Building on civilizations that preceded them in coastal Peru, the Moch

Question

Building on civilizations that preceded them in coastal Peru, the Mochica developed their own elaborate society, based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting other wild and domestic resources.

(A) based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting

(B) based on the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and seafood, and the exploitation of

(C) and basing it on the cultivation of crops like corn and beans, harvesting fish and seafood, and the exploiting of

(D) and they based it on their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans, the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting

(E) and they based it on their cultivating such crops like corn and beans, their harvest of fish and shellfish, and they exploited

egmat · Accepted Answer

Hi  @nehadass ,

Firstly, let me post the correct version of the question and the answer choices here:

Building on civilizations that preceded them in coastal Peru, the Mochica developed their own elaborate society, based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting other wild and domestic resources.

a) based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting

b) based on the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and seafood, and the exploitation of

c) and basing it on the cultivation of crops like corn and beans, harvesting fish and seafood, and the exploiting of

d) and they based it on their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans, the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting

e) and they based it on their cultivating such crops like corn and beans, their harvest of fish and shellfish, and they exploited

It seems that you are not able to figure out how “harvesting” is parallel to “cultivation” and “exploitation” in choice B while “cultivating, harvesting, and exploiting” look absolutely parallel in Choice A.

Notice the presence of the preposition “of” after “harvesting”. “Harvesting” is the noun form of the verb “harvest”. There is no noun form of “harvest” that ends in “-ion”. However, the verbs “cultivate” and “exploit” do have their noun forms ending with “-ion” – “cultivation” and “exploitation”. That makes all these three noun parallel to each other even if “harvesting” looks a little different from the rest.

Now, “cultivating” and “exploiting” cannot be parallel to “harvesting of” because the first two are gerunds – the “-ing” form of verbs that act as noun but denotes action. Whenever the sentence requires the noun form of any word, we must write the real noun form of that word and not the gerund form.

Choice B is the only choice where all the entities appear in one uniform manner – “cultivation of”, “harvesting of”, and “exploitation of” – all noun forms followed by “of”.

And again, choice A cannot be the correct answer because it uses “like” for examples. The correct idiom to present examples is “such as”, correctly used in Choice B.

Hope this helps.
Thanks
Shraddha

GMATNinja · Answer

Conventional GMAT wisdom suggests that you can only use “such as” – but not “like” – to introduce examples in SC sentences. There’s actually a correct SC question that uses “like” to introduce examples (though it’s not a deciding factor, since “like” appears in all five answer choices), but you’ll never see “such like” used… anywhere at all in a correct sentence in English.

Plus, the parallelism isn’t ideal: the society is based on “ cultivating  such crops like corn and beans,  the harvesting of  fish and shellfish, and  exploiting …” I’m not really sure why we would use “cultivating” and “exploiting” by themselves, but then “the harvesting of” includes an article and a preposition. I’m not sure that it’s WRONG, exactly, but I’ll bet that we can do better with the parallelism.

And even if you’re not convinced by the parallelism thing, “such crops like” is definitely a disaster. (A) is out.

Instead of “such crops like”, we now have “such crops as.” That’s much better. And in case you’re wondering: there’s no reason why we can’t split up the “such” and the “as.” Personally, I don’t like it, but the GMAT doesn’t care about what I think – and it’s definitely not wrong.

The parallelism is also much better here: “… the cultivation of  such crops as corn and beans,  the harvesting of  fish and seafood, and  the exploitation of …” That’s perfect: all three elements in the list are in the same form, with an article, a noun, and a preposition.

And it doesn’t matter that “harvesting” sounds different than “cultivation” and “exploitation” – all three are nouns, and when it comes to parallelism, that’s all that matters. “Sound” is irrelevant.

So let’s keep (B).

Now we have “like” to introduce examples, and that’s generally wrong on the GMAT, at least when we have a better alternative (“such as” in two of the other answer choices).

The parallelism is also a problem: “ the cultivation of  crops like corn and beans,  harvesting  fish and seafood, and  the exploiting of …” Again, I don’t understand why we have “harvesting” all by itself, while “cultivation” and “exploiting” are accompanied by an article and a preposition. (Plus, “the exploiting of” is a lousier version of “the exploitation of.” I’m not sure that “the exploiting of” is WRONG, exactly, but it’s not ideal, either.)

