the works now of contemporary

[manhhiep2509]

Hello.
The question is related to question 86 in verbal review 2.

"The company focuses on the works now of contemporary English authors"
"The company focused on the works previously of contemporary English authors"

It seems to me that "now" and "previously" modify the preposition "of contemporary English authors", not the action "focus".
Is it correct?

If yes, can any adverb modify any modifier -- or at least preposition -- that are used as adjectives?
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"the company focuses on works both of contemporary English authors who live in the country and of those in cities.

OG says "The scope of those is unclear (authors, or contemporary English authors). I did not see the point but I find that the parallel structure is violated and that "those" is unnecessary.
If I did not know the point OG says, my point is enough to eliminate the choice?

Thank you.

[RonPurewal]

In this context it's pretty clear that "now" is supposed to describe "focuses". (That's the only non-redundant interpretation, since the word "contemporary" already contains the idea of the present.)

For issues of modifier placement, DO NOT evaluate individual answer choices. Evaluate the choices COMPARATIVELY.

I.e., if there's an answer choice that puts "now" in this position, then there is almost certainly another answer choice that puts "now" closer to what it's actually supposed to describe. If there is such a (superior) choice, then you can eliminate the one in which "now" is unnecessarily far away.

I don't have the supplement in front of me, but I'd wager that there is another answer choice with better placement of "now" (if that word is supposed to be there).

[RonPurewal]

"the company focuses on works both of contemporary English authors who live in the country and of those in cities.

This isn't strictly wrong, but, if there's another choice with "... of those who live in cities", then that choice would be better than this one.