaluating the wrong answers is undersatnding mistakes and being able to explain them.

[shaw.s.li]

I'm not so sure that "which" is modifying "the works."

Take this MGMT error for one of the verbal questions

The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also due to the sacrificing

According to the explanation by MGMT, "The use of a "which" modifier (which must touch the thing that it modifies) implies that the Spanish Armada, not its defeat, stymied plans."

If I follow this rule, then which is modifying Byron and Shelley, not "the works."

By the way, I agree with the subject-verb number agreement error. I'm just trying to understand the use of "which" better.

[rhitian]

is the answer B?

[anjana_deepakrao]

I think answer B.. can someone clarify if its not

[george.kourdin]

B imo

[guessmeguy]

Hi,
Is this question from one of the MGMAT CATs? If not please mention the source.

Thanks,
Shev

[jnelson0612]

Indeed. We need to confirm that this is a ManhattanGMAT CAT question.

[shaw.s.li]

This is a MCAT questions. How do I post a picture?

This is the best I could do http://imgur.com/sqQak

[jnelson0612]

e. The school of poetry known as Romanticism rose from the works of Byron and Shelley, which was like that of other poets of the era in exploring themes of love and beauty.

I got the question right, but I just want to ask about choice E. Is choice E also wrong for using "which"? which modifies the noun directly in front. In this case, is the noun "the works of Byron and Shelley" or just "Byron and Shelley"? If the noun is Byron and Shelley, I thought you can't use which to modify people.

First of all, the answer has to be B. Every other answer has serious flaws.

Let's examine this "which" modifier. shaw, what do you think "which was like that of other poets of the era" is describing?

[shaw.s.li]

I thought the "which" in answer E was trying to describe "the works"

Because this "which" would mean...the works of A&B was was like that {the works} of other poets of the era in exploring themes of love and beauty"

I rejected which because it was more closely following people rather that the works.

Am I correct?

[messi10]

Hi shaw.s.li,

I think Jamie has given you a small hint by asking about the whole "which clause" and not just "which" by itself.

I think that it is modifying "works of Byron and Shelley". In most cases, "which" modifies the noun preceding it. But it can also modify the noun + prep phrase preceding it. This can be deduced by looking at the context of the sentence. As you have rightly pointed out, "which" cannot modify people and if you look at the clause, it is comparing works of Byron and Shelley to that of other poets.

But this is where the error is also there. "works" is plural whereas the verb following which is "was", which is singular. So I think we have a subject-verb disagreement here.

Regards

Sunil

[jnelson0612]

Excellent, Sunil!

[jeremysage26]

I have a question regarding the right answer choice B. I didn't think B was right because of the word their. I thought their could refer to "other poets" or "Byron and Shelley". Can someone please explain?

[jnelson0612]

I have a question regarding the right answer choice B. I didn't think B was right because of the word their. I thought their could refer to "other poets" or "Byron and Shelley". Can someone please explain?

Sure! If in doubt, try replacing the pronouns with the possible nouns. Here you suggest that "their" could be referring to "Byron and Shelley's" or "other poets'". Let's see which makes more sense:

Byron and Shelley, like other poets of Byron and Shelley's era, explored themes of love and beauty in Byron and Shelley's work, giving rise to the school of poetry known as Romanticism.

Byron and Shelley, like other poets of other poets' era, explored themes of love and beauty in other poets' work, giving rise to the school of poetry known as Romanticism.

Which one makes more logical sense? :-) Let us know if we can help further.