Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the

Hello experts,
I have a question regarding answer choices A and D , specifically, I understand that "at the time during" is inferior compared to the structure of A, what bothers me is the meaning issue that is mentioned in some posts, the way I see it both meanings make sense, in A) Tokugawa is associated with the prolonged peace while in D) Tokugawa is associated with the isolation, however meaning wise I think both are feasible, so my question is if "at the time during" was corrected in D, wouldn't D be considered correct?

Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade during the Tokugawa shogunate, prolonged peace produced an almost explosive expansion of commerce.

(A) Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate produced an almost explosive expansion of commerce.

Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate produced an almost explosive expansion of commerce.


(A) Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate

(B) the relative isolation of Japan from world trade at the time and the Tokugawa shogunate’s prolonged peace, it

(C) being relatively isolated from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate

(D) Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time during the Tokugawa shogunate, prolonged peace

(E) its relative isolation from world trade then, prolonged peace in Japan during the Tokugawa shogunate





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Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate produced an almost explosive expansion of commerce.

(C) being relatively isolated from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate

(A) Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate

Here you go again, imSKR, picking apart finer details when the larger picture is a better guide. My responses below.


No, the opening phrase in (A) is not the same as the one in (C). Notice that in the original sentence, we have a subject within that phrase, Japan's relative isolation, whereas in (C), we delay that subject until the phrase has resolved (i.e. what was relatively isolated?). Furthermore, we can in (A) reasonably carry over our understanding that the sentence is commenting on Japan, even though it is not an absolute certainty. That is, since the opening phrase mentions the relative isolation of Japan and no other country within a despite framework, we are led to believe that the sentence after the comma will resolve some information pertaining to Japan. Again, (C) delays this vital information about location, so the sentence is not grounded in the same way by the time we cross the comma.


Where does this apparent rule of similar entities come from? Notice, too, that the original sentence does not adopt an -ing opening phrase. The contextual clues allow us to interpret the sentence in a similar way to the following:

1) Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, Japan's prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate produced an almost explosive expansion of commerce.

Or, if you prefer a more formal version:

2) Despite the relative isolation of Japan from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace in Japan during the Tokugawa shogunate produced an almost explosive expansion of commerce.

The takeaway is not to apply so-called rules too strictly, particularly when you might be missing questions because of them. Focus on the overall meaning based on the information available. A microscopic look is fine at times, but just make sure you do not zoom in too much and miss the larger view.

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me.

- Andrew

In History, 'at that time' can refer to an era, and in this context an era that ran for nearly 300 years. It may be noted that the text talks about a prolonged peace and can it be logically expected that such an extended peace was obtained at a specific point of time?

Since the topic is from GMAT Prep, I hope you are not having any doubts about its veracity. Similarly, how we can take that D is superior when after all, D is also using "at that time", "during the shogunate" and "prolonged peace?

I can see your anxiety when you were confused about an official answer from GMATPrep. Normally people take them in their stride. Wish you good luck.

(A) Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate

(B) the relative isolation of Japan from world trade at the time and the Tokugawa shogunate’s prolonged peace, it

(C) being relatively isolated from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate

(D) Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time during the Tokugawa shogunate, prolonged peace

(E) its relative isolation from world trade then, prolonged peace in Japan during the Tokugawa shogunate

Please help why E is incorrect.

Hi 1988achilles, a handy thing to remember is that when a pronoun appears as part of the introductory modifier, that pronoun refers to the noun immediately after the introductory modifier.

Hence, in E, its would erroneously refer to prolonged peace (whereas it should actually have referred to Japan).

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses this Pronoun issue, its application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.