Greatly influenced by the Protestant missionary Samuel

[RonPurewal]

On the other hand, a group of people still consists of ... people. So "who(m)" is perfectly fine for the English, the French, the Oneida, etc. Because they're people.

[FanPurewal]

1. I have another aproach to eliminate D. "in siding" which modifies for "five nation" change the meaning of the sentence.

it doesn't modify "five nations"; rather, it modifies the entire clause that follows.** but, yes, you are correct: the meaning of this particular wording is incorrect in this case.

in general, the modifier "in VERBing", whether it's an initial modifier or a modifier that comes after the clause, should point to an action that is done in the process of, or as a component of, the action of VERBing.
for instance:
lesley used the internet a great deal in researching the subject of her report.
this meaning does not apply here, so the modifier is inappropriate.

hi ron
i want to know how do you confirm *in siding* in the sentence modifies the entire clause not the League.

and also, i still can not understand why this sentence have no sense.
lesley used the internet a great deal in researching the subject of her report.
please clarify why *in researching* is wrong here. since i am not a native speaker, i can not judge this through the meaning.
can you please give us more examples of the structure *in VERBing*?

thank you for your explanation. :)

[RonPurewal]

the sentence about lesley is a CORRECT example, to provide a contrast to the incorrect usage.

[liu1993918]

I cross off C(the correct answer), because in my views a comma must be inserted between "the Oneida" and the modifier "alone among the five nations".
Thus, I should not pay particular attention to punctuation, am I right?

[RonPurewal]

Thus, I should not pay particular attention to punctuation, am I right?

exactly right.

of course, you already knew the answer to this question (since your focus on punctuation made you cross out the correct answer!).

[thanghnvn]

[quote="Anne1276"]Greatly influenced by the Protestant missionary Samuel Kirkland, the Oneida was the only one of the five-nation Iroquois League who sided with the colonists during the American Revolution.

A) Same
B) was alone of the five-nation Iroquois League when they sided
C) alone among the five nations of the Iroquois League sided
D) were the only ones out of the five nations of the Iroquois League in siding
E) only of the five-nation Iroquois League had sided

I have quite different explantion. if you agree with me, pls, speak out.

regarding choice A
if "orneida" is a nation, "who" is wrong. if "orneida" is persons, "was" is wrong. in short, A is wrong.
regarding choice B
"when" shows that the two actions in two clauses have only time relation. This is wrong inhere.
regarding choice D
"were" show that "orneida" are persons. "the persons out of 5 nations" is not logic. D is wrong
regarding choice E
"had sided" is wrong.

C is correct and "orneida" is a nation not persons.

do you agree with me?

[JackyF923]

Dear Instructors:
I have a different analysis here to solve the problem, but I am not sure whether the thinking process is right
Please correct me if I make the mistake here
the opening clause "Greatly influenced by ......." has two simultaneous functions
1. modify the subject "the Oneida"
2. modify the verb in the clause behind(in choice ABD, the verb is "was, were", in choice C, the verb is "side")
I suppose the intended meaning here is "the Oneida were influenced by someone, and thus sided with someone in the war "
As the meaning above, in Choice C, the open clause "Greatly influenced by ......." do a good job here to convey the idea, and the clause greatly shows the sequence of this event.
But in the Choice ABD, the verb "was, were" cannot be connected with the opening clause "Greatly influenced by ......." semantically.
Although I don’t know “the Oneida” is plural, I used this method to kill ABD
Again，Please correct me if I make the mistake here

[RonPurewal]

i'm having a hard time understanding the last post.

here's what i get from it:
* the opening modifier describes a reason why the oneida took a certain side in the war.
* if the following sentence has "sided" as its verb, then it makes sense.
* if the following sentence has "was/were (alone)" as its verb, then it doesn't make sense.

if these are your points, then you are correct on all counts.

if you're trying to say something else, please clarify. thanks.

[JackyF923]

i'm having a hard time understanding the last post.

here's what i get from it:
* the opening modifier describes a reason why the oneida took a certain side in the war.
* if the following sentence has "sided" as its verb, then it makes sense.
* if the following sentence has "was/were (alone)" as its verb, then it doesn't make sense.

if these are your points, then you are correct on all counts.

if you're trying to say something else, please clarify. thanks.

Thanks Ron, that is what I mean!
sorry for confusing you!

[RonPurewal]

well, it seems your message got across after all, then. (:

[YAON78]

Hi, Ron.
In The choice(a)was the only one of the five-nation Iroquois League who sided ,Dose the "who sided with the colonists during the American Revolution...“modifies " five-nation Iroquois League " ,or "one"?
in the construction : "A of B that/who/which" (A,B are Noun).the "that/ who/which"modifies A or B?
i think: in the construction" A of B v-ed, the "v-ed" modifies B.
in the construction" A of B v-ing", the "v-ing" also modifies B
are they correct? Can you help me make clear about them, i am very confused about them. Thank you very much.

[RonPurewal]

if you have this sort of thing, it will mean EITHER
1/ there are a bunch of x's, but, among those x's, ___ is the only one that does something,
OR
2/ there are a bunch of x's that do something, and ___ is one of them.

in any given context, it should be clear which of these is the intended meaning. you should NEVER feel the need for a 'rule' here; the context should always be sufficient.
if you're looking for a 'rule' then you're thinking too much about 'mechanics', and not nearly enough about what the sentence is actually supposed to say.

[YAON78]

if you have this sort of thing, it will mean EITHER
1/ there are a bunch of x's, but, among those x's, ___ is the only one that does something,
OR
2/ there are a bunch of x's that do something, and ___ is one of them.

in any given context, it should be clear which of these is the intended meaning. you should NEVER feel the need for a 'rule' here; the context should always be sufficient.
if you're looking for a 'rule' then you're thinking too much about 'mechanics', and not nearly enough about what the sentence is actually supposed to say.

Thanks, Ron. I should try to understand what the author is trying to say rather than to seek some strict rules.

[RonPurewal]

Thanks, Ron. I should try to understand what the author is trying to say rather than to seek some strict rules.

this ^^ is the entire reason why there is a separate quant section and a separate verbal section.

the quant section uses 'rules'.

the verbal section REQUIRES human understanding and CANNOT be solved with 'rules'. (to make 'rules' that would solve the verbal problems, you would have to invent strong artificial intelligence all by yourself!)

[NinaP494]

This got me too. Is it common for GMAC to flout punctuation rules in correct answers? or punctuation rules are not set in stone?

Thus, I should not pay particular attention to punctuation, am I right?

exactly right.

of course, you already knew the answer to this question (since your focus on punctuation made you cross out the correct answer!).