Construction of the Roman Colosseum, which was officially known as the

Actually, it'd unnecessary to use "Had Begun" (Past Perfect) in this scenario and there are reasons:
1. A construction can never finish before it begins. So, we already know the sequence of events.
2. completed a decade later; the word "later" clearly signifies that the event of completion occurred after the beginning of the construction.

Modifiers:
which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater
AND
officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater
Are both correct, with latter more elegant and GMAT style. However, we decide the correctness of the sentence on the basis of these modifiers because they both are correct.

A. which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian,
Let's shorten:
Construction began in A.D. 69 was completed later.
Two discrete events with two verbs "began" and "was" makes the sentence wrong. These verbs must be separated by AND.

B. officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and
"begun in A.D. 69"-- acts as a modifier for Roman Colosseum; Roman Colosseum begun in AD 69: what does this mean?


Construction during the reign of Vespasian was completed a decade later: decade later of what.
Bad.

C. which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and
Correct.
Construction began in A.D. 69 and was completed a decade later.
Construction had begun in A.D. 69 and completed a decade later. Guess this is correct as well.

D. officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater and begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian it
Same error as B's. Roman Colosseum begun in AD 69.

E. officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, which was begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and
", and" -- demands a clause when the later part is a phrase
"was completed a decade later"-- No subject.
Roman Colosseum was begun in AD 69.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Verb Forms + Grammatical Construction

• If a list contains only two elements, they must be joined with a conjunction.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses a comma to join two elements in a list - "began in A.D" and "was completed a decade later"; remember, if a list contains only two elements, they must be joined with a conjunction.

B: Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the past participle "begun" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.

C: Correct. This answer choice acts upon the independent subject noun phrase "Construction of the Roman Colosseum" with the active verb "began" to form a complete thought, leading to a complete sentence. Further, Option C correctly uses the simple past tense verb "began" to refer to an action that concluded in the past. Additionally, the sentence formed by Option C correctly uses conjunction ("and" in this sentence) to join two elements in a list - "began in A.D. 69" and "was completed a decade later".

D: This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; in the sentence formed by Option D, "known" and "begun" are past participles acting as noun modifiers and "was completed" is part of the modifying phrase "during the reign of Vespasian it...", so there is no active verb to act upon the subject "Construction of the Roman Colosseum".

E: This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; in the sentence formed by Option E, "was begun" and "was completed" are both part of a modifying phrase, so there is no active verb to act upon the subject "Construction of the Roman Colosseum".

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Astrologers saw the comet as a portent of the DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, which happened as expected

OF JERUSALEM : A perpositional modifier. These types of modifiers are essential modifiers.

which happened as expected : A relative clause starting with 'which'. A non essential modifiers.

If you look at the sentence both the modifiers are modifying DESTRUCTION. But the essential modifiers is placed close to the Noun and the non essential modifier follows it.

Hii NonYankee.
Can you elaborate on one issue here?
"Contruction of the Roman Colosseum" intoduces a prepositional phrase here-"the Roman Colosseum". Since the prepositional phrase can't contain the subject, then how can "which" refer to "Roman Colosseum"?
Thanks in advance .

Option C is correct.

a) which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, Punctuation issue connecting two verbs with a comma i.e began in ..... and, was completed.... you can't connect it with a comma. You create a run on sentence.

b) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and

what is the verb here...begun? no because it is a past participle.... it needs a helping verb...other wise the sentence is a fragment.
c)which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and-correct
d) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater and begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian it- here the modifier implies that construction was known as Flavian Amphitheater because the sentence lacks relative pronoun.
e) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, which was begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and- same as e

Hope I was able to clarify your query...lets kudos

Hi Marcab,

First, I don't know why you said that the prepositional phrase can't contain the subject. Is that a rule?

Second, the prepositional phrase doesn't contain the subject. The (simple) subject is construction.

Third, why wouldn't which be allowed to refer to Roman Colosseum?

Consider the following sentences:
She's a friend of my brother Rudolph.
She's a friend of my brother, whom you've met.

Both have as a subject She. Both have as a prepositional object brother. One follows the prepositional object with an appositive; one follows the prepositional object with a non-restrictive relative clause. Both sentences apply modifyers to the object of the preposition, and both are grammatically correct.

You might find these pages worth reading:
https://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm
https://www2.gsu.edu/~eslhpb/grammar/lec ... ative.html

Construction of the Roman Colosseum, which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, was completed a decade later, during the reign of Titus, who opened the Colosseum with a one-hundred-day cycle of religious pageants, gladiatorial games, and spectacles.

a) which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian,
b) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and
c)which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and
d) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater and begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian it
e) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, which was begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and

1. which modifies Colosseum and not construction.
2. subject of the main verbs in the sentence, however, is construction and not the Colosseum.
Is that what you are talking about Marcab?

In an other case if you are referring to the "which touches the preceding noun" rule and its exception, remember that the rule is flexible. This is difference between SC and Quant in that grammar is not as hardcore as algebra is.

I sent letters to my dad, which got lost in the post office.
Which modifies letters and "to my dad" is a small prepositional phrase.

I sent letters to the post office, which failed to deliver them to my dad.
Here, which modifies the post office.

hope this helps!

consider these sentences:
1)Angela, along with the other leaders of EU, wants Spain to get a bailout.
Here "along with the other leaders of EU" is a part of prepositional phrase.

2) The box of nails, which was kept upon the table, was black in color.
Here we are referring to box.

