Writing Debacles

<ol>
<li>Singer and songwriter Hary Burleigh is noted in the history of 20th century american music for both his classical songs and his arrangements ofspirituals</li>
</ol>

<p>Correct answer is A which is what i chose but i was also debating E, "music, both because of his classical songs and his arrangements of." why is A correct and not E?</p>

<ol>
<li>Meteorites are of great interest to astrophysicists, since this is how they obtain information about the chemical composition of early solar systems.</li>
</ol>

<p>Correct answer is B " astrophysicists, who obtain from them information." I chose this but i was also debating A. Why is B correct and not A?</p>

<ol>
<li>Although the Phoenicians were amongthe best navigators of their time, as shipbuilders they were not equal ofthe Egyptians.</li>
</ol>

<p>I chose D, but why is it incorrect other than sounding awkward?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Underneath the basement floor lies the drainpipes that were installed years ago by the original owner of the house.</p></li>
<li><p>People are no more likely to become athletic by watching sporting events as they are to become healthy by reading medical books.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>

</p></li>
</ol>

<p>22- It should be something around the lines of ‘they were not equal to the Egyptians in shipbuilding’, not of the Egyptians</p>

<p>27- ‘Lies’, I’d think that would be lie or lye (whichever form it is), to be in past tense and ‘match’ with the WERE installed</p>

<p>31- I want to say ‘as’ to ‘than’, but not completely sure on this one. Well, not completely sure on neither of these.</p>

<p>I’d give suggestions for the first two, but I don’t have the test or multiple choice options in front of me.</p>

<p>

First of all, we do not want to use “because” because the sentence is stating merely that he was noted for something. A cause-and-effect relationship discerns why he was noted ("he was noted because…), which is not the most precise way to put things in this context.</p>

<p>Also, “both because of X and Y” is not grammatically correct. The “both” should modify X and Y, not “because.” It should either be “both because of X and because of Y” or “because of both X and Y.”

The second sentence is correct because “who” correctly refers to “astrophysicists,” and “them” is not ambiguous and correctly refers to meteorites because (a) it makes logical sense for “them” to refer to “meteorites” and (b) “them” can’t refer to “astrophysicists” because if it did it would read “themselves” (since the subject would also be “astrophysicists”), not “them.”</p>

<p>The first sentence is incorrect because it isn’t clear what “they” refers to, and “this is how” has no clear meaning to it (what does “this” refer to? how does the how fit into the equation?) It’s just overall bad language that is the problem.

“not equal of” should be “not equal to.”

The thing that is doing the “lying” is the drainpipes, so “lies” (singular) has to be “lie” (plural) since “drainpipes” is plural. The drainpipe lies underneath the basement floor. The drainpipes LIE underneath the basement floor. Underneath the basement floor LIE the drainpipes.

“as” should be “than.” The correct construction is “more . . . than.” People are no more likely to do X than to do Y.</p>

<ol>
<li>there is nothing wrong with sentence as his classical songs and his arrangements of spirituals are parallel. for e, first it’s not consistent, both should be placed after his since ‘both’ is referring to his songs and his arrangements of spirituals.</li>
</ol>