Among the Tsonga, a Bantu-speaking group of tribes in southeastern Afr

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of the sentence is that dance teams represent their own chief at the court of another chief and also provide entertainment in return for food, drink, and lodging.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• "one another” and “another” are used to refer to more than two elements, and “each other” and “the other” are used to refer to two elements.
• The introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “providing” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

A: Trap. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “providing…lodging”; the use of the present participle (“verb+ing” – “providing” in this sentence) after a comma incorrectly implies that the dance teams provide entertainment because they represent their own chief at the court of another chief; the intended meaning is that the dance teams represent their own chief at the court of another chief and, as a separate action, provide entertainment; please remember, introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “providing” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the idiomatic construction “each other” to refer to more than two elements - the dance teams' own chief and all other chiefs; please remember "one another” and “another” are used to refer to more than two elements, and “each other” is used to refer to two elements.

B: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase “and provide entertainment”; the use of “and” conveys the intended meaning – that the dance teams represent their own chief at the court of another chief and, as a separate action, provide entertainment. Further, Option B correctly uses the idiomatic construction “another” to refer to more than two elements, the dance teams' own chief and all other chiefs. Additionally, Option B is free of any awkwardness and redundancy.

C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “so as to provide entertainment”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the dance teams represent their own chief at the court of another for the purpose of providing entertainment; the intended meaning is that the dance teams represent their own chief at the court of another and as a separate action provide entertainment. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the idiomatic construction “the other” to refer to more than two elements - the dance teams' own chief and all other chiefs; please remember "one another” and “another” are used to refer to more than two elements, and “the other” is used to refer to two elements. Additionally, Option C uses the needlessly wordy phrase “as a return on”, leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “entertainment being provided”; the use of the present participle (“verb+ing” – “being” in this sentence) after a comma incorrectly implies that the dance teams provide entertainment because they represent their own chief at the court of another chief; the intended meaning is that the dance teams represent their own chief at the court of another chief and, as a separate action, provide entertainment; please remember, introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “providing” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the idiomatic construction “each other” to refer to more than two elements - the dance teams' own chief and all other chiefs; please remember "one another” and “another” are used to refer to more than two elements, and “each other” is used to refer to two elements.

E: This answer choice uses the passive voice construction “another’s court”, rendering it awkward and needlessly indirect. Further, Option E uses the needlessly wordy phrase “as a return on”, leading to further awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Comma + Present Participles for Cause-Effect Relationships" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~3 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Agreed!


I'm probably too late to be useful here, @Lucy_Phuong, but "court" here refers to the domain of a king or chief or other ruler. So in (B), "dance teams represent their own chief in the court of another" means that the dance teams are going to another chief's... "kingdom", I guess, in exchange for food and lodging.

And if it helps at all, I can't think of a single official GMAT question that mentions the courts of chiefs, so don't lose too much sleep over the vocabulary here.

Received a really interesting question about this one on our Ask Me Anything About SC thread, and figured I'd post it here, just in case it helps anybody:


I'm not sure that you’ll ever see this particular issue again in an actual GMAT question, but it’s oddly interesting. My first instinct was that your explanations were spot-on, and it took me a while to figure out what was missing.

You’re right that the term “each other” would be used when there are at least 2 objects or people in a group. But the thing you’re missing is that “each other” suggests that everybody in the group is performing the same, reciprocal action. Using your examples:

“My friend, Nicole and I exchanged gifts with each other last Christmas.” – You and Nicole BOTH perform the action of exchanging gifts.
“[Everybody in] our group exchanged gifts with each other last Christmas.” – EVERYBODY in the group performs the action of exchanging gifts.

Back to answer choice (A) from the OG question:


(A) doesn’t quite make sense. “Each other” has to refer to “dance teams”, right? So then the sentence seems to say that dance teams represent their own chief at the court of other dance teams. And that’s pretty weird: have you ever heard of a dance team with its own royal court?

(Speaking as a veteran of quite a few dance companies: we were lucky if the dance company had its own dressing room, let alone a royal court. Once, I had to change costumes 17 times during a single show – and had to do the costume changes in a hallway. I am not making this up. There were also some very interesting wardrobe malfunctions on opening night, but you really don't want to hear about my accidental moments of near-nudity in front of live audiences…)

Anyway, (B) seems clearer: “another” can now refer to a chief, instead of a dance team. So now that makes sense: “dance teams represent their own chief at the court of another chief.” Nice.

And (C) is odd, too: “the other” suggests that there’s only one other chief, or one other dance team. Neither of those quite work: “dance teams represent their own chief at the court of the other chief…”? Which other chief? Or if it’s “dance teams represent their own chief at the court of the other dance team”, that’s still weird: which other dance team are we talking about?

So for that reason, (B) seems to be the best of the three.

I hope this helps!

