After Alexander the Great ascended the throne following his fathers

Question

Pack 8, Question 4 of 5:

After Alexander the Great ascended the throne following his father’s death, he quickly  began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced  by the Greek culture for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece.

A. began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced
B. began, by invading nearby regions, to spread into lands for influence
C. began to invade nearby regions, spreading into lands that were to be influenced
D. began, after invading nearby regions, spreading into lands which are to be influenced
E. would begin to invade, through spreading nearby regions, into lands for influence

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shameekv1989 · Answer

After Alexander the Great ascended the throne following his father’s death, he quickly  began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced  by the Greek culture for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece.

A. began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced  -> ,to spread makes the sentence a fragment -   Incorrect 
B. began, by invading nearby regions, to spread into lands for influence  -> Alexander began to spread -   Incorrect  
C. began to invade nearby regions, spreading into lands that were to be influenced  -> Use of spreading as a Verbing modifier modifying nearest preceding action "to invade" by the doer of the action - Alexander is correct in showing the Cause - Effect in right order -   Correct 
D. began, after invading nearby regions, spreading into lands which are to be influenced  -> Alexander began spreading -   Incorrect 
E. would begin to invade, through spreading nearby regions, into lands for influence  -> would begin future tense is illogical -   Incorrect

Meaning Analysis :- 
After the death of Alexander's father -> Alexander began invading nearby regions -> The result of that action - Spreading into lands .....

Answer - C

NandishSS · Answer

Here we need spreading but not to spread - Incorrect

When you remove appositive Sentence should makes sense, here it doesn't makes sense if you remove "by invading nearby regions" - Incorrect

Correct - Spreading modifies preceding clause

When you remove appositive Sentence should makes sense, here it doesn't makes sense if you remove "by invading nearby regions", Also in GMAT most of the times which is used as non essential modifier and preceded by comma- Incorrect

Wrong usage of begin, Sentence is about past - Incorrect

deepverma · Answer

After Alexander the Great ascended the throne following his father’s death, he quickly began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced by the Greek culture for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece.

Meaning:   soon after becoming king, Alexander started invading nearby regions with the intention "to spread greek culture"

A. began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced :   Correct  showing action and "To+verb" to show the intention 
B. began, by invading nearby regions, to spread into lands for influence :  "he began to spread" ->Wrong meaning 
C. began to invade nearby regions, spreading into lands that were to be influenced  --> doesnt show the intention; Also "lands that were to be influenced" looks wordy; 
D. began, after invading nearby regions, spreading into lands which are to be influenced :  Wrong meaning "he began spreading" 
E. would begin to invade, through spreading nearby regions, into lands for influence :  Wrong usage of "would" ,majorly used for future prediction;

Raxit85 · Answer

Imo. A.

After Alexander the Great ascended the throne following his father’s death, he quickly began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced by the Greek culture for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece.

ATG quickly began invading nearby regions,  after ATG ascended the throne following his father's death,  to spread into lands to be influenced by the Greek culture after fall of ancient Greece. The sentence shows that ATG did with intention to spread the culture into nearby regions. Usage of to be influenced is bit awkward but let's hold it.

A. began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced - Same as above
B. began,  by invading nearby regions , to spread into lands for influence - ATG quickly began to spread into lands for influence by the Greek culture... changes the meaning of original culture and incorrect usage of preposition and verb, i.e. for influence, as action was to be done in past.
C. began to invade nearby regions, spreading into lands that were to be influenced - ATG quickly began to invade nearby regions, spreading...... Here, spreading modifies the preceding action, i.e. to invade, and spreading incorrectly modifies ATG that changes the meaning of the sentence. 
D. began,  after invading nearby regions,  spreading into lands which are to be influenced - ATG quickly began spreading into lands... illogical in meaning.
E. would begin to invade,  through spreading nearby regions,  into lands for influence - ATG quickly would begin to invade into lands for influence.... incorrect usage of preposition and verb, i.e. for influence, as action was to be done in past.

TheNightKing · Answer

I am going to try the obvious errors. I don't get the bigger picture for this question so I will be looking forward to OE for that.

The sentence structure is incorrect. "he quickly began invading nearby regions" is acting as the main clause and then comma followed by "to"? That is not the best structure.

He himself began to spread into lands? what?

spreading modifies the preceding clause. No other obvious errors.

One shot elimination is which without a comma. Gone. Boom!

Changes the meaning and the tense.

snoep · Answer

After Alexander the Great ascended the throne following his father’s death, he quickly  began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced  by the Greek culture for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece.