Finally, it’s hard to understand why we would use the phrase “and basing it on…” here. I actually can’t quite figure out its role in the sentence: “basing” seems like a modifier of some sort (a participle if you like jargon; check out  this article more on the many uses of “-ing” words ), but I’m not quite sure what it’s modifying. It seems like some other clause would need to follow that modifier: “… and basing it on {three ways to get food}, the Mochica ate really well…”. Or something like that.

But even if you totally ignored that last paragraph, “like” and the parallelism are big enough issues to allow us to ditch (C).

Once again, the parallelism isn’t great here: “and they based it on  their cultivation of  crops such as corn and beans,  the harvest of  fish and seafood, and  exploiting …” That’s odd: we have a possessive phrase (“their cultivation of”), then a non-possessive noun with an article (“the harvest of”), and then an “-ing” noun without an article (“exploiting” – it’s a gerund, if you like grammar jargon). That’s not awesome.

I’m also not sure that there’s a good reason to start a brand-new clause in the underlined portion of the sentence. Check out the structural difference between (B) and (D): in (B), the phrase “based on…” turns the underlined portion into a modifier for “society.” In (D), “…and they based it on…” gives us two parallel clauses – and there’s no good reason to do that. It’s not WRONG, exactly, but it’s simpler and clearer to just turn the last part of the sentence into a modifier for “society.”

But even if you don’t believe anything in that last paragraph, the parallelism thing is enough to disqualify (D).

(E) has all sorts of problems. “Such crops like” is a hot mess, and should be “such crops as” or “crops such as.”

The parallelism is disastrous, too: “… their cultivating  such crops like corn and beans,  their harvest of  fish and shellfish, and  they exploited …” That gives us two nouns and then a brand-new clause (“they exploited”), and those things aren’t parallel to each other.

Put another way: the sentence now has three clauses, and there’s no good reason to make the sentence so complicated. “The Mochica developed their own elaborate society… and they based it on their cultivating… and they exploited other resources…” That’s a mess.

But even if you don’t believe that last paragraph, the “such like” and parallelism problems are spectacular reasons to eliminate (E). And we’re left with (B).

MichaelS · Answer

If you really want to apply parallelism to this sentence, you'll need to know a slightly arcane rule about gerunds. Let's lay out some terms first. Gerunds are verbs transformed into nouns by the addition of -ing.

A simple gerund is one that could function as a verb, modifiers and all. In the following sentences, the simple gerund is in bold.
 I love  skiing .
 Skiing  is my favorite winter sport.
 Skiing through avalanche territory  is especially exciting.  
Again, the bolded portions above are simple gerunds, because they could serve as verbs in a sentence such as  I am skiing , or  I am skiing through avalanche country .

A complex gerund is one that could not serve as a verb. I won't list here all the ways to create complex gerunds, but watch out in particular for articles and for  of phrases . I'll give you a reference to some additional information below. In the meantime, here is an example of a complex gerund.
  The opening of the new shopping mall  drew fewer customers than the developers had hoped. 
You couldn't say  I am opening of...

OK, here's the slightly arcane rule. There are three sorts of nouns: (1) concrete nouns, (2) action nouns and complex gerunds, (3) simple gerunds. No list or other parallel structure can mix these. (It's easy to find perfectly good sentences that violate this rule, but not on the GMAT: this rule applies reliably to GMAT SC.)

Now let's apply that rule here:

Every list means parallelism. Let's see what is being compared in each answer choice, and ask whether the elements are structurally similar and logically comparable.

In A, the list is  cultivating..., the harvesting of ..., and exploiting .  Cultivating  and  exploiting  are simple gerunds, but  the harvesting of  is a complex gerund. ELIMINATE.

In B, the list is  the cultivation..., the harvesting..., and the exploitation of....    Cultivation  is not a gerund at all, but remember that action nouns can be parallel with complex gerunds. So fine.

