The single-family house constructed by

[sash23]

The singe-family house constructed by the Yana, a Native American people who lived in what is now northern California, was conical in shape, its framework of poles overlaid with slabs of bark, either cedar or pine, and banked with dirt to a height of three to four feet.

a) same
b) banked with dirt as high as that of
c) banked them with dirt to a height of
d) was banked with dirt as high as
e) was banked with dirt as high as that of

I struggled between choice A and D, and ultimately choice D thnking that "was banked" is parallel to "was conical" but choice A is correct. Is this because its not the single family house that was banked with dirt but the framework of poles? Is there an issue with "high as" vs height?
Thanks!!

[anil]

u r right. "its framework of poles" is the subject. But iam stuck between A and B. mods pls help...

[RonPurewal]

u r right. "its framework of poles" is the subject. But iam stuck between A and B. mods pls help...

(b) is wrong because there's nothing for "that of" to refer to. (there are no other possessives or "of" constructions anywhere else in the sentence)

[RonPurewal]

u r right. "its framework of poles" is the subject. But iam stuck between A and B. mods pls help...

(b) is wrong because there's nothing for "that of" to refer to. (there are no other possessives or "of" constructions anywhere else in the sentence)

those sorts of constructions - that of, those of, etc. - require STRICT parallelism.

[Guest]

can you please explain why A is correct here?

[RonPurewal]

can you please explain why A is correct here?

ron's note: i have edited this post.
see here:
post35093.html#p35093

sure.

the part starting with "its framework of poles..." is an appositive modifier (a descriptor), and is NOT parallel to "conical in shape". it has two parts, both starting with passive participles ("overlaid" and "banked").
the orange part is the modifier.

The singe-family house constructed by the Yana, a Native American people who lived in what is now northern California, was conical in shape, its framework of poles overlaid with slabs of bark, either cedar or pine, and banked with dirt to a height of three to four feet.

[aaa]

Please explain why D is wrong? Thanks

[RonPurewal]

hmm, yeah, on second reading, there actually appears to be some ambiguity in this sentence, at least in the original choice (a).
specifically, "banked to a height of 3-4 feet" could be parallel to "conical" - as i illustrated in the post with the yellow writing - but it could also be parallel to "overlaid with slabs of bark".
if the oa is (a), i don't see an easy way out of this predicament. i'll check this with some of our other instructors and get back to you.

[rmbbent]

Can anybody resolve the issues listed in Ron's message above?

[photoes.archieve]

why is D wrong?

[sd]

I picked A on this one because I thought - "as high as" is more idiomatic then "to a height of" in D. Instructors can you shed more light on this question please.

[RonPurewal]

I picked A on this one because I thought - "as high as" is more idiomatic then "to a height of" in D. Instructors can you shed more light on this question please.

see above

[melvinjose]

hmm, yeah, on second reading, there actually appears to be some ambiguity in this sentence, at least in the original choice (a).
specifically, "banked to a height of 3-4 feet" could be parallel to "conical" - as i illustrated in the post with the yellow writing - but it could also be parallel to "overlaid with slabs of bark".
if the oa is (a), i don't see an easy way out of this predicament. i'll check this with some of our other instructors and get back to you.

Hi Ron, request you to correct/confirm my understanding here.

Structure of the sentence with option D will look like what follows:
The house constructed by Y was conical in shape, appositive modifier modifying house, adj modifier modifying bark, and was banked with dirt.
here was banked seems parallel to was conical (verb+adj/participle and both referring to house)

Whereas the structure of the sentence with option A will look like what follows:
The house constructed by Y was conical in shape, its framework overlaid with S and B, adj modifier modifying bark, and banked with dirt.
Here banked seems to be parallel to overlaid (both participles modifying framework)

Thus the plausible reason to rule out D is that the house is not supposed to be banked by dirt whereas the framework can be.

I am confused. Need your advice.

[RonPurewal]

why is D wrong?

first, there's the "as high as" problem. you don't use a construction like that unless you're
(a) giving some sort of limitation on the height of something, and/or
(b) trying to emphasize the extreme height of something.

during the turbulent fall season, lake superior can have waves as high as 18 feet.
--> this is an appropriate usage. 18 feet is extremely high for a wave on a lake (!), so "as high as" makes sense here.
also, we're saying that 18 feet is an upper bound.

since this problem is doing neither of these, "to a height of" is better.

--

there's also the fact that "banked..." should refer to the framework of poles, not to the entire house. if you use the word "was", then it's referring to the entirety of the house.

[RonPurewal]

hmm, yeah, on second reading, there actually appears to be some ambiguity in this sentence, at least in the original choice (a).
specifically, "banked to a height of 3-4 feet" could be parallel to "conical" - as i illustrated in the post with the yellow writing - but it could also be parallel to "overlaid with slabs of bark".
if the oa is (a), i don't see an easy way out of this predicament. i'll check this with some of our other instructors and get back to you.

Hi Ron, request you to correct/confirm my understanding here.

Structure of the sentence with option D will look like what follows:
The house constructed by Y was conical in shape, appositive modifier modifying house, adj modifier modifying bark, and was banked with dirt.
here was banked seems parallel to was conical (verb+adj/participle and both referring to house)

Whereas the structure of the sentence with option A will look like what follows:
The house constructed by Y was conical in shape, its framework overlaid with S and B, adj modifier modifying bark, and banked with dirt.
Here banked seems to be parallel to overlaid (both participles modifying framework)

Thus the plausible reason to rule out D is that the house is not supposed to be banked by dirt whereas the framework can be.

I am confused. Need your advice.

see the post above this one.