The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of

Hello rishabhmishra1993,

I am not sure if your doubt still persists. Here is my reply to your question anyway.

It is correct that a "comma + verb-ing" modifier must fulfill the following two conditions for its correct usage in any sentence:

1. It must logically modify/connect with the action in the preceding clause.

2. It must logically associate with the subject of the modified action.

In Choice E, the use of comma + extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile is correct because this modifier presents the logical explanation for the clause the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long. The modifier presents the geographical stretch of this 2,500 miles long Incan highway. So, the modifier fulfills the first condition.

Now, does the modifier logically associates with the subject the Incan highway? The answer is "yes" because this highway did extend from point A to point B. Hence, the modifier fulfills the second condition also.


At e-GMAT, our SC course has two concepts dealing with the usage of Verb-ing Modifiers. These concepts are part of our Free Trial course. You can register at e-GMAT.com for free and learn it all about this modifier.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Hello altairahmad,

Although your question is not addressed to me, here is my answer to the same.

Choice B is INCORRECT for the usage of the past perfect tense verb had extended.

In GMAT SC, past perfect tense is used to denote the earlier of the two past related events to explicitly present the sequencing between them. Use of had extended conveys that the Incan highway first extended from point A to point B, and then it became 2,500. I am sure you can see that this meaning is totally illogical.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

(A) The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.
The part in red is supposed to be a relative clause, but it lacks a verb.
ELIMINATE A

(B) The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, (need something here to bridge HIGHWAY and the following modifiers) over 2,500 miles in length, and extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.
ELIMINATE B

(C) The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.
The crossed out blue portion of the sentence modifies SYSTEM, and the crossed out red portion modifies HIGHWAY. When we ignore the modifiers, we get "The greatest road system," which lacks a verb
ELIMINATE C

(D) The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.
was extended is illogical.

(E) The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.

Answer: E

Cheers,
Brent

egmat GMATNinja
There is a doubt with the existing question.
The correct option


Here, extending is verb-ing modifier modifying highway. My doubt is as per the concept of Verb-ing modifier it has a doer, and here how highway can be a doer and extends itself? Also, it is not clear how and why aspect of the Verb-ing modifier.

The verb "to extend" can certainly have an object. For example:

• "The IRS extended the tax deadline." - What was extended? The tax deadline. Who extended the tax deadline? The IRS.
• "The opera singer extended her arms as she sang the final dramatic note." - What was extended? The singer's arms. Who extended them? The opera singer.

But we can also use the verb "to extend" WITHOUT an object. For example:

"The wheat fields extend for miles into the distance." - Nothing/nobody is actually stretching the wheat fields. And the wheat fields are not actually stretching anything themselves. Rather, the wheat fields simply stretch out in distance.

We have something similar in this question. Nothing/nobody actually extends the highway. Instead, the highway simply stretches out in distance.

I hope that helps!

I have a couple of questions :

1) My question is why cant i consider the extended as a past participle that is modifying the Incan highway?
I initially thought that "over 2,500 miles ... and extended (past participle) " will act as a modifier modifying the Incan highway.

2) I do understand that if i consider extended as a past participle , then i will have a prepositional phrase "over 2,500 miles..." parallel to a past participle modifier. So i can eliminate this option for nonparallel structure. Is my understanding correct ?

GMATNinja

There is a subtle difference between these two options:

1) "The Incan Highway, extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile, ..." - This implies that someone or something extended the highway. As described in this post, that isn't quite what we want here.
2) "The Incan Highway, extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile, ..." - With "extending", there is no implication that someone or something extended the highway. Instead, the highway simply stretches out in distance.

Similarly, if we write, "The highway was extended...", we suggest that someone or something stretched out the highway, and that isn't the right meaning here.

And, yes, you could also argue that the parallelism is off here. But even if we get rid or the word "over" in choice (C) and make it, "... which was 2,500 miles in length and extended...", we'd still have the same issues described above.

I hope that helps a bit!

In the original sentence, is 'built' a verb for 'The greatest island system'?

Hi Sakshi, I am assuming you are referring to the greatest road system.

The verb for this subject is was.

built is used as a past participle.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses how to differentiate "Simple Past" Vs "Past Participle", its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

The question is based on Construction.

Option A is incomplete. The first part of the sentence – “The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway” – is an independent clause. But the relative pronoun that follows it does not have a verb, making the sentence incomplete. So, Option A can be eliminated.

Option B contains the past perfect tense, which is incorrect in this sentence. The past perfect tense is generally used to convey an earlier action when two actions in the past are mentioned. The verb ‘had extended’ implies that the highway stopped extending after a while and some other action took place. This meaning is not implied in the sentence, so Option B can be eliminated.

Option C is incomplete. The subject of the sentence “The greatest road system” does not have a verb to complete the idea. So, Option C can be eliminated.

Option D contains a verb in the passive voice “was extended”. The construction in the passive voice implies that the ‘highway’ was extended by somebody. However, there is no indication that somebody extended the highway in the intended meaning of the sentence. So, Option D can be eliminated.

Option E has an appropriate structure, with a participle modifier at the end of the sentence to describe ‘the greatest road system’. Therefore, E is the best option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

I know that we can knock out choice A and B so many ways, but can we cancel those choices just because they mean that Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway which is ridiculous to hear. I mean-'Columbus and Incan highway' can't be equivalent.
Thanks__

We can't interpret A and B that way because the greatest road system is the subject of the verb was.

built....Columbus is just a modifier.

Q: The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.

(A) Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
(B) Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, which had extended
(C) Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended
(D) Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
(E) Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending

Dear expert, isn't 'E' a case of the comma splice, because 'the incan highway was over 2500 miles long' is an independent clause, and this clause is separated with only a comma after 'Columbus'. Is my understanding wrong?

And in "C", some people commented that the 'verb for road system' is missing. But why cant 'was', found after the non-essential clause 'the incan highway', act as a verb? if so, why is "C' wrong?

Thanks for explanation!

EducationAisle
i know that they are just modifier, but i wanted to mean that every word is connected to each other. Every word makes sense when they are kept side by side!
In the correct choice E,
''the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long'' --->makes sense..
''from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile''---makes sense..
But, if we keep the parts ''Columbus was the Incan highway'' side by side then it does not make sense..
I think you get it what i mean.
Thanks__

Also, I'm eagerly expecting some other feedback from my honorable experts! Appreciating your help, experts.

That might not be a good way to look at the sentence. We need to look holistically.

For example:

The sister of Michael played football.

This sentence means that Sister played football. We cannot put "Michael played football" side by side and make a case that Michael played football.

Hi

A comma splice, or what is otherwise known as a run-on sentence, is a situation where two independent clauses are connected by a comma instead of a semi colon. While you are correct that "the Incan highway was over 2500 miles long" is an independent clause, we need two independent clauses linked by a comma for a run on sentence structure. There is no second independent clause here.

Let us break down option (C):

The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus
the Incan highway
which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.

The verb "was" is associated with the relative pronoun "which" referring to "the Incan highway". More importantly, the sentence is clearly incomplete due to the usage of "which" acting as a non-essential modifier. This is not the case with option (E).

Hope this helps.

Hello everyone,

Can a grammar expert help me understand why answer E is correct without a second comma after "the Incan highway" ? (as suggested above by shravyajaladi)

I found it odd without a second coma... For instance, if I say "the best airplane built in the XXth century, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was made from titanium" , would you not add a comma after blackbird ?

Many thanks in advance for your help