George Washington

[RonPurewal]

Good Day Ron
i fail to understand as why choice A is so wrong
choice A:the economic strengthening of the south with improvement of soil and diversification of corps

can you please explain as why preposition "with" is wrong here ?

If "with ____" is used to modify some goal, "____" is normally a tool used to achieve that goal"”i.e., not the methodology through which the goal is achieved.

For the methodology, you'd use through instead, as is done here.

E.g., you can gain strength through weightlifting. Or you can gain strength with dumbbells.

[RonPurewal]

i had a feeling that prepositional phrase without comma can act as adverbial modifier .also "with improvement of soil and diversification of corps" is perfectly parallel .so this prepositional phrase is actually describing as how GWC dedicated his life .

Yes, the parallelism is fine.

doubt 2 : is "economic strengthening of the south" blatantly wrong here .if so why ?

If you read it literally"”as you must"”it doesn't really make sense.

Taken literally, "economic strengthening" means that the strengthening itself is "economic".
That doesn't make sense unless G.W. Carver used economic tools (like, say, Treasury bonds, or other large-scale investments) to strengthen the South.

His tools were not economic; they were agricultural. They strengthened the economy"”but they didn't "economically strengthen" it.

[RonPurewal]

doubt 3 : you have said in the post above following thing :

i don't think you can follow "through" with an -ing construction.

but ing construction act as gerund (noun) so a preposition "through" can follow ing construction

I wasn't talking about grammar. The grammar would be fine.
I meant that it wouldn't be idiomatically acceptable.

I spent a while trying to come up with an acceptable example with that form; I failed to find one.

[eggpain24]

Hi,Ron,

I just wanna confirm if "dedicate himself to the strengthening ...." and "dedicate himself to strengthening" are both right.

thank you very much!

the first is correct if you mean to say that he dedicated himself to the abstract ideal of strengthening the region in general.

the second is correct if you mean that he actually intended to strengthen the region by himself.

so, it really depends on context. e.g., "Ryan dedicated himself to the strengthening of his ankles" is nonsense, because that is not an abstract ideal; "Ryan dedicated himself to strengthening his ankles" works, because, well, that's something he can do for himself.
here, the reverse is true, so it's the other way around.

So I think “the strengthening” and “strengthening“ is not an obvious split for us, at least in terms of priority ?

[RonPurewal]

So I think “the strengthening” and “strengthening“ is not an obvious split for us, at least in terms of priority ?

If both meanings are reasonable, it's not a split at all.

[eggpain24]

So I think “the strengthening” and “strengthening“ is not an obvious split for us, at least in terms of priority ?

If both meanings are reasonable, it's not a split at all.

thanks for your answer！

[tim]

:)

[thanghnvn]

George Washington dedicated his life to the economic strengthening of the south with improvement of soil and diversification of corps.
A. the economic strengthening of the south with improvement of soil and diversification of corps.
B. strengthening the economy in the south with soil improvement and diversification of corps.
C. the strengthening the economy of the south through soil improvement and crop diversification.
D. the strengthening of the economy of the south through improving soil and crop diversifying.
E. the economic strengthening in the south with improving soil and diversifying corp.
OA is C

I can go to choice C

but I do not understand "with" is correct or not.we have to use "through" not "with"

pls, help

[thanghnvn]

George Washington dedicated his life to the economic strengthening of the south with improvement of soil and diversification of corps.
A. the economic strengthening of the south with improvement of soil and diversification of corps.
B. strengthening the economy in the south with soil improvement and diversification of corps.
C. the strengthening the economy of the south through soil improvement and crop diversification.
D. the strengthening of the economy of the south through improving soil and crop diversifying.
E. the economic strengthening in the south with improving soil and diversifying corp.
OA is C

I think that there is no "the" before "strenthening" in C. Please, check the spelling.

[rajgurinder]

Hi Ron

I am confused over a rule here

In C "strengthening the economy" is parallel to "crop diversification"

here "simple gerund" is parallel to "action noun".

As per Manhattan book, its wrong.

Only complex gerund can be parallel to "action noun"


Please clarify

[RonPurewal]

i don't know what those terms mean, but the two parallel structures here—"soil improvement" and "crop diversification"—are constructed in EXACTLY the same way.

[RonPurewal]

^^ oh, i see—you haven't identified the parallel structures correctly.

this sentence refers to the idea of "strengthening the economy of the South through xxxx and yyyy", where 'xxxx' and 'yyyy' are two ways to strengthen the economy.
it's not "strengthening the economy and ______".

[urfrnd.niks]

Team

Can you please tell me the difference between
1. the economic strengthening
2. strengthening the economy

I have read all the posters. Still, I cannot understand.

Any help is appreciated.

Many Thanks
Rajat Gugnani

[RonPurewal]

aside from the points on the previous page:

• you can think literally about meaning.
strengthening the economy...: this is literally what is meant.
the economic strengthening of the south: the phrase 'economic strengthening' doesn't directly communicate the message... and 'of the south' suggests that somehow THE ENTIRE REGION (not just its economy) was 'strengthened'. that's a problem.

• if nothing else, you can just compare choices A and C, and note that A is objectively more wordy and C is objectively less wordy. (this does not amount to an actual error... but you can still use it for elimination, because correct answers are NEVER less efficient / more wordy than incorrect answers.)