concurrently modifies what in this sentence

Question

Almost every reason for the growth of the cities, concurrently with the growth
of civilization has been profoundly modified.

Which part do you think concurrently modifies?

A. the preposition phrase "with the growth of civiliztion"

B. the verb "has been modified"

Thanks a lot for your opinions!

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I'm a native English speaker, and I find this sentence a bit strange. I am not trying to avoid your question, but can you give us broader context? I mean, can you paste the entire paragraph, please?

Maple · Answer

Sure. The whole passage is here:

Each civilization is born, it culminates, and it decays. There is a widespread testimony that this ominous fact is due to inherent biological defects in the crowded life of cities. Now, slowly and at first faintly, an opposite tendency is showing itself. Better roads and better vehicles at first induced the wealthier classes to live on the outskirts of the cities. The urgent need for defence had also vanished. This tendency is now spreading rapidly downwards. But a new set of conditions is just showing itself. Up to the present time, throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this new tendency placed the home in the immediate suburbs, but concentrated manufacturing activity, business relations, government, and pleasure in the centres of the cities. Apart from the care of children and periods of sheer rest, the active lives were spent in the cities. In some ways the concentration of such activities was even more emphasized, and the homes were pushed outwards even at the cost of the discomfort of commuting. But, if we examine the trend of technology during the past generation, the reasons for this concentration are largely disappearing. Still more, the reasons for the choice of sites for cities are also altering. Mechanical power can be transmitted for hundreds of miles, men can communicate almost instantaneously by telephone, the chiefs of great organizations can be transported by airplanes, the cinemas can produce plays in every village, music, speeches, and sermons can be broadcast. Almost every reason for the growth of the cities, concurrently with the growth of civilization has been profoundly modified.

(New Concept English, Book 4, Lesson 30, L. G. Alexander)

Cool Breeze · Answer

MapleAlmost every reason for the growth of the cities, concurrently with the growth
of civilization has been profoundly modified.

Hi Maple

In my opinion the sentence is not particularly good English. I would rewrite it:

Almost every reason for the growth of the cities, which was concurrent with the growth of civilization, has been profoundly modified.

The antecedent of the relative which is the growth of the cities. The sentence means that there have been great changes in the reasons for which cities used to grow, and this growth took place at the same time as civilization grew, and because of the changes the reasons no longer apply.

Cheers
CB

Maple · Answer

Thank you Cool Breeze and Anon.

It seems a fool of me trying to recite such articles. (Still better than to recite nothing, right?[:^)]

concurrently modifies what in this sentence

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