288. Except for a concert performance that the composer himself staged in 1911, Scott Joplin’s ragtime opera Treemonisha was not produced until 1972, sixty-one years after its completion.

(A) Except for a concert performance that the composer himself staged
(B) Except for a concert performance with the composer himself staging it
(C) Besides a concert performance being staged by the composer himself
(D) Excepting a concert performance that the composer himself staged
(E) With the exception of a concert performance with the staging done by the composer himself

Verbal Review Q-18

Solution:

Tense + Idiom

Choice A is best. In B, the participle staging inappropriately expresses ongoing rather than completed action, and the prepositional phrase containing this participle (with... it) is unidiomatic. Likewise, C uses the participle being inappropriately. In D, the use of Excepting in place of the preposition Except for is unidiomatic. Choice E is awkward and wordy.

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