It's a goofy sentence, but that's the GMAT for you. Basically, the sentence is stating that multiple dance teams represent each chief. But is that really the intended meaning? It makes more sense that only one dance team would represent each chief. So, I think it would be clearer if the sentence read: "a dance team represents its own chief at the court of another" or else "dance teams represent their own chiefs at the courts of other chiefs."

This was pretty tricky. B is the best answer.

C and E contain the unidiomatic "as a return on."

A and D contain "each other," which is awkward in this sentence. Why? Well, we don't know how many chiefs are involved here. When there are multiple entities, I believe it's better to use "one another." In either case, you would need to use "courts," though, instead of the singular "court." For instance, you would say, "Ginger and Mary Ann wore each other's hats" rather than "Ginger and Mary Ann wore each other's hat," because there would be at least two hats involved.

B uses "the court of another [chief]," making it clear that only 2 chiefs are being referred to, and is pretty straightforward.

I think the main difference between A and B is in how the sentence is written.
providing entertainment in return for food, drink, and lodging.
this seems to modify the preceding clause when clearly the intent is to specify an action that the dance tribes did in return for hosting them.
the way the sentence is written simple says that dance tribes will do that anyways . Verb-ing clauses are used to express the result of the preceding action or present additional information.
IMO this is not right. Hence B is the right choice.

Among the Tsonga, a Bantu-speaking group of tribes in southeastern Africa, dance teams represent their own chief at the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for food, drink, and lodging.

(A) the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for
- ", providing" sets up a modifier. In other words, "represent" would be the major action/verb here, and "providing..." would be subordinate. This is incorrect.

(B) the court of another and provide entertainment in return for
- the dance teams do 2 things: 1) represent their own chief; and 2) provide entertainment

(C) the court of the other, so as to provide entertainment as a return on
- "return on" is incorrect. should be "in return for"

(D) each other's court, entertainment being provided in return for
- "being" in the middle of the sentence makes it awkward and shows poor sentence construction.

(E) another's court and provide entertainment as a return on
- same as "C"

Saurabh, "providing" in option (A) is not correct. "represent" and "provide" need to be independent verbs. "providing" does not explain "represent". They don't represent their chiefs by providing entertainment. They represent their chiefs and provide entertainment.

Look at a simpler example:
I will read the text and will write its summary. (Two independent actions of reading and writing) - Correct
I will read the text, writing its summary. (writing its summary doesn't explain reading the text so writing should not be a modifier) - Not correct

"Another" literally is the word "other" with an indefinite preposition "an" before, i.e. "an + other". Here including the indefinite preposition "an" is preferred since the other team is not a definite one. Hence "another" is better than just "other".

Very nice explanation, expert sayantanc2k. +1 kudos to you.

What happened to me is that initially I thought "another"/"each other" refered to [another/ each other dance team]. That's why I was confused between A and B. I think the reason might be I don't understand intended meaning of the sentence. To speak explicitly, I don't understand meaning of "in the court of", thus not knowing that it should take "chief", rather than "dance teams" as its object.

Could you help explain this phrase? Thank you.

Among the Tsonga, a Bantu-speaking group of tribes in southeastern Africa, dance teams represent their own chief at the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for food, drink, and lodging.

(A) the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for
(B) the court of another and provide entertainment in return for
(C) the court of the others, so as to provide entertainment as a return on
(D) each other's court, entertainment being provided in return for
(E) another's court and provide entertainment as a return on


Let’s look at options A and D
the court of each other [D: each other's court], providing entertainment in return for [D: entertainment being provided in return for; this is passive voice]
Between A and D – A is preferred

(A) the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for
(B) the court of another and provide entertainment in return for
(C) the court of the others, so as to provide entertainment as a return on
(D) each other's court, entertainment being provided in return for
(E) another's court and provide entertainment as a return on

Let’s look at option C
the court of the others, so as to provide entertainment as a return on

so as to (used for showing intention or purpose); while the intention is to get food in return
correct version should be
the court of the others, so as to get food in return of entertainment
this eliminates C
IMP: USE just ‘to’ in place of ‘so as to’
IMP: DON’T USE ‘to’ in place of ‘so + adverb/adjective + as to’
Also, this option has ‘a return on’ phrasing, which is wrong discussed below.

