请教OG 139

cmtn

139. The extraordinary diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King, prime minister of Canada for over twenty years, revealed that this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic guided in both public and private life by omens, messages received at séances, and signs from heaven.
(A) that this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic guided in both public and
(B) that this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic and also guided both in public as well as
(C) this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic and that he was guided in both public and
(D) this most bland and circumspect of men was a mystic and that he was guided in both public as well as（A）
(E) this most bland and circumspect of men to have been a mystic and that he guided himself both in public as well as

Answer: A

1) In OG comment, GUIDED modifies King(men), but looks like modify mystic here. Am I right?

2) this most bland and circumspect of men, why MEN here not MAN, because of "this most bland and circumspect"???

LES

1) Both mystic and guided modify William Lyon Mackenzie King.

2) the generalizaion of this kind superlative comparison form is:
     the + adj.-est +[ noun (singular form)] + of + noun (plural form)
                                                      |
                             usualy is omitted and should be omitted in all ETS tests.

cmtn

1) But if so, it would be "He was a mystic and guided ...", or "He was a mystic who guided ...";  
why there is no "and" or "who" there.
More over, the problem for "and" is that "Mystic" and "Guided" are not parallel, and the problem for "who" is that "Guided" still modify "mystic" not "He".
Maybe it should be "that he, guided in ......, was a mystic" or "that guided in ......, he was a mystic"

BTW, what is "mystic", a noun or an adjective?

2) understand now, it is the structure such as "the MOST powerful of MEN". thanks LES

LES

sorry cmtn, mystic here is a noun, and guided in both public and private life by omens, messages received at séances, and signs from heaven is a past participle phrase modifying William Lyon Mackenzie King and works as an adverbial in the sentence.

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-4-29 14:22:01编辑过]

cmtn

still do not know why Guided is modifying King, but not Mystic

babypace

king是个神秘主义者，一生公众和私人生活都被预兆引导着。King was a mystic guided in both public and private life by omens。LES说的挺清楚了，og也解释了，guided ---- is a past participle clause to modify the subject, and the subject here is the "King", but not the mystic. Mystic itself is a Object.

bunnier

以下是引用cmtn在2004-5-24 16:43:00的发言：
still do not know why Guided is modifying King, but not Mystic

bunnier thinks there are 2 omissions in 139A:

The extraordinary diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King, prime minister of Canada for over twenty years, revealed that this most bland and circumspect [man] of men was a mystic [who was] guided in both public and private life by omens, messages received at séances, and signs from heaven.

Are these interpreations right? Or...

以下是引用LES在2004-4-29 14:04:00的发言：

sorry cmtn, mystic here is a noun, and guided in both public and private life by omens, messages received at séances, and signs from heaven is a past participle phrase modifying William Lyon Mackenzie King and works as an adverbial in the sentence.

Could LES JJ and other NNs offer a reference or two on the usage of a past participle phrase described above? Other examples demonstrating this effect would be appreciated!

The extraordinary diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King, prime minister of Canada for over twenty years, revealed that this most bland and circumspect [man] of men was a mystic guided in both public and private life by omens, messages received at séances, and signs from heaven.

多谢指教!!

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-6-16 14:34:17编辑过]

绿袖子

messages received at séances, and signs from heaven请问这个东东是修饰谁啊，说主语好像不怎么通啊？谢谢！

r1418

我觉得guided是修饰mystic的

OG里面说: ...confusingly suggest that King's being a mystic and being guided... by omens... were separate matters.

是说除A的选项都错误的表示King作为一个神秘人物和由...引导是互相独立的事

也就是说是神秘人物和由...引导不是separate的,而且好象ETS更倾向于修饰语紧跟被修饰的词(部分除外)

那么应该是修饰的关系

bryan0806

嗯 我也觉得guided是修饰mystic的

很难将 guided和 The extraordinary diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King

后面的King联想在一起  而且主词感觉是diary不是吗?

再请教大家一下 !!