recording system

[750plus]

Dear Team at Manhattan Prep,

I'm sorry but I did not understand the explanation given by Mr. Sanders above for option E. I respect his perspective, but can you point any other reason to eliminate choice E, as I believe I cannot eliminate it merely on the basis that it has an inverted structure.

I'm posting the question again so that you don't have to scroll again and again.

A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that even Theodore C. Sorensen, the White House counsel, did not know it existed.

A. A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that
B. So secret was a recording system installation and operation in the Kennedy Oval Office
C. It was so secret that a recording system was installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office
D. A recording system that was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office
E. Installed and operated so secretly in the Kennedy Oval was a recording system that

Warm Regards

[RonPurewal]

it's natural to think about placement, since chunks of the sentence are shoved around repeatedly from choice to choice.

• "secretly" describes "installed & operated"

• "in the KOO" also describes "installed & operated"

• thus, you should keep the choice(s) in which these modifiers are CLOSEST to "installed & operated", and toss the choice(s) with inferior placement.

choice E has a weird separation between "installed & operated" and "in the KOO". this placement is plainly and objectively inferior to that in choices A and D. so, kill E.

it's true that E has a structure that doesn't exist in good writing, but such things are largely distractions from more fundamental things. no need to worry about that. the chance that you'll see exactly the same structure in a future problem is 0.0000 per cent.

[750plus]

it's natural to think about placement, since chunks of the sentence are shoved around repeatedly from choice to choice.

• "secretly" describes "installed & operated"

• "in the KOO" also describes "installed & operated"

• thus, you should keep the choice(s) in which these modifiers are CLOSEST to "installed & operated", and toss the choice(s) with inferior placement.

choice E has a weird separation between "installed & operated" and "in the KOO". this placement is plainly and objectively inferior to that in choices A and D. so, kill E.

it's true that E has a structure that doesn't exist in good writing, but such things are largely distractions from more fundamental things. no need to worry about that. the chance that you'll see exactly the same structure in a future problem is 0.0000 per cent.

Mr. Purewal,

I read and understood your point of view but I still have a question.

You said - 'choice E has a weird separation between "secretly" and "in the KOO" ' I don't know but I cannot see any separation in between 'secretly' and 'in the KOO' in choice E.

Please if you can explain.

Warm Regards
Rajat Gugnani

[RonPurewal]

edited (see boldface). thanks.