OG15 SC73 同位语能否指代动词

ivyxueyue

73. Unlike the original National Museum of Science and Technology in Italy, where the models are encased in glass or operated only by staff members, the Virtual Leonardo Project, an online version of the museum, encourages visitors to “touch” each exhibit, which thereby activates the animated functions of the piece.
1. (A) exhibit, which thereby activates
2. (B) exhibit, in turn an activation of
3. (C) exhibit, and it will activate
4. (D) exhibit and thereby activate
5. (E) exhibit which, as a result, activates

正确答案D。我想知道B选项的activation不能指代touch这个动作吗？逻辑上应该是 人们触摸展品这个动作 而不是人们 使得作品的动画功能被激活，更好吧~

我就是想知道名词作同位语不能指代动词，这个是一定的，对不对？

感谢各位，诚心求解答！

ivyxueyue

快考试了挺急的，感谢各位了！！自己顶一下~

ivyxueyue

在论坛看到相关讨论，就是关于 代指前句动作或是整个事件状态的 概括性同位语。贴过来整理一下。
以下全部是复制粘贴引用的论坛讨论：
Women are expected to be the majority of student entering law school this fall, a trend ultimately placing more women in leadership position in politics and business.
A Women are expected to be the majority of student entering law school this fall, a trend ultimately placing
B The majority of students entering law school this fall are expected to be women, a trend that will ultimately place (CORRECT)
C The majority of students entering law school this fall are expected to be women, which will ultimately place
D It is expected that the majority of students entering law school this fall will be women, a trend ultimately placing
E It is expected for the women to be the majority of students entering law school this fall, which will ultimately place

RON:
A is wrong because of the participle 'placing', which wrongly indicates that this trend is already placing more women in leadership positions.
C is wrong because the relative pronoun 'which' is placed in a position where it must refer to 'women'. this is wrong for 2 different reasons:
(a) 'which' can't refer to people, and (b) according to the sentence, women don't place themselves in leadership positions; the trend does.
choice D has the same problem as choice A (the participle 'placing' is used in the same incorrect manner).
the error in choice E is very similar to that in choice C: the pronoun 'which' is used incorrectly again. the noun closest to this relative pronoun - 'this fall' - makes no sense in context.

Q:Could you please explain why B is not a run on sentence or a comma splice.
RON:
nope, the second part is not an independent clause. try reading it by itself; it's not a sentence (a trend THAT will ultimately...)

this second part is an example of an appositive noun modifier, a type of modifier that NEVER appears in spoken language but that appears on the gmat a lot. the reason is that, unlike relative pronouns such as 'which', these modifiersdon't have to touch their referent.
for instance:
the general tried to get his troops to retreat before being surrounded, a strategy that ultimately failed.

same idea here.
lots of students don't like this structure at all when they first see it, but you have to get used to it - it's commonplace on the exam.

Q:Ron, in the following post you say that appositive must modify the noun that comes IMMEDIATELY before the comma.
the-number-of-people-flying-first-t5600.html   Can you please explain, in which cases appositive can modify nouns appearing anywhere in the sentence.
RON:good point.

if you have an appositive modifier that's an abstract noun - such as "strategy", "figure", "statistic", "findings", "situation", "change", "difference", etc. - then such an appositive may be allowed to describe the entire situation described in the previous clause.

for instance, the example i gave above with "a strategy..."

also, for further examples, see #59 and #79 in the purple verbal supplement OG book.
in #79 this modifier is part of the underline and is useful in choosing the correct answer. in #59 it's not part of the underline, so you don't have to use it, but you're exposed to it so that you can use it later.

hmm.

ivyxueyue

所以我觉得，并不是动词在句子代表的整个动作状态不能被同位语指代，而是因为这个基本是 'comma N（ABSTRACT NOUN） THAT CLAUSE‘ 的结构。这里是activation OF 所以不对吧。 不知道这么理解对不对，请NN路过指点一下！！！THANKS IN ADVANCE！

qstv5445

"摘自PREP08的语法笔记（关于同位语的用法）： 同位语
同位语结构的形式:  (参考白勇语法)
1) 名词性同位语, 名词解释名词:
n. , n. ; n. , a/an + n.或  a/an + n. , n.

2) that引导同位语结构:
抽象名词(evidence, result, principle等等) + that从句, that从句对抽象名词进行具体化解释

3) 概括性同位语结构:  
用一个概括性的名词去概括前面的解释对象;短语/句子, a program/ an advance/ a practice that…  

4) 名词重复性同位语结构:
n. , n.(重复所修饰的名词) + that…或  n. , the same n.(重复所修饰的名词) that…
"

参照上面的分析，同位语要么指代前句话中的某个词，要么指代一个句子或者一个概念，应该是不能指代某项动作的。。。

alzn2765

对这道题来讲，你的理解有问题。
如果一个概括性的同位语可以使用的话，那么这个同位语（名词）一定对前面发生的动作有概括作用，比如：

You ask a question without proper thinking, a cursory behavior that clearly shows the weakness of your personality.

a cursory behavior概括了ask a question without proper thinking这个动作，逻辑上也是合理的，所以是正确的。

但此题中，visitors to “touch” each exhibit可以概括为an activation of the animated functions of the piece吗？显然从逻辑意思上是说不通的。这更像是一前一后的接连发生的两个动作。所以D选项是正确的。

名词作同位语一定可以指代一个或者一组动词的，但前提是这个名词一定要对指代的一个或者一组动词有明确的逻辑上的概括作用。

语法最后还是要看句子的逻辑意思，而不是单纯的从语法上考虑。