The Glass House mountains in Queensland, Australia, were sighted in 17

Hey All,

FOR REFERENCE:
C) Naming them supposedly since their
D) who so named them supposedly because their

Just thought I'd weigh in on this, since I haven't seen a correct explanation. First, two introductory things:

1) As far as I know, "since" can sometimes be used as a synonym for because, though not when it's being used in a way where it can be misconstrued (interpreted as EITHER time or cause).

2) While -ing words are not always the best construction, it is not useful to be crossing off answer choices merely because you see -ing words. They are common enough that it's not worth your time to separate them in your mind.

Okay. Now, let's talk about other issues here:

1) C is wrong because it lacks the "so named", not because of the-ing form. C makes it sound that he named them ANYTHING because of the wet rocks. But the idea is that he named them IN A PARTICULAR WAY because of the wet rocks. In other words, C could be used in a sentence like "The rabbits were dubbed Adam and Eve by the veterinarian, naming them because she was the one who found them". But we want to make a point that they were named THE GLASS HOUSE MOUNTAINS because of the wet rocks, so we need the "so named" part.

2) Who/whom. It is dependent on how the pronoun is used in the sentence, not what came before. I can say, "It was given to be by James Cook, who eventually ate it." This answers the question, "Who ate it?" "He did!" So it's a subject pronoun (though it was an indirect object, within the prepositional phrase, in the previous clause). In contrast, If someone asked me who gave me the cookie, I could answer: "Dave, whom I will see tomorrow." Even though Dave is the subject of the understood sentence "Dave gave it to me", he has now become the object of the main clause: "I will see HIM tomorrow".

Word.

Hope that helps!

The Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia,were sighted in 1770 by the English navigator Captain James Cook, by whom they were named supposedlybecause its sheer wet rocks glistened like glass.

(A) by whom they were named supposedly because its --- its refer to Glass Mountains S/V
(B) by whom they were named supposedly and their --- and is not appropriate
(C) naming them supposedly since their --- Naming will modify the whole previous clause which is inappropriate.
(D) who so named them supposedly because their
(E) who so named it since supposedly their --- it refers to plural Glass Mountains

Hi Experts / VeritasPrepKarishma / chetan2u / mikemcgarry ,

In this sentence why we have used "were" for "The Glass House Mountains" , according to me it should be singular.

Please have a look on this official question-

_________________________________________________________
Q -101 of OG Verbal Review 2 .

Quote-

The Federalist papers, a strong defense of the United States Constitution and important as a body of work in political science as well, represents the handiwork of three different authors.

(A) and important as a body of work in political science as well, represents

(B) as well as an important body of work in political science, represent

(C) and also a body of work of importance in political science is representing

(D) an important body of work in political science and has been representative of

(E) and as political science an important body of work too, represent

Correct answer is choice B;
_____________________________________________________________________
Unquote

The interesting part is the explanation given in the OG VR2 for Q 101-

The Federalist papers- as per OG since the P in papers is NOT CAPITALIZED ,'The Federalist papers' is PLURAL and must have a plural verb..

The Federalist Papers- as per OG since the P in papers in CAPITALIZED ,'The Federalist Papers' is SINGULAR and must have singular verb..



Applying the above OG explanation to this question, it seems that 'The Glass House Mountains' is singular and must take SINGULAR VERBS.

Can you please assist, whats the issue ..??

Thanks and Regards,
Prakhar

Hi Prakhar, hope OG's explanation behind the capital vs small P was clear to you. If we have capital P, it would mean that The Federalist Papers could be the name of a single publication; however, if we have The Federalist papers, then this could as well represent multiple papers (with The Federalist acting as an Adjective).

Now, can The Federalist Papers be the name of a book? I would say yes (wherein this book is a compilation of multiple papers).

Can The Glass House Mountains be the name of a mountain? I would say no; if it was just one mountain, then the name would rather have been The Glass House Mountain (and not Mountains).

So, I don't believe that similar analogy can be applied to mountains. Out of curiosity, I googled for The Glass House Mountains; looks like The Glass House Mountains (with capital M) are a group of eleven hills.

Hi Experts, EducationAisle / sayantanc2k ,

Thanks for your contribution to this question. The reason why came across this issue is because of this sentence-


Source- e-GMAT

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which stood near a grand palace known as “The Marvel of Mankind” were reputedly constructed by using a combination of baked bricks and lead coverings, are believed to have been destroyed during an earthquake in the first century A.D.

