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

Hi duckcanfly ,

Welcome to GMATClub.

I understand your point. But whenever we want to use any additional information within a sentence, we use two commas such that if you remove the stuff between those two commas, your sentence must hold the meaning.

Let's understand this in this sentence.

Construction of the Roman Colosseum, which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and 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.

Did you find the meaning now? I have two phrases used here. I can eliminate them and conclude the final sentence as follows:

Construction of the Roman Colosseum began in A.D. 69 and 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.

I hope that makes sense.

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.

(B) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and - B is a past participle -- so part before and is a fragment

(D) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater and begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian it - same as B and Construction of the RC during the reign of Vespasian it -- incorrect

In B and D , does "officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater" modify the entire noun phrase Construction of the Roman Colosseum or only the Roman Colosseum ?

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat , sayantanc2k, RonPurewal , DmitryFarber , MagooshExpert , ccooley , GMATNinjaTwo , other experts -- please enlighten.

It can refer to either. For example:

Big technology companies in Silicon Valley, once seen as XYZ...

Here the modifier could introduce information about either Silicon Valley
Big technology companies in Silicon Valley, once seen as a major hub for the aerospace industry...

or Big technology companies in Silicon Valley
Big technology companies in Silicon Valley, once seen as the best employers in the country...

However, this is perfectly acceptable in English, and even a which would have the same problem.

Hi,
There are two uses for comma and
1.to connect to independent clause
2.to connect list having more than two element
Both cases are not applicable for this case.
So how C is correct answer?

GMATNinja could you please explain how C is correct?
Thanks
Abhinash

Good question! The two scenarios you've listed are the most common acceptable uses of "comma + and," but virtually any "rule" involving commas is going to be complicated by modifiers.

Consider a silly example, "After deliberating for several hours, Ginger decided to invite both The Professor and Gilligan to her island rave." Notice that "and" is connecting two names or objects, and there's no good reason to use a comma here. So far so good.

But watch what happens if we insert some descriptive information about our aforementioned rave-goers. "After deliberating for several hours, Ginger decided to invite both the Professor, who was harvesting pineapple, and Gilligan, who was trying to cut open a pineapple with a plastic spoon, to her island rave." The phrase in red is non-essential information describing "The Professor," and so is set off by commas. So it's completely fine to end up with a "comma + and" construction here.

It's the exact same logic in (C): "began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian," is nonessential information describing "Flavian Amphitheater," and so it's set off by commas.

Takeaways: 1) commas can always be used to insert nonessential modifiers into a sentence, and 2) pineapple is tasty.

I hope that helps!

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, and narrow it down to the correct answer quickly! To begin, here is the original question with any major differences between the options highlighted in orange:

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

After a quick glance over the options, there are a few things we can focus on to narrow down our options:

1. which was officially known / officially known (verb tense & meaning)
2. began / begun / and begun / which was begun (verb tense & modifiers)
3. the varied endings (Does it need "and" or "it" at the end?)

Let's start with #1 on our list because it will eliminate 2-3 options rather quickly. While it may seem like these two phrases could be used interchangeably, there is a slight difference in how we handle modifiers that begin with "which" and ones that don't:

Construction of the Roman Colosseum, which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater...
The word "which" here signifies that the modifier only applies to the nearest noun, which in this case is the Roman Colosseum. Does this make sense? YES!

Construction of the Roman Colosseum, officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater...
The modifier here doesn't have the word "which," so it applies to the entire phrase that precedes it. Does it make sense to say the construction of the Roman Colosseum was named the Flavian Amphitheater? NO!

Therefore, we must eliminate any options that don't use the word "which" in this modifier:

(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

There you go - we can eliminate options B, D, & E because the modifier is referring back to the wrong thing.

Now that we're only left with 2 options, let's focus on whether or not we need that extra "and" at the end of the underlined phrase. To decide if it's necessary, let's go through and cross out any non-essential phrases or modifiers. What we're left with should still be a complete sentence. If not, then we have a problem!

(A) 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.

This is CORRECT! While this is an incredibly wordy sentence with several modifiers and non-essential phrases added in, we can still find the core of the sentence - a subject and verb.

(C) Construction of the Roman Colosseum, which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and 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.

This is INCORRECT because the extra "and" took away our verb! If we read what we have left after crossing out all the modifiers and non-essential phrases, this doesn't work as a complete sentence.


There you have it - option A is the correct choice because it uses modifiers and non-essential phrases correctly to create a clear meaning and a complete sentence.


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Let me brush up a few concepts
1. 'Which' is a relative pronoun. It is not called a pro-subject or a pro-object. Therefore it does not matter whether it refers to a subject or an object of a verb or an object of preposition because all of them are going to nouns. The only criterion is that the pronoun should refer to something that is logical just in front, and if not, slightly away but not the subject, which may be placed farther away. However relative pronouns are slightly different pronouns in that, the pronouns, as a first choice seek to refer to the subject of the clause and in its absence will look for an another proximate, but, logical noun.

