Architects and stonemasons, huge palace and temple clusters were built

While E is certainly awkward in structure, there is also a grammatical reason why E is not correct. . Normally between an appositive modifier and its noun, no intrusion is allowed. Here the verb were is superfluous. The phrase Architects and masons looks as if It is the subject of the verb were, rendering the entire apposition meaningless.

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 meaning of this sentence is that the Maya were architects and stonemasons and built huge palace and temple clusters without the benefit of animal transport or the wheel.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Grammatical Construction

• In a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.
• Information that is important to the core meaning of the sentence must never be placed between commas.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses "Architects and stonemasons" to modify "huge palace and temple clusters", illogically implying that the palace and temple clusters were architects and stonemasons; the intended meaning is that the Maya were architects and stonemasons; remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses "Architects and stonemasons" to modify "huge palace and temple clusters", illogically implying that the palace and temple clusters were architects and stonemasons; the intended meaning is that the Maya were architects and stonemasons; remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option B incorrectly places information important to the core meaning of the sentence - that the Maya built the clusters without the benefit of animal transport or the wheel - between two commas; remember, information that is important to the core meaning of the sentence must never be placed between commas.

C: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses "Architects and stonemasons" to modify "the Maya", conveying the intended meaning - that the Maya, in general, were architects and stonemasons, and as a separate action they built huge palace and temple clusters without the benefit of animal transport or the wheel. Further, Option C avoids the grammatical construction error seen in Options B, D, and E, as it places no information between commas.

D: his answer choice incorrectly uses "Architects and stonemasons" to modify the pronoun "there", leading to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that the Maya were architects and stonemasons and built huge palace and temple clusters without the benefit of animal transport or the wheel; remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option D incorrectly places information important to the core meaning of the sentence - that the Maya built the clusters without the benefit of animal transport or the wheel - between two commas; remember, information that is important to the core meaning of the sentence must never be placed between commas.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "were the Maya who...built huge palace and temple clusters"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the specific Maya who built huge palace and temple clusters were architects and stonemasons; the intended meaning is that the Maya, in general, were architects and stonemasons, and as a separate action they built huge palace and temple clusters. Further, Option E incorrectly places information important to the core meaning of the sentence - that the Maya built the clusters without the benefit of animal transport or the wheel - between two commas; remember, information that is important to the core meaning of the sentence must never be placed between commas.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of usage of a pair of commas on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~4 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Hello KapTeacherEli,

But then what is problem in E?

Remember, when a modifying phrase is set off from the rest of the sentence by commas, the rest of the sentence must read correctly if that descriptive phrase is ignored. Ignoring both of the parts of the sentence isolated by commas, and reading (E) into the sentence, we get "...were the Maya who... built huge palace and temple structures." This is clearly grammatically incorrect.

Would some one explain why E is the wrong choice?

senetence starts with an appositive modifier "Architects and stonemasons" what could it modify? only "the maya" in the entire sentence. only Ans C starts with "the maya", without even looking at anyother choice for any other error we can pick C.

Ans C it is.

This article by mgmat explains the appositive modifiers very well. It even talked about this question. https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/arti ... itives.cfm

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

Good question. Only contenders are C and E. But C is correct since E changes the meaning,saying that "architects and stonemasons were the Maya". Do you mean all architects and stonemasons?)))

In this case, the Architects and Stonemasons act as appositive modifiers for the subject the Maya. Appositives have to touch their nouns without fail.
Even a small deviation such as the intrusion of a verb ‘were’ is not permitted between the modifier and the modified.
It may be also seen the in the case of E, the real subject ‘the Maya’ is relegated to an object case because of the verb ‘were’, the appositive Architects and Stonemasons themselves becoming the subject, changing the intended meaning.

C therefore

Architects ans stonemasons, huge palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya without benefit of the wheel or animal transport.

