She was an educator, a builder of institutions and organizat

[gmatkiller_24]

She was an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements as well, so one of the best-known and most well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century was Nannie Helen Burroughs.

(A) She was an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements as well, so one of the best-known and most well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century was Nannie Helen Burroughs.

(B) She was an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements, and Nannie Helen Burroughs also was one of the best-known and well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century.

(C) As an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements, Nannie Helen Burroughs was one of the best-known and most well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century.

(D) As an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements, one of the best-known and well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century was Nannie Helen Burroughs.

(E) Being an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements, one of
the best-known and most well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century was Nannie Helen Burroughs.


Got this question on GMAT prep. It was pretty hard. The OA is C.
I got it right, but find it hard to articulate why other choices are wrong.

choice A / B: the sentence is constructed in a way that "she" and "Nannie Helen Burroughs" are not the same person. ( are there any other more solid ways to eliminate A and B ? )

choice D/E: the opening modifier "as an educator / being an educator“ makes no sense with the following noun “one of the best-known..." ( Nannie Helen Burroughs should be the subject)

Do I miss any other solid ways to eliminate A/B/D/E? Please clarify. Thank you!

[tim]

You've nailed it. Those are the best reasons to eliminate the wrong answers. This one is pretty much just modifiers, and your analysis will get you right to the correct answer.

[RonPurewal]

Do I miss any other solid ways to eliminate A/B/D/E? Please clarify. Thank you!

choice B says that NHB was well known and well respected for reasons that had nothing to do with the stuff mentioned earlier in the sentence.
in fact, choice B is quite emphatic about this non-relationship. (the use of 'and' already implies 'separate observations', so that's good enough to rule B out already... but then there's 'also', which puts even more emphasis on the notion of 'ok guys, we're talking about a DIFFERENT IDEA now'!)

it's clear that the earlier part explains WHY she was so renowned, so this meaning is nonsense.

[sahilk47]

She was an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements as well, so one of the best-known and most well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century was Nannie Helen Burroughs.

(A) She was an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements as well, so one of the best-known and most well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century was Nannie Helen Burroughs.

(B) She was an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements, and Nannie Helen Burroughs also was one of the best-known and well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century.

(C) As an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements, Nannie Helen Burroughs was one of the best-known and most well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century.

(D) As an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements, one of the best-known and well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century was Nannie Helen Burroughs.

(E) Being an educator, a builder of institutions and organizations, and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movements, one of
the best-known and most well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century was Nannie Helen Burroughs.


Got this question on GMAT prep. It was pretty hard. The OA is C.
I got it right, but find it hard to articulate why other choices are wrong.

choice A / B: the sentence is constructed in a way that "she" and "Nannie Helen Burroughs" are not the same person. ( are there any other more solid ways to eliminate A and B ? )

choice D/E: the opening modifier "as an educator / being an educator“ makes no sense with the following noun “one of the best-known..." ( Nannie Helen Burroughs should be the subject)

Do I miss any other solid ways to eliminate A/B/D/E? Please clarify. Thank you!

Ron

Now I know you would say Official answers are correct and official answers are correct, but how can some one be one of the most ? ( As put in bold above). Isn't "most" a single entity and not a group ? Do we consider this construction correct otherwise as well ? (outside the scope of this question?)

Thank you!

[RonPurewal]

Isn't "most" a single entity and not a group ?

this is the kind of question that you could dismiss, quickly and easily, just by making a couple of very easy examples.
The most common topics in SC are...
The most expensive items are displayed first.
Five-star generals are the most distinguished officers in the army.
these sentences are perfectly fine. (i bet you realize this, too—i doubt you would try to argue against these sentences.)

as usual, context is the key.
some sentences are meant to discuss only the single most xxxxxx thing.
others are meant to discuss the most xxxxxx things (= a group/class).

if this sort of thing is actually an issue in a SC problem, it will be absolutely obvious which of these two is the intended meaning.