need help with a grammar question

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>one of the earliest of the ancient greek writers of love poetry, Sappho (has had such a profound influence on ) later lyric poets that she came to be knows as "the tenth Muse".
A, has had such a profound influence on
B, has had so profound an influence on
C, has so profoundly influenced
D, so profoundly influenced
E. profoundly influenced</p>

<p>I prefer A, but the answer is D</p>

<p>Another IE question is
Jason is the only one of the three people i knew well in middle school who still (write) to me regularly.
Why "write" is wrong.</p>

<p>Thanks u all</p>

2

<ol>
<li>wrong tense</li>
<li>wrong form</li>
</ol>

3

<ol>
<li>It’s is not only tense but also construction [so…that]
One of the earliest of the ancient greek writers of love poetry, Sappho


so

profoundly influencedlater lyric poets


that

she came to be knows as “the tenth Muse”.</li>
<li>“write” should be “writes” because Jason is singular.</li>
</ol>

4

<p>^ there is the construction [such…that]</p>

5

<p>Yes! And thus, we can easily eliminate E. Among A, B, C, and D, only D makes use of correct verb tense form.</p>

6

<p>Can someone further explain the first one please?</p>

7

<p>E - wrong construction
A, B, C - wrong tense</p>

8

<p>“Has had” suggests that Sappho is still present. “So profoundly influenced” puts her contribution squarely in the past, where it belongs. You could also say, “Sappho had such a profound influence on”; it would be grammatical, but not as economical or elegant.</p>

9

<p>I was under the impression that the ‘has had’ was referring to her influence which would still be present. How do you know it was talking about Sappho’s existence as opposed to her influence?</p>

10

<p>Her influence on the “later lyric poets” is not still present. Those “later lyric poets” are not our contemporaries; they are lyric poets who immediately followed Sappho. Bottom line, Sappho and the “later lyric poets” she influenced are all squarely in the past. Here are a couple of more down-to-earth examples to show the difference in usage between “have had” and “had.” I “have had” a great influence on my child. (My influence continues, I think!) My father “had” a great influence on me while I was growing up. (He’s dead and he stopped influencing me some time ago.) I’m sure there’s a better way to describe the nuance in the use of the tense.</p>

11

Why E is a wrong answer?.. (that) can be existed without (so)

12

Nope, “that” in this particular case needs a “so” because you’re saying the former part directly caused the latter. The way to do this, as noted by posters above, is “so…that.”

13

[quote]
Her influence on the “later lyric poets” is not still present. Those “later lyric poets” are not our contemporaries; they are lyric poets who immediately followed Sappho./quote

Actually, if the snippet in the OP is all that was given, you can’t be certain of that—there are still lyric poets nowadays, and it would, I think, be completely accurate to say that Sappho has had a profound influence on them, even if only indirectly.

This is one reason grammar questions like this are often just silliness and tea-leaves—they often pretend that less context is necessary for such decisions than is really needed.