by thanghnvn Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:37 am
Thank you. Manhantan experts, members pls, help/ discuss
in the following problem, also from gmatprep
//Because of wireless service costs plummeting in the last year, and as mobile phones are increasingly common, many people// now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.
A. Because of wireless service costs plummeting in the last year, and as mobile phones are increasingly common, many people
B. As the cost of wireless service plummeted in the last year and as mobile phones became increasingly common, many people
C. In the last year, with the cost of wireless service plummeting, and mobile phones have become increasingly common, there are many people
D. With the cost of wireless service plummeting in the last year and mobile phones becoming increasingly common, many people are
E. While the cost of wireless service has plummeted in the last year and mobile phones are increasingly common, many people are
D is oa. and in this, "with..." dose not refer to "many people"
I think this "with"phrase can be called "absolute" phrase. I see, in the general grammar on the internet, that "absolute phrase has no syntactic relation with main clause". That is why "with ..." phrase in D dose not refer to "many people" . I think this question of GMATPREP shows that point in general grammar very clearly.
But in many places in general grammar in the internet I see the following
his hand strong, he keep the cup
and the first part of the sentence is called absolute phrase
similarly, there is a questions in OG 10
his righ hand and arm crippled...., Horace worked (question 86)
a similar thing in question 104, og 10
the diet of ordinary greek inclassical times was largely vegegarian-vegetables, fresh cheese, oatmeal, and meal cakes, with meat as a rarity.
The point I want to make is that, the phrase with preposition, separated by a comma may or may not refer to a noun in main clause. Is that right? we do not need to know the names of 2 phrases above, one phrase refering to a noun in main clause, another refering to no noun in main clause. Of course, both kinds of phrase are adverb and modify whole main clause.
is my thinking correct? Do we need to differentiate the two kinds of phrases above?
I see that by looking for minor errors, using grammar basics and comparison among answer choices, we can eliminate wrong answers and go to correct one without knowing hard grammar points such as above points.
