CAT 2 SC- Though the language of Beowulf

[j.r.ashish]

Q. Though the language of Beowulf is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, careful linguistic analysis reveals a multitude of similarities to modern English.

1)Though the language of Beowulf is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, careful linguistic analysis reveals a multitude of similarities to modern English.

2)Despite that it is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, careful linguistic analysis reveals that the language of Beowulf has a multitude of similarities to modern English.

3)Though being practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, the language of Beowulf reveals through careful linguistic analysis a multitude of similarities to modern English.

4)Though Beowulf has a language that is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, a multitude of similarities are revealed to modern English through careful linguistic analysis.

5)Despite having practically incomprehensible language to contemporary readers, Beowulf reveals through careful linguistic analysis a multitude of similarities to modern English.

In this Q even though I went with option A, but I have a doubt here.

In this sentence-

Though the language of Beowulf is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers, careful linguistic analysis reveals a multitude of similarities to modern English.

Does Though acts as comparison marker? If so, then

The language of Beowulf is compared to careful linguistic analysis

which is wrong; Language of B should be compared to Language of Modern English.

Also, how
Modifier
Though the language of Beowulf is practically incomprehensible to contemporary readers,
Modifying
careful linguistic analysis
make any sense?

[RonPurewal]

That isn't a modifier.

"Though" connects two complete sentences.
Though I left home early, I still arrived late to the meeting
"”> "I left home early" and "I still arrived late to the meeting" are two complete sentences.

Complete sentences are not modifiers.

"Though" connects sentences just as "and" or "but" does. The only mechanical difference is that "and" and "but" can't be placed in front (as "though" is here).

[RonPurewal]

In fact, this is the entire reason why modifiers have to "modify" things"”"”because they're NOT complete sentences! Since they are not sentences in their own right, they must "stick" to some noun or action in the main sentence.

[j.r.ashish]

Thanks!!

Was not clear with this concept, but now I am

[jnelson0612]

Thanks!!

Was not clear with this concept, but now I am

Good to hear!

[UtkarshS279]

That isn't a modifier.

"Though" connects two complete sentences.
Though I left home early, I still arrived late to the meeting
"”> "I left home early" and "I still arrived late to the meeting" are two complete sentences.

Complete sentences are not modifiers.

"Though" connects sentences just as "and" or "but" does. The only mechanical difference is that "and" and "but" can't be placed in front (as "though" is here).

Hi Ron,

The only thing that bothered me about the OA is that in the second statement there is no pronoun that points towards 'language of Beowulf' mentioned in the first statement.
In your own example, 'I' appears in both the statements: Though I left home early, I still arrived late..

Is it not necessary to always have a pronoun in such cases

Thanks,
Utkarsh

[JbhB682]

Hi - three quick questions on the concept of joining 2 independent clauses

- If "though" can combine two sentences --- any reason why its not included in the list of FANBOYS ?
- Other than FANBOYS and now "Though" -- are there other words that can combine two independent clauses
- Please confirm if "THAT" can combine two independent clauses as well

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

FANBOYS lists the coordinating conjunctions in English. I.e. we can use them to join two main clauses. There are also lots of subordinating conjunctions which we can use to join two clauses. Take, for example "Although Jim doesn't like vegetables, he loves carrots." In this sentence, the main clause is "He loves carrots." and the subordinate clause (i.e. kind of extra information) is "Jim doesn't like vegetables". Since there are heaps of subordinating conjunctions, you shouldn't become obsessed by looking out just for FANBOYS.

However, the word "that" functions differently - it's not a conjunction. It's used to introduce noun modifiers, in examples such as "The house that is next door to mine is red". Check out the Modifiers chapter in the Strategy Guide for more help here.

[JbhB682]

Hi Sage,

-- Can coordinating conjunctions attach two independent clauses like FANBOYS do ?

Reviewing the strategy guide, a coordinating conjunction can attach a modifier to an independent clause


Although Jim doesn't like vegetables, he loves carrots

A follow up on this : how can a test taker know if the red is a dependent clause / modifier or an independent clause ....reviewing the red only , it seems like it can stand on its own ....also "he loves carrots" really doesn't need the modifier to stand independently on its own ..

How to know if the red specifically is an independent clause or a modifier like you mentioned ?

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Remember our task in GMAT: to eliminate wrong answer choices and find the best variant. Being able to label each part of the sentence is only useful if it helps us in this task. So don't over-analyze here.

You're right, in the sentence "Although Jim doesn't like vegetables, he loves carrots." the bold part can stand alone. In another sentence that could be the main clause. But if we take the whole clause here, we'd need to include the 'although' as well. In that case the first part can't stand alone and we can see that it's a dependent clause. The task of "leaving out the junk" (i.e. the modifiers / dependent clauses) to find the core of a sentence is a useful task, but we need to be careful about being too casual about what we leave out.

The only other thing to add is that modifiers / dependent clauses require a connection between the ideas, whereas FANBOYS can just connect two separate thoughts.