A. began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced
 this option has a meaning error, Alexander began invading regions in order to spread into lands to be influenced..What was to be influenced? Lands or Regions or Alexander himself?

B. began, by invading nearby regions, to spread into lands for influence
 this option has meaning error - Alexander began to spread for influence by the greek culture?

C. began to invade nearby regions, spreading into lands that were to be influenced
 Alexandar began to invade nearby regions eventually spreading into lands. here 'that' references lands and it is clear what is to be influenced...Looks ok , keep it

D. began, after invading nearby regions, spreading into lands which are to be influenced
 After alexander began, after invading regions, spreading into lands? run-on sentence and does not form a clear sentence to draw a meaning of what it is trying to say

E. would begin to invade, through spreading nearby regions, into lands for influence
 after Alexander would begin to invade into lands for influence, then what? Also, a jumbled answer. how did he begin to invade, through spreading? Deosn't make sense.

C is the best!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation

After Alexander the Great ascended the throne following his father’s death, he quickly  began invading nearby regions, to spread into lands to be influenced  by the Greek culture for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece.

A. began  invading  nearby regions, to  spread  into lands  to be influenced  
 B. began, by  invading  nearby regions, to  spread  into lands  for influence  
 C. began to  invade  nearby regions,  spreading  into lands  that were to be influenced  
 D. began, after  invading  nearby regions,  spreading  into lands  which are to be influenced  
 E. would begin to  invade , through  spreading  nearby regions, into lands  for influence

A review of our answer choices shows a split on the verb forms of “invade” and “spread.” We must also determine how “influence” is used in the sentence. Because all the differences in our options are connected, we need to look at them as a whole, so we’ll look at each choice in turn. The dependent clause at the beginning of the sentence (in the non-underlined portion) tells us the sentence is about Alexander the Great, and that is the antecedent for “he.” Now that we know that, we can ignore the dependent clause.

Option A: He quickly began invading nearby regions , to  spread into lands  to be influenced by the Greek culture  for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece. 
The comma before the prepositional phrase is odd and unnecessary. It is also unclear if Alexander invaded those regions to influence other cultures or to be influenced himself. But since he was Ancient Greek, that doesn’t make any sense. This ambiguous and awkward wording must be avoided.  Option A cannot be the best answer. 
 
 Option B: He quickly began , by invading nearby regions,  to spread into lands for influence by the Greek culture for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece. 
By enclosing one prepositional phrase in commas it becomes nonessential. Without that phrase, the sentence says that “he began to spread into lands for influence by the Greek culture.” Once again, it seems like Alexander was trying to be influenced by Ancient Greece, which makes no sense.  This cannot be the correct answer.

Option C:  He quickly began to invade nearby regions, spreading into lands that were to be influenced by the Greek culture  for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece. 
This sentence makes sense. Alexander began to invade other regions, and his spread into other lands caused his culture to influence other cultures. The wording “that were to be influenced” is a little awkward. “Were to be” does properly indicate that this influence would happen in the future and not just while he was invading. However, there are perhaps better ways of stating that.  We’ll return to this answer choice after we review the others. 
 
 Option D: He quickly began, after invading nearby regions, spreading into lands which  are to be influenced  by the Greek culture for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece. 
We have the present tense “are to be influenced,” and the present tense is wrong in this sentence. That would mean the influence would just now be starting, which is definitely not the correct meaning.  This cannot be the correct answer.

Option E: He quickly would begin to invade,  through spreading nearby regions , into lands  for influence by the Greek culture  for thousands of years after the fall of Ancient Greece. 
Once again, this sentence makes it unclear if he was trying to be influenced by Greek culture, which doesn’t make sense. The phrase “through spreading nearby regions” also doesn’t make sense. That means that Alexander invaded by spreading the regions. How does one spread a region? That is nonsensical.  Option E cannot be the correct answer.

While Option C does have some slightly awkward wording, it is not ungrammatical. Option C is the best answer.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  shameekv1989 ! You cracked the code on this tricky question! Kudos to you!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  NandishSS ! Another great explanation for such a tricky question! Kudos to you!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

You were so close,  deepverma ! Check out the official explanation in the comments to see how to tackle this question!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

You were so close,  Raxit85 ! Check out the official explanation in the comments to see how to tackle this question.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  TheNightKing ! Kudos to you!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  snoep ! Another great breakdown of how you tackled this GMAT question! Kudos to you!

VerbalBot · Answer

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After Alexander the Great ascended the throne following his fathers

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After Alexander the Great ascended the throne following his fathers

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