In C, the list is  the cultivation..., harvesting..., and the exploiting of  . Harvesting is a simple gerund, while the exploiting of is a complex gerund. ELIMINATE.

In D, the list is  their cultivation..., the harvest..., and exploiting of . Similar problem with gerunds and other nouns. ELIMINATE.

In E, the list is  their cultivating..., their harvest..., and they exploited . This is the most egregious error.  They exploited  is a clause, while  cultivating  and  harvest  are nouns. ELIMINATE.

That leaves B. If you want the more nuanced account of gerunds I mentioned above, go to 213-215 of the MGMAT SC Strategy Guide.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Parallelism + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• “like” is used for comparing nouns, “as” is used for comparing actions/clauses, and “such as” is used for giving examples.
• All elements in a list must be parallel. 
• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

A:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among “cultivating such crops like corn and beans”, “the harvesting of fish and shellfish”, and “exploiting other wild and domestic resources”; remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “such…like” to provide the examples of “corn and beans”; remember, “such as” is used for giving examples.

B:   Correct.  This answer choice correctly maintains parallelism among “the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans”, “, the harvesting of fish and seafood”, and “the exploitation of other wild and domestic resources”. Further, Option B correctly uses the idiomatic construction “such…as” to provide the examples of “corn and beans”. Additionally, Option B is free of any redundancy or awkwardness.

C:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between “developed their own elaborate society” and “basing it on…”; remember, any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel. Further, Option C fails to maintain parallelism among “the cultivation of crops like corn and beans”, “harvesting fish and seafood”, and “the exploiting of other wild and domestic resources”; remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Additionally, Option C incorrectly uses “like” ” to provide the examples “corn and beans”; remember, “like” is used for comparing nouns, and “such as” is used for giving examples.

D:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among “their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans", “the harvest of fish and seafood”, and “exploiting other wild and domestic resources”; remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Further, Option D uses the needlessly wordy construction “and they based it on”, leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among “their cultivating such crops like corn and beans", “their harvest of fish and shellfish”, and “they exploited other wild and domestic resources”; remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “such…like” to provide the examples of “corn and beans”; remember, “such as” is used for giving examples. Additionally, Option E uses the needlessly wordy construction “and they based it on”, leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Like" vs "As" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RDBnJBNtyk

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

bakfed · Answer

"Such as" is always correct (in terms of giving examples), and "such like" is always and forever incorrect. Having said that, (A) uses the incorrect construct of "such crops LIKE", for which the usage is incorrect. 
(B) fixes the problem of such as, but since there's a list of items given, you need to make sure that all items in this list are parallel to each other. This list contains cultivating of corn and beans, the harvesting of fish, and exploitation of other wild and domestic resources. All three of these items are parallel, since the writer has put them all in noun phrases (cultivating of, harvesting of, and exploitation of). So (B) looks very good so far.
(C) has several problems. Most of the time, if not all the time, the usage of "basing it" is almost always incorrect. It has to be "based on". Then the usage of the word "it" is questionable. What's "it" referring to? When you're providing a list of items, the phrase "such as" is preferred to the word "like". Last but not least, the three items in the list are not parallel in grammatical structure. (the cultivation of - a noun phrase; harvesting fish - a verb phrase)
(D) creates an extremely wordy sentence. The usage of "they based it on" should jump out at you. Who's "they" referring to? Who's "it" referring to? Again, the items in the list are not parallel as in (C) - with a mixture of noun phrases and verb phrase.
(E) repeats the "such like" error, which is always and forever wrong. Again, pronoun issue with "they" and "it".

The only answer that will be remotely possible is (B), which corrects all the mistakes mentioned.

subhajeet · Answer

Hi saikarthikreddy, the cultivation and the harvesting are not in parallel. It should be cultivating & harvesting.
Correct me if I am wrong.

kraizada84 · Answer

based on the  cultivation  of such crops as corn and beans,  the harvesting of  fish and seafood, and the  exploitation  of

"the harvesting of " - complex gerund
"cultivation" and "exploitation" - action noun

complex gerund and action noun can be parallel.