A) were reputedly constructed by using a combination of baked bricks and lead coverings, are
B) was reputedly constructed by using a combination of baked bricks and lead coverings, is

Option A is correct. But according to me option B should be OA

As per them-
If there were only one hanging garden, it would be named "The Hanging Garden of Babylon". The Great Wall of China, another wonder of the world, is singular because its one continuous wall and hence is named correctly. Similarly, if the name is "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon", it is evident that there were more than one garden and hence, the plural noun in the name.

Can you please suggest, which option is correct. I am not able to understand how could "The Hanging Gardens" is plural..

EducationAisle
Read the first line in this Wikipedia Article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_G ... of_Babylon

It says "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is the only one whose location has not been definitively established."

But, GMAT does not require any prior knowledge. It could be any name which even does not exist.

sayantanc2k

I see that you have made the modification but on all other forums it written as Mountains with capital "M". do you know the source of this question by any chance..?
I think its from OG's but don't know from which one..

Please have a look into this.
Thanks

'The Glass House mountains' require plural verb 'their'. A is out

(B) by whom they were named supposedly and their 'They' refers to what?
(C) naming them supposedly since their 'naming them supposedly' does'nt give the desired meaning
(D) who so named them supposedly because their correct option
(E) who so named it since supposedly their 'it' is singular


D is the answer

This is consistent with what I mentioned in my previous post. If there was just one garden, it would be logically strange (and that's putting it mildly) to name it The Hanging Gardens. Let's look at it other way: With just one continuous wall, could there have been any logical reason to name the wall as The Great Walls of China? I would say no.


Couple of things. For one, wiki cannot be expected to conform with the high standards of formal written English that is a characteristic of GMAT SC. In fact, even in the same wiki article there is a contradiction, because in almost all other places in the artcile, wiki has referred to The Hanging Gardens as plural (The Hanging Gardens were a distinctive feature of ancient Babylon).

In my previous post, the reason why I referred to wiki article was not for any grammatical reference, but to corroborate that indeed these Glass Mountains were a group of multiple mountains.


There is no prior knowledge required here; just logical inference.


That actually is very unlikely. In fact, GMAT sentences correction questions many a times are a source of great General Knowledge information


OG-12 (#1 in sample questions).

Like your other explanations, this explanation is very logical. But unlike other cases, this case brings us on the opposite sides of the court.

If a collection of papers can be singular, why can't a group of mountains be? Even in the last sentence you mentioned "The Glass House Mountains (with capital M) are a group of eleven hills.", the verb "are" seems somewhat inappropriate to me. In my opinion the sentence should be "The Glass House Mountains (with capital M) is a group of eleven hills."

Another example: I would say that "The Himalayas" is singular although there are hundreds of mountains in the mountain range - the reason is that "The Himalayas" is the name of a mountain range. Similarly I would say "The Glass House Mountains" is the name of a range/group of mountains, and hence should be singular.

Is there anything wrong with my argument?

Hi sayantanc2k, discussions and debates are always the best way of learning for all of us.


Actually collection of papers will always be singular (because collection is the subject); similarly, group of mountains will always be singular (because group is the subject).


In my post above, I have given a logical reason why The Glass House Mountains is plural. In fact, now that we have traced this question back to Official Guide, I find your contention quite surprising: The official questions are correct. We really can't debate their authenticity.


I would definitely think that The Himalayas is plural; have you come across any official question where GMAT treats The Himalayas as singular (can you please cite the entire question)?

If there is no official source for this, then it's a bit moot point to discuss, because on the net, we can find sources that can support almost anything .

Hence, to continue this discussion further, it would be great if you can perhaps cite some examples based on official sources (the way PrakharGMAT did a great job by citing two official questions), rather than pondering on hypothetical. I am sure all of us will learn something from them (official questions are always such a treasure trove of knowledge!).

Thank you for the detailed response. This kind of discussions actually help think very critically.

The argument that "The Himalayas" as a mountain range is singular is neither from any OG, nor from any internet source. It logically occurred to me that name of a mountain range should be singular and hence I cited the example.

As you mentioned, there is absolutely no questioning an OG example - I know I am missing something in this, but I want to know exactly what.

