During the eighteenth century, widespread changes in agriculture, know

This question is based on Parallelism.

Option A is only a sentence fragment. There is no subject to complete the idea conveyed by the subject “agrarian revolution”. So, Option A can be eliminated.

Option C is also an incomplete sentence. The relative pronoun ‘which’ is used to begin a modifier that describes the agrarian revolution. However, there should have been a verb after the modifier to complete the idea. So, Option C can also be eliminated.

Option E has the same structure as Option C does. The only difference is the relative pronoun ‘that’ instead of ‘which’. This option also is incomplete. So, Option E can be eliminated.

Options B and D are very similar. However, there is a comma missing in Option D. There should be a comma before and after the phrase “known as the agrarian revolution” to indicate that it is extra information.
There is also a conjunction missing in Option D. There should be a conjunction in between the phrases ‘enclosed fields’ and ‘new farming techniques and crops’ because there are only two items in the list of things that were 'introduced'. So, Option D can be eliminated.

Option B has the requisite conjunctions and prepositions to convey the intended meaning. The parallelism in the sentence is between the two things that were part of the agrarian revolution - the introduction of certain things and the substitution of certain things. So, there must be conjunction between "the introduction of..." and "the substitution of..". Furthermore, two things were introduced - enclosed fields and new faming techniques and crops. To make it clear that 'new farming techniques and crops' were something that was introduced, there must be a preposition 'of' before the phrase. Therefore, B is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

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 during the eighteenth century, widespread changes in agriculture, involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields and of new farming techniques and crops, and involved the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming, and these changes were known as the agrarian revolution.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Grammatical Construction

• If a list has only two elements, they must be joined by a conjunction.
• Presenting a modifying phrase between two commas is a correct way to insert extra information into an independent clause.

A: This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; as "involving" is a present participle ("verb+ing"), there is no active verb to act upon the subject noun "changes". Further, Option A incorrectly uses a comma to join two elements in a list - "of enclosed fields" and "of new farming techniques and crops"; remember, if a list has only two elements, they must be joined by a conjunction.

B: Correct. This answer choice acts upon the independent subject noun "changes" with the active verb "involved" to form a complete thought, leading to a complete sentence. Further, Option E uses the phrase "and of new farming techniques and crops, and", conveying the intended meaning - that the widespread changes in agriculture involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields, the large-scale introduction of new farming techniques and crops, and the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming. Additionally, Option B correctly uses a pair of commas to introduce extra information - the fact that the changes in agriculture are known as the agrarian revolution - into an independent clause.

C: This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; as "involved" is part of a modifying phrase, there is no active verb to act upon the subject noun "changes".

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "new farming techniques and crops, and of"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the widespread changes in agriculture involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields, the large-scale introduction of the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming, and new farming techniques and crops; the intended meaning is that the widespread changes in agriculture involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields, the large-scale introduction of new farming techniques and crops, and the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming. Further, Option D incorrectly uses a single comma to introduce extra information - the fact that the changes in agriculture are known as the agrarian revolution - into an independent clause; remember, presenting a modifying phrase between two commas is a correct way to insert extra information into an independent clause.

E: This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; as "involved" is part of a modifying phrase, there is no active verb to act upon the subject noun "changes". Further, Option E incorrectly uses a single comma to introduce extra information - the fact that the changes in agriculture are known as the agrarian revolution - into an independent clause; remember, presenting a modifying phrase between two commas is a correct way to insert extra information into an independent clause.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Extra Information Between Commas" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

B.

During the eighteenth century, widespread changes in agriculture, [strike]known as the agrarian revolution[/strike], involving the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields, of new farming techniques and crops, and the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming.

During the eighteenth century, widespread changes in agriculture, known as the agrarian revolution, involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields and of new farming techniques and crops, and the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming.

This Q is testing parallelism in a very rough way.

(A) does not have main verb (should be "changes ..... involved")
(B) correct parallelism, very complicated though
(C) does not have main verb (should be "changes ..... involved")
(D) lack of comma introduces ambiguity: "revolution involved"
(E) does not have main verb (should be "changes ..... involved")

Here A states revolution, involving which makes the sentence very awkward...

B is correct in saying ...the large-scale introduction of A and of B... ,and C- here basically there is hierarchy of conjunctions.... [A and B] and c... it is maintained perfectly...

In C use of 'which' is redundant...

In D 'introduction of enclosed fields, new farming techniques and crops, and of' distorts the meaning...

In E usage of 'of' in climax changes the meaning of sentence.. it suggests that 'large-scale introduction.... of A and B, and of C' ie also large scale introduction of 'substitution of commercial for subsistence farming' ... which is so incorrect...


Definitely B is perfect...

Any one care to take a look at this problem again?

My doubt is between B and D

B. revolution, involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields and of new farming techniques and crops, and
D. revolution involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields,new farming techniques and crops, and of

IMHO, D should be correct because in B, we introduce "and" between a point 1 and 2 in a 3-point list. The way I read this is :
revolution involved
a) ...introduction of enclosed fields
b)..new farming techniques,
c)...the substitution of commercial....

the issue with D on the other hand is this unnecessary preposition "of" at the end of the third clause.

as you pointed out the presence of OF breaks the parallelism and hence is wrong.

option B is correct.