Hope this helps..!!

omidsa · Answer

Referring to Manhattan SC Chapter 4/P56 we know this Idiomatic phrase:

X, Such As Y (example)

I have picked this sentence from OG12 :
evaluate applicants only on their performance in business courses such as accounting, marketing, and economics.

business courses= X

accounting, marketing, and economics = Y

Makes sense. Now back to the answer choices we can eliminate A, C and E referring "X, Such As Y". But about B answer choice there is "such crops as corn and beans" = "Such X AS Y" is this correct? can we move X and Y? is there any other example of this phrase "Such X AS Y" in OG?

I know about the other problem of answer choice D in parallelism "the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting" that is not correct. But what if we eliminate this part from answer choices? and just please talk about "Such...AS"

egmat · Answer

Hi there,

In GMAT, whenever we need to prsent examples, we must use "such as" and not "like". You understand this pasrt ver well, alright.

Now this idiom can be split a seen in this OG sentence. It is absolutely grammatical to say "cultivation of such crops as corn and beans". Yes, the simplest structure is "cultivation of crops such as corn and beans". But even if we say "cultivation of such crops as corn and beans", there is nothing wrong in it because essentially the correct idiom does remain "SUCH AS" that has been used to present examples.

Even if write  "evaluate applicants only on their performance in business courses such as accounting, marketing, and economics"  as "evaluate applicants only on their performance in  such  business courses  as  accounting, marketing, and economics", it will be absolutely correct. The main thing is that you are using the correct idiom to present correct examples of the correct entity.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha.

kiranjith · Answer

Building on civilisations that preceded them in coastal Peru, the Mochica developed their own elaborate society,  based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of ﬁsh and shellﬁsh, and exploiting  other wild and domestic resources.

(A) based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting

(B) based on the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and seafood, and the exploitation of

(C) and basing it on the cultivation of crops like corn and beans, harvesting fish and seafood, and the exploiting of

(D) and they based it on their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans, the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting

(E) and they based it on their cultivating such crops like corn and beans, their harvest of fish and shellfish, and they exploited

To me " based on cultivating such crops..... "(this whole sentence) seems to modify developed.That is the entire clause.
isn't based a verb-ed modifier?how is based which modifies only nouns used here?why not a verb-ing modifier?Also tell me if this sentence is true,though "basing" its awkward?

, basing it on cultivating such crops as corn and beans, harvesting of ﬁsh and shellﬁsh, and exploiting other wild and domestic resources.

daagh · Answer

Yes, ‘ based’ is a noun modifier; here in choice A and B , it indeed modifies the noun –Society-: But going more methodically, let us first remove the choices with ‘such crops like’ and only take the right idiom ‘such crops as’; So A C and E are out. Between B and D, D lacks parallelism. So B is the choice

Basing it on cultivating such crops as corn and beans, harvesting of ﬁsh and shellﬁsh, and exploiting other wild and domestic resources.

The problem with this format is that, when you have verb+ing, as an adverbial modifier, it modifies the entire clause before or the action of the preceded portion, in which case, the intended modifier ‘Society’ loses its relevance. It may be noted here that –basing- cannot modify Mochcia as Mochica is used as a plural noun and so you can’t say basing ‘it’. In addition the sentence suggested by the poster lacks prepositional parallelism

TheRzS · Answer

Hi Experts,

Could you please comment on the summary below? Below is my understanding; Correct/Wrong?

Concrete Noun || Action Noun -  OK 
Concrete Noun || Complex Gerund -  OK 
Concrete Noun || Simple Gerund -  OK

Action Noun || Complex Gerund -  OK 
Action Noun || Simple Gerund -  NOT OK

Complex Gerund || Simple Gerund -  NOT OK

Simple Gerund || Simple Gerund -  OK

Best
RzS

sayantanc2k · Answer

Manhattan SC guide summarizes the rules regarding use of simple gerund and complex gerund:
 In brief, there are three categories of nouns: (1) Concrete Nouns, (2) Action Nouns and Complex Gerunds, and (3) Simple Gerunds. Do not mix these categories.

