It is called a sea, but the landlocked Caspian is actually the largest lake on Earth, which overs more than four times the surface area of its closest rival in size, North America's Lake Superior.
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Eva Perini
Hello Mike, in your lecture on modifiers you talked about exceptions to the touch rule.
As an example : Henry of England, which was .......(reffered to henry) ---> correct
So why in this case which seems to modify earth?
This is sort of a gray area. "on Earth" is only a vital modifier if we assume that without it, we might be confused and think that we could be talking about the largest lake on some other planet. Chances are, most people know that we're talking about Earth already, so this shouldn't be considered a vital modifier.
can you let me know the though structure in this sentence.
as per the sentence construction is concerned in option c:
Though + participle, N+V but it should be Though N+V, N+V structure.
Please clarify.
In Choice C, the participle phrase "called a sea" is a modifier that modifies the noun phrase "the landlocked Caspian." It would therefore be redundant to include the noun in the first part of the sentence, as you suggest.
For more on how participle phrases can be used as modifiers, definitely check out this post from our blog:
D. Though called a sea but it actually is the largest lake on Earth, the landlocked Caspian covers
You're right -- "though... but" is redundant here and is cause for concern!
The use of "it" here is also problematic. It's not really clear whether the "it" refers to "sea" or "the landlocked Caspian." In general, when a sentence throws in an unnecessary "it," it's a hint that we're getting wordy and probably incorrect.
Hi Mike,
I'm confused with this question. I eliminated answer C right away since 'covering' seems to modify Caspian, hence the touch rule is broken here.
Also, if 'the largest lake on earth' functions as a modifier, is it a vital one?
I didn't find it a vital modifier since we are told that the subject is the Caspian.
I'll appreciate your help
Hi Gal!
When we have a modifier that begins with a participle such as an -ing verb, the participle modifies the subject of the previous clause, NOT the closest noun.
Here is another simple example:
"Bob is very generous with his car, driving his friends around often."
"driving..." refers to "Bob," the subject.
Returning to our question:
"the largest lake on Earth" is not a modifier here; we have an
"X is Y" type structure, a statement that two things are the same.
We could say "on Earth" is a vital modifier to "lake."
If, instead of "covering," (C) had "which covers," the "which" could refer to "Earth," the closest noun, or "the largest lake on Earth," since "on Earth" is a vital modifier.
"When we have a modifier that begins with a participle such as an -ing verb, the participle modifies the subject of the previous clause, NOT the closest noun"
Could you give more details on this rule? It's not covered in your lessons!
When a participle phrase concludes a main clause and is modifying the word right in front of it, you don't need punctuation to connect the two sentence parts (2). Conversely, when the participle phrase is modifying the subject, which is not right next to the participle phrase, you will see a comma between the main clause and participle (3). Likewise, when the participle phrase introduces or comes before the main clause, we need to separate the two components with a comma (1).
Did you see my response to Eva? "on Earth" is only a vital modifier if we assume that without it, we might be confused and think that we could be talking about the largest lake on some other planet. Chances are, most people know that we're talking about Earth already, so this shouldn't be considered a vital modifier.
In D the construct is
"Thought called... but it actually is..."
Isn't though and but in the same sentence redundant? Can we eliminate based on the redundancy?
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