During the eighteenth century, widespread changes in agriculture, known as the agrarian revolution, involved X , and Y.

X = {the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields and of new (farming techniques and crops)}
[b]Y= {the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming.}

[/b]STRIKED OUT PART is modifier.
PARALLELISM IS BETWEEN X AND Y

IN X==> FARMING TECHNIQUES AND CROPS ==>THEY ARE PARALLEL///////AND...INTRODUCTION OF A AND B are parallel.
where A=ENCLOSED FIELDS
B=FARMING TECHNIQUES AND CROPS..

so overall we have 3 parallel construction as we have 3 PARALLELISM MARKER i.e AND

HOPE IT HELPS

B is no doubt the best of the lot. Still a small hazy area---The revolution involved two things namely 1. the large scale introduction of X and the substitution of Y. There are only two items in the main list. Do we need a comma between them, i.e before the second ‘and’? One might observe that there is no comma before the ‘and’ in the subordinate modifier namely ‘of enclosed fields’ and ‘of new farming techniques and crops’ and rightly so in IMO.

So many and is this sentence makes it awkward .
I chose option D .
B is the answer though .
I have a question if we remove of from Option D from end will it be correct?
Please help

Yes, "D. revolution involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields, new farming techniques and crops, and the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming." is correct.

Notice that we need to make introduction and substitution || here.

During the eighteenth century, widespread changes in agriculture, known as the agrarian revolution, involving the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields, of new farming techniques and crops, and the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming.

A. revolution, involving the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields, of new farming techniques and crops, and - not even a sentence as verb is missing

B. revolution, involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields and of new farming techniques and crops, and - Correct

C. revolution, which involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields and of new farming techniques and crops, and - no verb for the main clause

D. revolution involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields, new farming techniques and crops, and of - Parallelism issue

E. revolution that involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields and new farming techniques and crops, and of - no verb for the main verb for subject "widespread changes in agriculture"


mikemcgarry ,sayantanc2k , RonPurewal , daagh ,GMATNinja ,egmat , other experts -- for option D , even if the of that follows and is removed , don't we need a comma after the word revolution since "known as the agrarian revolution" is an appositive -- so it needs to separated by commas on both sides and the subject is widespread changes in agriculture

During the eighteenth century, widespread changes in agriculture, known as the agrarian revolution , involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields, new farming techniques and crops, and of the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming.

Skywalker.
I agree with regard to the comma issue. That is the reason B, as also with proper participial modification, is better than D. But the only thing is 'known as the agrarian revolution' is not an appositive but a past participle modifier. An appositive will be a noun that describes the widespread changes such as simply, 'an agrarian revolution'

Daagh Sir has already pointed out that the modifier is not an appositive but a past participle. Just to complete the reply your query, the comma would still be required because the (past participle) modifier is a non-essential modifier.

I agree that choice B is shorter by one word and thus more concise and thus superior that choice C, but I still think that choice C actually looks ok, I don't understand why everyone says it lacks a verb, just a second! It contains all the same words and verbs as B with an addition of which, which in my humble opinion does not distort meaning.

Hello Erjan_S,

I would like to help you with this one.


Let's understand the structure of Choice C:


During the eighteenth century, widespread changes in agriculture, known as the agrarian revolution,
which involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields and of new farming techniques and crops, and the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming.

(Subject = blue, Verb = green)

As you can see in the above structure, the subject widespread changes does not have any verb. Hence, there is no independent clause per Choice C. And there cannot be a sentence without at least one independent clause.


It is true that Choice C has all the words Choice B. But the extra word which in Choice C acts as a subject and takes involved as its verb. This is the reason why the subject widespread changes is left with no verb.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

@Ssayantanc2k, I understand that B is the best answer. But I have a query with the unnecessary useage of comma.
During the eighteenth century, widespread changes in agriculture, known as the agrarian revolution, involved the large-scale introduction of enclosed fields and of new farming techniques and crops, and the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming. My question is why do we need a comma before and the substitution of commercial for subsistence farming.

Here, we can see that the structure that needs to be parallel is the introduction of X & Y & the substitution of Z. (X- enclosed fields , Y- new farming techniques, z-he substitution of commercial for subsistence farming. )
the sentence includes 2 entities. Entity 1- Introduction of X and Y Entity 2- substitution of commercial for subsistence farming. So, when e are involving 2 elements, is the usage of comma fine?

My Reasoning is somewhat different. Daagh, Mike, GMATNINZA Pls advice If this is right.

A is out as Involving (VerbIng) modifies preceding clause but here” widespread changes in agriculture” or known as the agrarian revolution is phrase not Clause. Therefore, we need to use VerbED modifier, Verb+ed before comma, modifies the preceding “Noun-PHRASE”. Here Involved should be used, which modifies “Changes”

Other than B no options have this structure. Hence “B” is the answer.