Thus you may see that your following points are incorrect:
1, 2, 3,

The following are correct:
4, 5, 6, 7.

gmatexam439 · Answer

Building on civilizations that preceded them in coastal Peru, the Mochica developed their own elaborate society, based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting other wild and domestic resources.

(A) based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting - usage of like is wrong

(B) based on the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and seafood, and the exploitation of -- Correct .

(C) and basing it on the cultivation of crops like corn and beans, harvesting fish and seafood, and the exploiting of -- usage of like is wrong
 
(D) and they based it on their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans, the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting -- this changes the meaning by using "and". The Mochica didn't develop first and then started those things. They developed because of those things.

(E) and they based it on their cultivating such crops like corn and beans, their harvest of fish and shellfish, and they exploited -- Same issue as in D

adkikani · Answer

Explanation as per GMATNinja style

. Step 1: Look for definite errors , one that jump off the page for you. Eg, parallel markers such as AND, BUT or logical antecedent for pronouns The word that catches my eye first : parallel marker - AND So what are nouns that are parallel : harvesting of Other nouns cultivating and exploiting acts as a gerund (verb acting as a noun) than a proper noun: cultivation of and explication of A is also out because we do not use LIKE for giving examples , we use such as or as. Step 2: PoE: All three elements in list ie cultivation of , harvesting of and exploitation of are now in parallel to stem - BASED ON, a verb-ed modifer modifying society. Keep this and see why others are incorrect. What is the highlighted AND doing in between? We need coma + verb-ed modifier correctly modifying society instead of coma + verb-ing which either shows HOW / RESULT of preceding clause. Here again usage of LIKE is incorrect. We need AND only before the end of the last element in the list. Here the exploiting ( a gerund) is not parallel to earlier two nouns. Complete mess, 1. Incorrect usage of AND 2. See elements in list, first is a gerund, second a noun and third a verb.

AkshdeepS · Answer

(A) based on cultivating  such  crops  like  corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting

(B) based on the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and seafood, and the exploitation of

(C) and  basing it  on the cultivation of crops  like  corn and beans, harvesting fish and seafood, and the exploiting of

(D) and they based it on  their cultivation  of crops such as corn and beans, the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting

(E) and  they based it on their cultivating  such crops like corn and beans, their harvest of fish and shellfish, and they exploited

TheUltimateWinner · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja 
Thanks for your explanation.
What does COMMA (before  based on ) do in B? Is  based on  modifying anything here?
Thanks__

utkarshg97 · Answer

Note:  Simplest solution  to the answer would be using parallelism. Since the problem contains a LIST of three things (one of the most obvious parallel structures), this is a nice gift.

a) based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting

"THE harvesting" isn't parallel to "exploiting".

("such crops LIKE..." is also a flagrant error; it must be "such crops as...")

b) based on the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and seafood, and the exploitation of

perfect parallelism.

from right to left:
the exploitation of...
the harvesting of...
the cultivation of...

c) and basing it on the cultivation of crops like corn and beans, harvesting fish and seafood, and the exploiting of

"harvesting" isn't parallel to "THE exploiting".
 
(also, "...and basing" is not a properly constructed modifier)

d) and they based it on their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans, the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting
 
 worst parallelism ever.
no two of "THEIR cultivation", "THE harvest", and "exploiting" are parallel.
 
 e) and they based it on their cultivating such crops like corn and beans, their harvest of fish and shellfish, and they exploited
 
 "they exploited" isn't parallel to the other two.

Please drop in a kudos if you liked the answer. :D

GMATNinja · Answer

In (B), the phrase beginning with "based on..." modifies society, since the society is based on that nice list of things that the Mochica cultivated, harvested, and exploited. As stated in this post , "style experts disagree about comma rules, and... the GMAT has better things to worry about." Is that comma entirely necessary? Probably not. But it doesn't hurt anything, and it arguably makes the sentence just a tiny bit easier to read. The good news is that we do NOT need to worry about commas here, and we rarely need to worry about them on the GMAT in general . As discussed earlier , there are much bigger fish to fry in the other options.

(Mmm... fish.) I hope this helps!

Building on civilizations that preceded them in coastal Peru, the Moch

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