"Although subordinate clause" must have a subject and verb?

[MichaelZ337]

Hi Ron

I am not sure whether the subordinate clause introduced by "although" must have a subject and a verb. I recalled that it isn't the case for some OG questions.

However, in SC question 17 of OG13, the offical instruction get rid of C and D using the above rule. This confuses me.

My reasoning to get rid of C and D is basd on the meaning: It is not logical to say that you cannot see something on the pole/equator, but that thing is visable on the surface. As we know, surface includes pole/equator. Hence, the meaning of A is logical.

Could you please share how you get rid of C and D?

Thank you!

Michael

[RonPurewal]

ok, so this issue is pretty interesting.

i spent some time creating "good" sentences with although. (i've been a writer and editor for over 20 years, so, by this point, good written language is as intuitive to me as spoken language is to you. i.e., just as you'd immediately recognize the mistakes in the speech of a foreign speaker--without having to specify the exact nature of those mistakes--i can recognize, by basically pure instinct, whether a written sentence is good or bad.)

what i found is in the following posts.

[RonPurewal]

• if "(al)though xxxx" PRECEDES the sentence, then "xxxx" can be either a complete sentence or an adjective/modifier.

e.g.,

(Al)though James has never been formally trained in medicine, he is able to identify a wide variety of maladies.
("although" + complete sentence; precedes the main sentence)
also see OG SC problem #39 (can't reproduce here)

(Al)though not formally trained in medicine, James is able to identify a wide variety of maladies.
("although" + adjective-type modifier; precedes the main sentence)
also see OG SC problem #48 (can't reproduce here)

[RonPurewal]

• if "(al)though xxxx" INTERRUPTS the sentence, then "xxxx" should be only a modifier. in this case, "xxxx" should NOT be a complete sentence.

^^ this is something i discovered just now. despite trying, i wasn't able to make a good sentence that's interrupted by "(al)though + complete sentence". i can't guarantee that this is a "rule", though i can vouch for it with a reasonable degree of certainty.

e.g.,

if the interruption follows a noun, then you should have a modifier that describes the noun (adjective-type modifier):
Paula, though exhausted, managed to stay awake through her son's entire piano recital.

if the interruption follows a verb, you should have a modifier that describes the verb (adverb-type modifier):
Audrey just admitted, though inadvertently, how she really feels about her mother-in-law.

also see OG SC problem #36 (can't reproduce here)

[RonPurewal]

• if "although xxxx" FOLLOWS the sentence, then "xxxx" should be a complete sentence. in this case, "xxxx" should not be a modifier/adjective.

(i assume this construction is familiar enough to make examples unnecessary. if you need examples, just say so in a response)

^^ this one is what's relevant to the particular problem at hand. as with the idea above, this is another incidental "discovery" that i can't %100 guarantee is actually a "rule".

--

and here's the weirdest discovery of all: if "though" (NOT "although") follows the sentence, it IS allowed to introduce a modifier.
in this case, the modifier should be an adverb-type modifier; in other words, it should describe the entire action that precedes it.

e.g.,
I wear swimsuits often, though never for actual swimming; I just lie out in the sun.

[RonPurewal]

there's also a problem of meaning. it's not a huge glaring issue, but it's still an issue.

the basic meaning of "xxxx, although yyyy" / "although yyyy, xxxx" is...
"yyyy" is something that makes "xxxx" seem unlikely (or, at the very least, less likely than it would otherwise seem), but, nevertheless, "xxxx" is true.

the way those answer choices are written, they don't make literal sense:
Sunspots are visible as dark spots ..., (al)though ... never sighted at the Sun's poles or equator
--> this sentence doesn't fit the template above. i.e., the fact that sunspots have never been sighted at the sun's poles or equator doesn't reduce the likelihood that they appear as dark spots.

importantly, the main clause DOES NOT just say that the sunspots appear on the surface of the sun. that, by contrast, would actually make sense here.
the problem is that the main clause describes the specific physical appearance of the spots ("as dark spots"), and thus doesn't create a proper contrast anymore.

[RonPurewal]

finally--and perhaps most importantly--when you read the original sentence, you should get the sense that we're mentioning two comparable, equal-priority facts about sunspots.
...in other words, exactly the kind of thing for which we use parallelism.

FACT 1: sunspots appear as dark spots on the sun's surface
BUT...
FACT 2: sunspots have never been seen at the sun's poles or equator

if you think carefully while reading the original, you'll probably come up with an interpretation along these lines. thus you should be predisposed toward choices that put these in parallel (with "but").

[MichaelZ337]

HI Ron, thank you for your thorough answer! It is the first time I learn the usage.

For the last part when "although/though clause" is used FOLLOWING the main clause, you mentioned that "though" can live without a Subject, but "although" cannot. Is this some intuitive feeling? Or is it because though and although are treated differently in English?

Thank you!

Michael

[RonPurewal]

HI Ron, thank you for your thorough answer! It is the first time I learn the usage.

you're welcome.

For the last part when "although/though clause" is used FOLLOWING the main clause, you mentioned that "though" can live without a Subject, but "although" cannot. Is this some intuitive feeling? Or is it because though and although are treated differently in English?

for the purposes of this forum, this matter is a non-issue, because something this subtle will NEVER matter on the exam. never ever ever, not in a million zillion years.

[MichaelZ337]

Ok, noted. Thanks a lot, Ron!

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome..

[SouravK297]

Wow Ron! You have just precisely elaborated on the correct usage of "although" w.r.t. phrases\clauses. Thanks for you effort.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Good to hear that's useful.