I am not clear (even after going through your explanation more than once), why "Federal papers" and "Glass House Mountains" are not analogous? I am quoting you here with modifications (in green) I felt would support why they are analogous, so that we could probably discuss further where my argument is wrong:

"Now, can The Federalist Papers be the name of a book? I would say yes (wherein this book is a compilation of multiple papers).

Can The Glass House Mountains be the name of a mountain RANGE ? I would say no YES (this range is a group of eleven hills) ."

Why can't this analogy be used?

Hi sayantanc2k, we can't use the analogy because whether the sentence mentions mountains (small m) or Mountains (capital M), in either case, the reference would be towards multiple mountains (as I mentioned above, if there was just one mountain, Mountains would be a very unlikely name for it).

On the other hand, The Federalist Papers (capital P) definitely qualifies to be a publication.

So, the role that capital P plays in The Federalist Papers, the same role would be played by the word mountain range, in the sense that both would given an indication that the subject is singular; so Himalayan mountain range, Andes mountain range etc. will all be singular.

The mountains can be a part of mountain range. Let's look at the following sentence:

The Glass House Mountains are a mountain range that extends across the coastal plains of Queensland, Australia.

The plural The Glass House Mountains (and hence the verb are) can be equated with the singular a mountain range (believe this was one of your earlier questions and am wondering, if this is the reason for all the confusion).

There are quite a few examples in OG, along these lines. The sentence is basically suggesting that The Glass House Mountains are a part of/constitute a mountain range.

The Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia, were sighted in 1770 by the English navigator Captain James Cook, by whom they were named supposedly because its sheer wet rocks glistened like glass.

(A) by whom they were named supposedly because its PRONOUN AGREEMENT ERROR
(B) by whom they were named supposedly and their --> CHANGE IN MEANING
(C) naming them supposedly since their --> AWKWARD
(D) who so named them supposedly because their
(E) who so named it since supposedly their PRONOUN AGREEMENT ERROR

Why can't we use "naming"? According to the manhattan books, -ing form can modify the nouns directly. Can modify the verbs and heir subjects. Can modify the entire clause. So why can't it modify the Captain James Cook who did the naming!

My friend, you read the rule correctly but you missed one point.

Here 'naming' is preceded by a 'comma'. In that case, it will either modify the entire previous clause or will provide the result of the previous clause.

Naming can modify James Uncle ( ) only when it is not preceded by comma. Here, Since we have a comma before naming, we cannot say James Cook who named XYZ.

Hence, we cannot use naming as it makes the meaning illogical.

I hope that makes sense.

In addition to the above explanation by abhimahna, there is another problem in C:

It is not clear what he named the mountains ("so" is missing).

daagh

Can you give a clear idea about when to use "who" and when to use "whom"?

I eliminated B for several other reasons but was not sure of the part who/whom. Knowing that may expedite my elimination process in exam. I thought that 'by whom' refers" to the cook and is not incorrect.

The Glass House mountains in Queensland, Australia, were sighted in 1770 by the English navigator Captain James Cook, by whom they were named supposedly because its sheer wet rocks glistened like glass.

(A) by whom they were named supposedly because its
(B) by whom they were named supposedly and their
(C) naming them supposedly since their
(D) who so named them supposedly because their
(E) who so named it since supposedly their

ArtVandaley

In B, 'by whom' as such is not a problem, it does refer to Cook, but the whole sentence is written in the avoidable passive voice. It also distorts the meaning that James Cook named them supposedly and by James Cook, their sheer wet rocks glistened like glass. On the contrary, D does not give room to any such errors.

That aside ---

'Who' is a subject pronoun and hence will be followed by a verb.
Harry, who is fond of the seas, spends the whole weekend swimming in the beach waters.

'Whom' is an object pronoun and will be always followed by a subject or a subject pronoun.

Harry, 'whom' the family accepts as a beach lover, spends the whole weekend swimming in the shallow waters.

We can see that the pronoun 'whom' is followed by a subject, namely, the family.

This is largely the difference between the two.

What decides whether something is a subject or an object is its placement.

Tom gave Dick two mangoes. Here, Tom is the subject and Dick is an object, although there is no special form to show Dick as the object except for the placement at the end of the clause.
Dick was given two mangoes by Tom.
Here Dick is the subject since it is at the head of the sentence and Tom is an object of the preposition 'by', placed at the end of the clause.