a sentence correction problem

[cx86926.student]

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.
A. Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering
B. Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber
C. Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering
D. Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering
E. Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

The OA is E.

I just wonder why A is not correct. Choice E has changed the structure and emphasis of the original sentence("were written" should be the main verb in the main sentence, not in the subordinate sentence). Besides, the sentence describes the past circumstance/tense ("were written") and in choice E, "outnumber" expresses the present tense.

In choice A, "outnumbering" can be considered as a consequence or accompanying circumstance, because the letters were written over the long period (beginning...and ending...), and then the number of this kind of letters has increased and even exceeded the number of "her letters to anyone else".

Could you help me to explain that and point out my misunderstanding about this problem, if there is any?

Thanks a lot!

[mithunsam]

There is no grammatical error in A. But, it is logically incorrect. Statement A relates time period to outnumbering. This is incorrect as "outnumbering of letters" is not a "result" of the period mentioned in the statement. Therefore, statement A is incorrect.

Statement E is correct. "which were" is right usage and correctly refers to letters. Usage of "outnumber" is also correct as Emily's letters to Susan still outnumber Emily's letters to anyone else.

[cx86926.student]

Thanks a lot for your explanation.

But why participle phrase(outnumbering her letters to anyone else) cannot modify the subject of the main sentence (Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson)? Generally speaking, the correct choice of SC question should not change the basic construction of the original sentence if that structure is right.

Thanks a lot!

[RonPurewal]

Thanks a lot for your explanation.

But why participle phrase(outnumbering her letters to anyone else) cannot modify the subject of the main sentence (Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson)? Generally speaking, the correct choice of SC question should not change the basic construction of the original sentence if that structure is right.

Thanks a lot!

COMMA -ING modifiers must actually modify the preceding clause -- they must represent an action/event that is either
(1) simultaneous with, and subordinate to, that clause,
or
(2) a direct and inevitable consequence of that clause.

this condition is not satisfied here, as the period of time over which the letters were written is unrelated to their outnumbering other letters.
you can't hypothesize an imaginary relationship between these two concepts; they are unrelated ideas.

[cx86926.student]

Clear.
Thanks a lot!

[jnelson0612]

great!

[tarunsi]

Hey guys,

I am still confused, if the use of "Which" justified here ? I used to think that "which" should modify the thing preceeding the comma. That rule doesn't seem to apply here.

I would appreciate any kind of explanation.

Thanks,

[tarunsi]

Please ignore my earlier message. I just found my query answered here:

post24246.html

[RonPurewal]

Please ignore my earlier message. I just found my query answered here:

post24246.html

please post any further questions on that thread, not this one. thanks.