Billie Holiday's Singing

[jlucero]

One of the users commented that 'Ranging' is not parallel to 'recomposed'. I believe any adjective modifier (ING/ED Modifier) can be parallel if they are adjective modifier. I think in the option E, we have all the right adjective modifiers and hence that is not an issue.

Can u confirm my understanding that 'ING Modifier' here is also correct in E as it is applying to the subject 'Bille Holiday' and also the ING is a simultaneous and subordinate action to 'singing'.

Is there any other way to eliminate Option 'E'?

Option E (Two problem)

1) her voice compared with other musicians Instruments
2) "ranging" not parallel to recomposed
Billie Holiday approached singing by using her voice like other musicians
Instruments, ranging freely over the beat, flattening.out the melodic contours of tunes, and, in effect, recomposed songs to suit her range, style, and artistic sensibilities.

This one's tricky because you have to spend a while thinking about the author's intended meaning to figure out what needs to be parallel. Here's the problem with E's parallelism though:

(E) Billie Holiday approached singing by using her voice like other musicians Instruments, ranging freely over the beat, flattening out the melodic contours of tunes, and, in effect,
recomposed songs to suit her range, style, and artistic sensibilities.

If you want to say using, ranging, and flattening are parallel (telling us how BH sang) while recomposed is a separate verb, the part that is bolded doesn't have a conjunction to wrap up these parallel elements:

BH approached singing and recomposed songs, using X, ranging Y, AND flattening Z.

Without the word AND, there's no finish to this list of items. Wrong.

Also, as other posters have mentioned, there is an illogical comparison "using her voice like other musician's instruments" compares voice to instruments. This should be comparing how she used her voice and how other musicians used their instruments. You would be alright saying she "used her voice like an instrument" although this still wouldn't be as ideal, but she "used her voice like someone else's instrument"? Wrong.

[masiwal.digvijay]

Deliberately imitating the technique of Louis Armstrong, jazz singer Billie Holiday’s
approach to singing was to use her voice like an instrument, in that she ranged
freely over the beat, flattened out the melodic contours of tunes, and, in effect,
recomposed songs to suit her range, style, and artistic sensibilities.
A. Billie Holiday’s approach to singing was to use her voice like an instrument,
in that she ranged freely over the beat, flattened.


Like is wrongly used for giving examples , like shall be used for comparisons.
Also Billie Holiday was imitating the technique not her approach.


B. Billie Holiday’s approach to singing was to use her voice in a similar way
to how other musicians play instruments, in ranging freely over the beat,
flattening.

Billie Holiday was imitating the technique not her approach. Incorrect modification

C. Billie Holiday approached singing by using her voice like other musicians
played instruments, ranging freely over the beat, flattening.

Billie Holiday approached singing by using her voice like other musicians played instruments
Billy Holiday approached using her voice is wrongly compared with other musicians played instruments.
Also some one approached singing sounds wrong.



D. Billie Holiday used her voice in the same way that other musicians use their
instruments, in that she ranged freely over the beat, flattening.
I was not sure of the answer, but some how didnt find much errors. The only confusion was for " in that" which some instructor cleared in previous posts.

E. Billie Holiday approached singing by using her voice like other musicians
Instruments, ranging freely over the beat, flattening.

Billie Holiday is wrongly compared with instruments.
Struck b/w D and E.
Is the use of Phrase "Approached Singing" ,correct.
Is comparison in E correct.
OA is D

Hello instructors,

You guys are doing a great job.
I find this forum the most useful with lots of information.
I could get the right answer for above question with much difficulty.
I have written my reasoning for getting the right answer.
Kindly confirm if the reasons are valid .
Thanks in advance.

[jlucero]

(a) like can be used for comparisons, (I play basketball like Michael Jordan), but you need to compare the proper things; (a) compares her voice to an instrument, but (d) properly the WAY that she used her voice to the WAY other musicians used their instruments.

(b) yes, plus the ending modifier then refers to BH approach, rather than how she sung

(c) same as above

(d) correct answer

(e) not quite. this has the same meaning error as in b & c. BH approached singing by doing X, ranging and flattening... ranging and flattening now refer back to how she approached singing rather than her musical abilities.

[gaurav1a2b]

Ron please help.
In E should we have a possessive pronoun ie musician's instruments.

[tim]

i'd rather not comment on that, for two reasons. first, your job on SC is not to fix anything, but rather to identify errors. as soon as you start asking what would fix an answer choice, you are wasting time and i want to help you make your study time most efficient. second, i am almost certain that E as written in this post is transcribed incorrectly from the original, so it is particularly inefficient to worry about incorrectly written problems..

[sachin.w]

Can E be eliminated because

two verb-ing cannot be in a row? vaguely remember reading this in one of Ron's post..

[RonPurewal]

Can E be eliminated because

two verb-ing cannot be in a row? vaguely remember reading this in one of Ron's post..

first, choice (e) doesn't have two consecutive -ing forms anywhere, se this is a non-issue anyway.

second, no, that's not a blanket rule. there are instances in which consecutive -ing forms are fine, especially if they are grammatically distinct.
e.g.
St. John's School has won city championships in 10 sports, including swimming, tennis, and cross-country running.
nothing wrong with this.

[sachin.w]

Can E be eliminated because

two verb-ing cannot be in a row? vaguely remember reading this in one of Ron's post..

first, choice (e) doesn't have two consecutive -ing forms anywhere, se this is a non-issue anyway.

second, no, that's not a blanket rule. there are instances in which consecutive -ing forms are fine, especially if they are grammatically distinct.
e.g.
St. John's School has won city championships in 10 sports, including swimming, tennis, and cross-country running.
nothing wrong with this.

Hi Ron, Thanks for replying. But in E, we do have flattening and ranging which are consecutive and of type -ing

[tim]

those are not consecutive, they are sequential. i don't see the problem..

[sachin.w]

thanks tim,
so can we have 2 sequential verb-ing constructions?

[tim]

i certainly wouldn't eliminate an answer choice just because it had two -ing constructions. remember to pay attention to things that violate actual grammar rules you can pinpoint in our SC guide..

[sachin.w]

I don't have the link right now to the post made by Ron but I definitely remember Ron having made a similar remark. So, just wanted to confirm.

[tim]

perfect example of what i'm talking about. if you can't pinpoint exactly where you heard of a "rule" (and be sure the source is credible), forget it! the last thing you want is to be applying rules that are not really rules..

[Tadashi]

3 easy questions about A.

a. why BH's approach can't imitate the technique of LA? I think approach & techniques fall into the same category, so approach can imitate techniques.

b. want to learn prep. "like" better.
can i say" I use my voice like an instrument. "? or i have to change my sentence into "Like an instrument, my voice is used by me"

c. can i eliminate A. simply because in the clause "BH's approach to sing was to use her voice like an instrument", "to use" is wrong.

the logic subject of the action "use" is missing. BH's is a adjective and it CAN NOT USE her voice blabla.

Thanks in advance.
Tadashi

[RonPurewal]

3 easy questions about A.

a. why BH's approach can't imitate the technique of LA? I think approach & techniques fall into the same category, so approach can imitate techniques.

Holliday's approach was to imitate Armstrong's technique.

An approach is a way of conceptualizing or thinking about something"”in essence, a philosophy. This is distinct from an actual technique or method.

E.g.,
My approach to reviewing GMAT quant problems is to formulate as many methods as possible for solving them.
Note the distinction from the actual methods (e.g., backsolving, plugging in numbers, etc.)