.

(A) which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian,
(C) which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and

Now, how can we say that 'which' does not refer to the Colosseum but to the construction?. Speaking logically, have we ever heard of anyone calling the construction as Flavian Amphitheater?

So let's rest assured that 'which' in A and B does refer right royally to the Colosseum.


Point No 2. Past participle modifiers: past participle modifiers, such as verb+ed ( opposed by) or verb+ en (eaten by thousands of Europeans) verb+n( proven) verb+t (dreamt by), as per GMAT conventions, with or without a comma, do modify only the touching noun or the touching noun phrase.

Ex: By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records, earned at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were of dangerously experimental design.

The past participle modifier 'earned' correctly modifies the speed records. Similarly, in B, D, and E, the modifier 'known' modifies the Colosseum. After all, we can see that it cannot refer to the construction because the activity of construction is never named after Flavian Amphitheater.

(B) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, begun 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

Perhaps this is a ploy by GMAT to make us break our heads on this non-issue. We must be prudent to solve this problem through other means of which there is no dearth.


(A) which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian,--- This is double verbing syndrome. The two verbs of the predicate namely began and was completed are not joined by a worthwhile connector.

(B) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and ------ The first part of the sentence lacks a verb. ' Begun" is not a verb but a modifier.

(C) which was officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and -- looks ok

(D) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater and begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian it -- The first part has only two modifiers but no verb; Perhaps if we remove the intrusive pronoun 'it' the sentence may fit in.

(E) officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater, which was begun in A.D. 69, during the reign of Vespasian, and ---- A blatant fragment without any verb.

Sorry for the boring elaboration.

For option C:As I know " , + and" should also have a subject when a new clause begins while the correct option doesn't mention the subject distinctively. For example the following sentence(similar to the correct option) is considered incorrect on GMAT:
-Jim washed the bedroom, and cleaned the window.
Although for parallelism and is necessary but if a new clause begins it should mention the subject separately? Am I correct?

numb007 In a simple sentence, if we have two verbs joined by "and," it doesn't make sense to use a comma. When we do see a comma, it is often because we are joining something more than verbs, such as full clauses, as you describe. However, in this sentence, we have a modifier between the verbs "began" and "was completed." That's why we have commas, and in such a case we don't need to reintroduce a subject. For instance, I could say "Today I washed my car, which was very filthy after the dust storm, and organized my bookshelves."

The basic grammatical core of the sentence (with C applied) is this: Construction began and was completed. That's it! Everything else is just a modifier.

Hi Experts,

Does the modifier "officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater" in option B modifies the subject of the previous clause or does it also modifies the Roman Colosseum?

What I understand from other OG examples is it modifies Roman Colosseum since we are not using any pronoun in the modifier phrase.

Do you think my understanding is correct?

Well, what was "officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater"? The Roman Colosseum? Or the construction of the Roman Colosseum? Obviously the former makes much more sense, since the construction itself was not known as the Flavian Amphitheater.

Does that mean we can make a rule about what happens when there is/isn't a pronoun in the modifier phrase? Unfortunately not. There are no black and white rules for this sort of thing, and you have to think hard about the meaning and context in each unique sentence.

I hope that helps a bit!

Request Expert Reply:
Here the core is:
Construction began in A.D. 69 and was completed a decade later.
It seems that 'began' and 'was completed' is just an active vs passive situation. Can I mix active and passive voice with 'and'? Isn't it weird?

There is no issue with having an active verb parallel to a passive verb, so long as the sentence makes sense.

Two things happen in (C): "Construction of the Roman Colosseum... began in A.D. 69," and "Construction of the Roman Colosseum... was completed a decade later."

Because both parallel pieces begin with the same part of speech (verbs), this construction is grammatically correct.

It's actually not too uncommon to have a passive verb parallel to an active verb. Consider these examples:

""The meal consisted of 7 small courses and was prepared by one of Europe's top chefs."

"I was annoyed with everyone and decided to leave the lame party early."

Overall, as long as both parallel pieces work with the rest of the sentence, active and passive verbs can be parallel to one another.

I hope that helps!

Can you please explain the reason behind such difference and how to spot which of the two cases is used in the exam?

Hi ag153,

There are different opinions on this, but I would strongly advise you not to treat this as a rule. If you see a which that does not refer to a noun just before it, try not to remove that option immediately.

My advice was not really about this specific question, but I'd again advise you not to look at this as a rule. For example, there is no rule that says that a relative pronoun must or must not refer to a noun inside a prepositional phrase.

I realise it's off topic, but I couldn't help but notice that AjiteshArun used a great example of the difference between advice and advise. I wasn't crystal clear on this subtle but very important difference before I started prepping for the test.