A. huge palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya without benefit of the wheel or animal transport.
B. without the benefits of animal transport or the wheel, huge palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya.
C. the Maya built huge palace and temple clusters without the benefit of animal transport or the wheel.
D. there were built, without the benefit of the wheel or animal transport, huge palace and temple clusters by the Maya.
E. were the Maya who, without the benefit of the wheel or animal transport, built huge palace and temple transport.



The correct answer is C. But it looks like a fragment to me. Could any one please help me explain this?

First thing is that I do not doubt that any of the GMAT questions may be problematic and that OA may be incorrect.
For all that, this is a beautiful question of appositives. Answer C says that architects and masons, the appositives are modifying the noun The Maya, the tribal who were great builders. This principle of appositive modification is being tested in GMAT time and again, and it will be worthwhile to understand it thoroughly.
The takeaway: Trust GMAT Prep and OG. Even for a joke, they will never be wrong.

C is the best of the worst. But, frankly speaking, do not like any of these answers.

A. huge palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya without the benifit of the wheel or animal transport.
This sounds good independetly, but not with "Architects and stonemasons" - does not make sense
B. without the benefits of animal transport or wheel, huge palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya
Analagous to A there is no logicaland gramtaical sense
C. the Maya built huge palace and temple clusters without the beneifts of sanimal transport or the wheel
As it was said - the best of the worst
But I would like it better if:
C1. the Maya, built huge palace and temple clusters without the beneifts of sanimal transport or the wheel
or
C2. The Maya architects and stonemasons built ...
D. there were built, without the benefit of the wheel or animal transport, huge palace and temple clusters by the Maya
there were built - bad
E. were the Maya, who without the benefit of the wheel or animal
transport, built huge palace and temple clusters.
architexts and stonemasons - they are not only Maya, so there is no sense

2Naina1:
the Maya who built huge palace and temple clusters without the benefits of animal transport or the wheel.

in your case there is no verb predicate in this sentence (you eliminate it by inserting "who"), so it does not pass

Architects and masons are appositive modifiers that define or describe the Maya tribe.
Appositives are nouns or noun phrases that stand aloof and hence are liable to be mistaken for comma splices.
Appositives do not tolerate a verb between them and their nouns, as we see in choice E.
Appositives describe their nouns most precisely and nail them forthrightly.
C is a perfectly legal sentence.

Well in simple terms Architects and Stonemasons were who?? This is a Modifier question and here it is referring to the Maya and therefore C is the best .

Go by meaning .Sentence Correction on GMAT is a lot about meaning. Three main topics erstwhile are tested:- Modifiers,Subject verb agreement and parallelism.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

Architects and stonemasons, huge palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya without benefit of the wheel or animal transport.

(A) huge palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya without benefit of the wheel or animal transport

(B) without the benefits of animal transport or the wheel, huge palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya

(C) the Maya built huge palace and temple clusters without the benefit of animal transport or the wheel

(D) there were built, without the benefit of the wheel or animal transport, huge palace and temple clusters by the Maya

(E) were the Maya who, without the benefit of the wheel or animal transport, built huge palace and temple clusters


Official Explanation

Architects and stonemasons are people, not things. This introductory element cannot logically modify huge palace and temple clusters. Revising the sentence so that the Maya immediately follows architects and stonemasons not only corrects the error in modification, it also transforms the sentence from the passive voice (were built) to the preferred active voice (built).

A Architects and stonemasons illogically modifies huge palace and temple clusters
B Moving the prepositional phrase (without… ) does not correct the modification error
C Correct. In this sentence, architects and stonemasons describes the Maya, and the active voice built replaces the passive voice were built.
D Introduction of there were does not correct the modification error; wordy and awkward passive construction
E Architects and masons, were the Maya is not a grammatical construction

The correct answer is C.

Only a noun can follow the modifier “Architects and stonemasons”. Hence, A, B, and D can be eliminated.
E is wordy and awkward.
C is the best choice.

KapTeacherEli
GMATNinja

We could have ignored were the Maya who in that case the sentence would have made sense Architects and Stonemasons, built....
Is there a reason of not ignoring the second part?

Kindly, provide your insights.