(A) the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for
(B) the court of another and provide entertainment in return for
(C) the court of the others, so as to provide entertainment as a return on
(D) each other's court, entertainment being provided in return for
(E) another's court and provide entertainment as a return on

Let’s look at option E
another's court and provide entertainment as a return on

‘in return for X’ and ‘a return on X’ mean different
He lends in return for interest and original principal amount
He earns interest as a return on original principal amount

(A) the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for
(B) the court of another and provide entertainment in return for
(C) the court of the others, so as to provide entertainment as a return on
(D) each other's court, entertainment being provided in return for
(E) another's court and provide entertainment as a return on
Now between A and B

(A) the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for

providing entertainment – means the teams (dance teams) are providing entertainment

see this

The dance performed in the competition, providing entertainment in return for some prize (cash prize)

This is typical modifier question type situation --- can in the above sentence, the verb+ing modifier is a result of the preceding clause – performance leads to providing entertainment
Which is very correct

But our situation is different

Presenting the chief --- leads to --- providing entertainment
I don’t think

Author wants to say two events happen in parallel
The team teams present the chief and provide entertainment




(B) the court of another and provide entertainment in return for

Is better than A abased on the above

The quick feedback in that

When to select a modifier clause (the verb+ing clause is a result of the preceding clause) vs. a parallel clause (two events are parallel and independent)

Finally,

(A) the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for
(B) the court of another and provide entertainment in return for
(C) the court of the others, so as to provide entertainment as a return on
(D) each other's court, entertainment being provided in return for
(E) another's court and provide entertainment as a return on


Final NOTE:

At the courts of each other
At the court of another
At the courts of others

Other/others is always plural
Another (another, one additional, one more) is singular

This also makes B correct

When you are saying "providing entertainment in return for food, drink, and lodging." this is a verb-ing modifies .It is after a ',' . So it is modifying prior sentence. Look at the verb of that part. its 'represent'. Lets figure out the meaning now. you are actually saying just by representing they are providing entertainment. Only this much is wrong about this sentence. :D

As I saw 'and' in B, i figured out the parallelism in it and there you go. B is the correct choice. Hope it helped.

Instead of weighing in on such idiom as "each other "

There is a definitive decision point.
GMAT DOES NOT WEIGH IN ON IDIOMS ANYMORE AS MUCH AS IT USED TO.

AN INCORRECT CHOICE IS RATHER INCORRECT FOR ONLY 2 REASONS-
MEANING OR GRAMMATICAL ERROR or both.

There is a clear decision point between A and B

Intended meaning of the sentence- in certain tribe , dance teams represent their chief at the court of another chief. They provide entertainment and in return receive some objects.


A- dance teams represent their own chief at the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for food, drink, and lodging.

Meaning- dance teams REPRESENT their own chief. Providing(verbing mod) entertainment in return for....
Here providing is in VERB-ING form supposed to work in either of the 3 ways,Viz.,

1.modifying action ( Telling "how" the action is done)
2.modifyimg action( specifying generic information )
3.RESULT OF THE ACTION.

Now the "providing " does not fit in any of the 3 modifier brakcets. It cannot be the result of the dance teams representing their chief , It cannot be the " how" or generic information because "providing " and "represent" are independent action and are stand alone.

B- the court of another and provide entertainment in return for

Meaning- here represent and provide are independently placed and hence the emphasis is put on each action equally. Dance teams do what? Represent and provide. 2 simple actions which are completely independent.

NOTE- GMAT = HOW MUCH IS GIVEN + HOW MUCH CAN I EXTRACT.
GMAT IS MORE OF A PRACTICAL EXAM THAN BASED ON SET OF RULES. THE MORE YOU GET TO KNOW HOW GMAT WORKS IS THE MORE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT RULES ARE RATHER A VERY SMALL PART OF GMAT. INDEED RULES ARE IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW BUT ONE CAN MASTER GMAT SC IF HE'S A MASTET IN UNDERSTANDING THE REAL MEANING OF EACH SENTENCE IRRESPECTIVE OF THE SECTION (RC SC CR).

TIP- READ AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. READ GMAT LIKE MATERIAL AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND EACH SENTENCE. TRUST ME.

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Dear expert GMATNinja, can you please elaborate on how to decide between (A) and (B)? In other words, how does "each other" differ from "another" in this sentence?
Thank you.

The sentence itself is convoluted you can't get the meaning if you read the sentence alone, unless you read the answer choices.
The problem is how to solve such questions when meaning is not clear from question steam and reading all choices take good 4 minutes. I think the time is main problem in questions like this. Anyone who can address this issue.
ALL Big names are invited the please offer help on the matter.
Thanks

Suarabh,
You are 100% on the dot. A present particple preceded by a comma can never be a verb. It is a verbal and verbals are not infinite in their timings;They take the tense of the main clause.

Thanks for your question Nipungupta9081!

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking here, so if I miss the mark on this, let me know by tagging me in another question or sending me a PM.

I came to the conclusion that the Tonga is comprised of more than 2 tribes based on the non-underlined portion of the sentence:

Among the Tsonga, a Bantu-speaking group of tribes in southeastern Africa, dance teams represent their own chief at the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for food, drink, and lodging.

We only use "group" to talk about 3+ items, and would have to use "pair" or "couple" if we were only talking about 2 items. Since the Tsonga are referred to as a "group," we need the rest of the sentence to reflect that we're talking about multiple tribes sending dance teams to multiple other tribes to entertain them in exchange for food, drink, and lodging.

We hope that helps! If not, let us know and we'll try to be more specific.