Since "construction of the Roman Colosseum" also introduces a prepositional phrase, thats why I was confused.

1) https://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/f ... subjpp.htm
As per this link, the prepositional phrases as subjects typically refer to only time and space.

2)www.chompchomp.com/terms/prepositionalphrase.htm
As per this link, the prepositional phrases never act as subjects.

Hii Souvik.
Can you please elaborate on the blue part?
Also consider this sentence:
Neither of these cookbooks contains the recipe for Manhattan-style squid eyeball stew.

In BDE, what is "officially known as....." modifying? Is it Construction or the Colosseum.

which modifies Colosseum and not construction.

It is NOT the case that, just because there is a prepositional phrase after a noun, the first noun is automatically the modified noun.

Rather, IF there is a noun followed by an essential description (typically accomplished via a short prepositional phrase), then it is POSSIBLE for that first noun to be the main noun to which the following noun modifier applies. But this does not have to be the case - it could still be the case that the noun right before the comma (that is, the noun in the prepositional phrase) is the modified noun.

The presence of a short, essential descriptor simply makes the sentence more flexible. The default is to assume that the immediately preceding noun is the modified noun, unless that flexibility exists, in which case the main noun could be the modified noun. This is an exception - it does not happen that often.

-excerpt from Stacey Koprince on this issue.

Marcab,
There are 2 VERY important things that you have to know here:
1. Grammar is flexible. You can't assign very stringent rules and that makes them more painful/interesting. Modifiers are most important to things that they modify and that changes with logic and meaning.
Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.

In this example the "which must touch the preceding noun" is violated just to establish the fact that grammar is not always mechanical.
But that does not mean that the touch rule is completely invalid for prepositional phrases. It still has its weight.
But there is a bigger picture here
ALMOST ALL SENTENCE CORRECTION ANSWER CHOICES ARE WRONG BECAUSE OF MULTIPLE REASONS
If you see the above example "outnumbering" does not apply AT ALL as an ING modifier will always modify the entire preceding clause and that distorts the meaning. So we go with a better "outnumber".

As to your second question:
both "officially known as" and "which is known has" have nothing inherently wrong with them and both refer to the Colosseum not because there are specific rules but simply because "which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater" or " officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater" CAN NOT refer to "construction". So just because the Colosseum is wrapped in a prep phrase does not make it too impotent to be modified.

But then Colosseum, however is still not the subject. Remember that modifiers can modify nouns. These nouns CAN or CAN NOT be the main subject of the sentence. In this particular sentence the main verbs "was began" and "was completed" can only make sense if the subject is construction.

So bottom line is, Rules do not make subjects/verbs/tenses. Logic and meaning does.
Does this help?

Hi,

In grammatical terms, it's this: "began" is past tense and "begun" is the past participle.

What this means in use is that if you are talking about something in the simple past tense, you would always use "began." These sentences are correct:

- I began music lessons when I was 6.
- The story began in the Colonial Period.
- Where were you when the game began?
- Our relationship began when we were in high school.

A participle can't be used all by itself as a verb. Another verb has to go with it. So you can't say something "begun." You have to say it "has begun," "had begun," "was begun," "will be begun," and so on.

"Begun" would be wrong in every one of the examples above and in any other sentence like them.

Here are some correct uses of "begun." Notice the helping verb (the auxiliary verb) that goes along with it. The verbs can be separated--such as by "not"--but they still work together.

- You cannot be seated after the play has begun.
- I have begun a shopping list.
- We have not yet begun to fight.

Answer is C

Just reading the question stem makes it clear that it needs an "AND" at the end of the underlined portion because it is connecting the two clauses:- the main clause and the dependent clause. Therefore the decision point here is the presence of a coordinating non-contrasting conjunction} ---> "AND" in the correct sentence.

Therefore A, D are out because these options do not have the proper conjunction "AND"
Option B, C and E remaining.
Option B and E use "begun" - WRONG TENSE

Option C Uses the correct tense "Began"- Simple Past for begin as well as the proper conjunction "AND"

ANSWER IS C

Doubt is: There are two actions that happened in the past: a) began in A.D. 69 and b) was completed a decade later. If there are two actions that happen in a past and in a sequence, then the 1st action in the sequence should be a past perfect tense Vs past tense. So "began" should be "had begun". Is that not correct?

Dear ramyagmatclub,

I'm happy to respond.

My friend, please do not start a brand-new thread for any question that already exists here on GMAT Club. I guarantee that every single question in the GMAT OG is already posted here. Always search first for an already existing thread: if you don't find your answer there in the discussions on that thread, then that would be an appropriate place to post your question. I merged your thread into a much larger thread on this same question.

Also, if you do post a GMAT SC, please underline the prompt properly. I added the underlining to your post.

Finally, to answer your question: we have to use the past perfect tense to indicate an earlier past action if there is no other evidence in the sentence that would allow us to figure this out. If there are other markers in the sentence that allow us to figure out the time sequence, then the GMAT often considers it redundant to use the past perfect tense also. In this sentence, there are other time phrases (the year "A.D. 69" and "a decade later") which make the time sequence absolutely unambiguous. No need for the past perfect.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

2 verbs can exist in a clause if they are connected with AND and OR. Then their subject will same
Otherwise SV pair must be equal to number of clauses in sentence.
Here 2nd clause must have SV pair...But subject is not there so to correct it either we can add a subject or we can connect 2 verbs with and if their subject is same...

Sent from my XT1068 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

I get your point. But when you join two verbs you use only 'and' and when you join to independent clauses/thoughts you use ',and'. Please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks