A site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo

It does help, GMATNinja! Thank you so much for the clarification! Yes, I might have inadvertently stretched the recently discovered modifier to the time when patterns were employed.

I understand it now: The sentence ONLY says that the patterns were employed at the recently discovered site, not WHEN the patterns were employed. To find out "WHEN", the 19-year cycle is mentioned in the latter part, which clarifies that the Anasazi were the only ones who could have employed the patterns! That's why C is correct!

A site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, has been recently discovered where patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle.

(A) A site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, has been recently discovered where patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle. -> Is ancient pueblo a site once used....Incorrect.

(B) A recently discovered site was once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, where patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle. -> Same as A. Incorrect.

(C) At a recently discovered site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle. -> Now the first part is changed, it starts with a preposition and meaning wise sentence is better too. Let's keep it.

(D) Patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle at a site that was recently discovered and was once used by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico. -> "cycle at a site" is incorrect. It changed the intended meaning.

(E) Patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle at a recently discovered place that the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, once used the site as an observatory. -> Modifier error, "discovered place that the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico".

So, I think C.

Hi EducationAisle AnthonyRitz GMATNinja EMPOWERgmatVerbal

A query on A vs C

Some posts above mention the reasons of rejecting A :
1. A site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, --> i don't think modifier issue as ancient xxx new Mexico , could be non essential modifier .
2. A site is far from where modifier in the sentence?
3. where or in which should be fine, right as this is a physical place?
4.
I didn't find any convincing reason to reject A so I went with focus on meaning
A says: Something is found out where XYZ was happening. Focus is on Found out
C says: At a recently found site, XYZ was happening--> focus is on XYZ
How can we decide what is more important ( main verb) to highlight as in A vs C?
Actually I thought priority is on something interesting is found out .

Could you help me to get rid of A over C . What point am I missing or doing wrong?

please suggest , Thanks!

I think the issue is that A has multiple subtle imperfections. Any one, in a vacuum, might be survivable, but together they make for a confusing, difficult-to-read sentence.

"has been recently discovered" is just worse than "has recently been discovered" or "recently discovered site"; the thing that is recent is the discovery -- the status of having been discovered -- but moving "recently" just one word down as in "has been recently discovered" suggests that the thing that occurred at an indefinite time in the past, or perhaps that began in the past and continues into the present, is the site's state of being "recently discovered" -- yet the state of being "recently discovered" is basically just a present status. Tiny issue, perhaps, but this phrasing is not ideal.

The "where" is also badly placed, making it sound like the discovery took place where the patterns of light and shadow were employed. This may be technically true, but in this case the "site" is not modified at all, and as a result the latter part of the sentence is not clearly tied to the site's status as an observatory. And that's just weird, since these ideas are clearly meant to go together. Distance from the word "site" isn't inherently a killer for this modifier, but the ambiguity it creates and the double-take I have to do when reading are not desirable.

C looks flawless to me, so it's pretty easy at this point to pick it over A.

I don't think of this as an issue of "focus" at all.
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What's wrong with option A.

A site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, has been recently discovered where patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle.

If I remove the bold face then it says. A site has been recently discovered.... Which is perfectly fine and where is unambiguously referring to the site. I saw the explanation from other experts and they said there is modifier issue in option A but I can't see any modifier issue

Coming to option B
A recently discovered site was once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, where patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle.
May be "was" can be wrong but seriously I can't find anything wrong in this option too

Coming to option C

At a recently discovered site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle

Removing the bold face - At a recently discovered site patterns of light and shadow were employed to.. This also seems correct

I can confidently eliminate option E and D because of meaning issue

I addressed A in depth in the post directly above yours. (TL;DR: "where" is misplaced and does not clearly modify "site.") I'm afraid I don't have anything to add to that explanation, absent a specific question about what I said.

No hard feelings at all, but I would encourage everyone to read the prior expert replies in a thread before posting a question.
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Hello Vatsal7794,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can help resolve your doubt.

As mentioned by AnthonyRitz, the placement of "where" in Option A renders the sentence rather awkward and seems to suggest that the site of the observatory was coincidentally discovered at a place "where patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle", whereas the intended meaning is that the site is of an observatory where patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle.

Option B has a much clearer error; here "where" is incorrectly used to refer to "Anasazi"; remember, when preceded by a comma, "where" refers to the noun just before the comma.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Vatsal7794 A, B, and C each has a different emphasis (subject-verb of main clause).
(A) A site has been recently discovered
(B) A site was once used as an observatory
(C) Patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of...

Which of those do you think motivated the author to write the sentence? In other words, which is the primary purpose of the sentence?
I'm not suggesting that we totally ignore grammar, and just "guess" what the author's primary purpose was. Rather, I'm suggesting that if we're stuck we can use this approach as a tie-breaker.
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Hi avigutman - Quick question is on OA : C

Per my understanding - the yellow highlight in the diagram is a prepositional phrase that is an adverb modifying the verb in the main clause [X and Y were employed] as seen in my diagram (first arrow)

What about the grey highlight though - Is it a noun modifier or an adverbial modifier ?

I thought the grey modifier was a noun modifier referring to "Site" ONLY as the grey modifier does describe the "Site" [seen in my diagram in the second arrow]

However i have read some experts suggesting the grey highlight is ACTUALLY an adverb modifying the main clause and not a noun modifier

It would make MORE sense for the grey modifier to play the role of an adverb, modifying the verb in the main clause, describing how the Anasazi used the site as an observatory but then how can one be sure the grey modifier is NOT a noun modifier

^^^^^
avigutman Continued from above

If the grey modifier in option C is a noun modifier and NOT an adverbial one

Then per option C
-- We dont know the who is performing the main clause - was it the Anasazi OR some one else employing patterns of light and shadow
-- The main clause DOES NOT SHOWCASE how the Anasazi used the site as an observatory.

Bottom line - how can one be sure the grey modifier is an adverbial modifier OR is a noun modifier as i think the grey modifier can play either role

jabhatta2 the grey modifier is a noun modifier describing the site.
The sentence doesn't establish who employed the patterns, presumably because the author doesn't want to make a claim that he can't substantiate 100%. It certainly seems that the author is implying that it's likely that the Anasazi were the ones who employed the patterns, but he's leaving room for doubt.
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Thank you so much avigutman for your response. Given the grey modifier in my picture above is a noun modifier – the consequences are the following
i) Not a 100 % clear if the Anasazi were the one who employed patterns of light and shadow in option C
ii) The main clause in option C DOES NOT EXPLAIN how the Anasazi used the site as an observatory

The official explanation (picture below) seems to suggest option C is preferred over option D because of those 2 very reasons in my bullet points

Contd from above

I think the best way to knock out D is not the official explanation given

In my view -- both option C and option D leave open the fact who actually conducted the main clause. Who employed patterns of light and shadow ? Both C and D dont exactly mention it

I think the best way to knock out is the ambiguity in option D regarding "At a site"

"At a site" SHOULD refer to 'were employed'

But per option D - At a site could refer to "Positions"

In that case, option D says
- The 'positions of the Sun and the moon' were discovered at a site (that site is somewhere recently discovered in outer space). It is this site in outerspace that was discovered by the Anasazi
- The site (location is outerspace) were used by the Anasazi for solving other scientific questions for example

I think option D -- "At a site" does NOT refer to 'were employed' as well as C does

jabhatta2 a pure grammar analysis indeed does not support the claim made in the official solution. However, note the words "the most reasonable interpretation" in the beginning of the official solution. Those words that I boldfaced are important.
If we think about the meaning of the word "observatory", the author is strongly suggesting (although not using grammar to say it outright) that the Anasazi used the observatory to employ patterns etc.
That's what the official solution is claiming, and I concur.



While I agree with your reason for eliminating D, I think if you take a closer look at it you'll see that it also doesn't suggest the interpretation that is "the most reasonable interpretation". For one thing, the word "observatory" is entirely absent in this answer choice!
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Thanks so much avigutman for your response - I understand no answer choice outrightly says the Anasazi were the one's employing the patterns and lights - Lets assume thats not an issue because all 5 answer choices dont claim that so no point

My issue on C is i dont see the any connection between observatory and patterns and lights specifically ( i know the most reasonable interepration would want to make that connection)

Given the phrase used as an observatory is a noun modifier (referring to Site) in option C and not an adverbial one -- i dont see how observatory and patterns and lights are connected in any manner.

Thus, when you say -- used the observatory to employ patterns -- i dont think option C makes any connection between 'observatory' and 'employ patterns'

jabhatta2 I'm just pasting from my previous response, as I think it does address your concern:
A pure grammar analysis indeed does not support the claim made in the official solution. However, note the words "the most reasonable interpretation" in the beginning of the official solution.
If we think about the meaning of the word "observatory", the author is strongly suggesting (although not using grammar to say it outright) that the Anasazi used the observatory to employ patterns etc.
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In option A, can we replace "has been recently discovered" with "was recently discovered" ?

Please explain

Hello BIGDAMNGOD,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the use of the simple past tense verb "was...discovered" is correct here.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Can we eliminate option D and E on the basis that in both the options "site that" or "place that" is used whereas since site/place is a place, "where" should be used?