RonPurewal wrote:
kristy11126 wrote:
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
The key is D. Why not E?
In my view, 'with' in choice d seems to imply that many people physically own something.
Here attached another example from prep test,
On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime punishable by imprisonment that a United States citizen hold gold in the form of bullion or coins, immigrants found that on arrival in the United States they had to surrender all of the gold they had brought with them.
A. On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime punishable by imprisonment that a United States citizen hold
B. With a law passed in 1933 that makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment that a United States citizen hold
C. A law passed in 1933 that made it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a United States citizen holding
D. Because of a law passed in 1933 making it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a United States citizen to hold
E. Due to a law being passed in 1933 that makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a United States citizen to hold
The key is D.
'with' in choice b is also bad: it seems to imply that immigrants arrived with the law in their hands.
hm, interesting.
first,
you should be able to answer this problem based on heavy hitters such as parallelism.
parallelism is one of the most important error types on the exam, and it's also one of the most common, if not
the most common.
choice (e) can be knocked out for its bad parallelism.
the two actions described at the beginning - cost plummeting, phones becoming more common - are clearly
simultaneous, so we need to
use parallel structure for these simultaneous events.
the first is "the cost ... has plummeted", so the second MUST be "phones ...
have become increasingly common". it's not written that way, so (e) is incorrect.
in addition, (e) uses
while in a questionable sense. when
while appears at the beginning of a clause like this, it's normally used to introduce
contrast ("while most of the class spent the weekend studying for class, i spent the weekend at the beach").
--
now, an analysis of the grammatical weirdness that's going on in the correct answer:
i'm learning something new here, but that happens decently often with these things. sentence correction is a slippery fish.
it appears that 'with' may be used
with a present participle (-ING form) to represent
circumstances that are contemporaneous with the action described in the main clause.
that's what's going on here: the "with ___ing" constructions are used to describe things that are contemporaneous with the described uptick in the use of mobile phones.
First of all, I am a big fan of your each and every explanation. :)
I would just like to add to what you have said here. This is a example of an absolute phrase. And, as Ron rightly said, absolute phrase is used to zoom down at comtemporaneous circumstances associated with main action.
There are two absolute phrase constructs which is known to me
a) With NOUN VERB+ING : With cost of x plummeting, many people are blah -------
b) With NOUN Adverb of place: With twinkle in his eye, the old man said goodbye to his grandson. (copied from DOING GRAMMAR).
When we break these complex sentences into two or more simple sentences, WITH is altogether left out.
When with precedes an absolute phrase, with is an introductory word, like a subordinate conjunction. It is not part of the absolute itself. So absolute phrase that are introduced by with are not prepositional phrases. They remain absolute phrases.
Example: The cost of wireless service are plummeting since (in) the last year.
Mobile phones are becoming increasingly common.
Many people are now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends.
Similarly, we can make simple sentences for 2nd example.
Twinkle was in his eye.
Old man said goodbye to his grandson.
As we see in these examples With is left out when understanding and simplifying the meaning of the absolute prhases starting with WITH (as WITH are not part of it).
Treatment of prepositional phrases starting with WITH is different.
WITH + NOUN (noun of preposition)
Example: With in prepositional phrases change to possessive words like has or have.
A house with a computer and a set of encyclopedias announces the sophistication of its occupants.
a. A house has a computer and a set of encyclopedias.
b. A house announces the sophistication of its occupants.
Note: all information is from DOING GRAMMAR.
you post the nice thing. the problem is that "with..." phrase in D is not refer to "many people" and is correct.
pls, tell me DOING GRAMMAR by what author. I want to see the book. thank you.
