The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink in

Question

The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was  like the eruption that buried ancient Pompeii: in each case a slice of civilization was instantly frozen in time.

(A) The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was 
(B) As the result of an earthquake, most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean; the effect was 
(C) In its effects, the sinking of most of Port Royal into the Caribbean was the result of an earthquake 
(D) The earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was, in its effects, 
(E) Most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean because of an earthquake, the effect of which was

SC19561.01

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/21/science/divers-in-jamaica-search-wickedest-city-that-sank-in-1692.html

Shortly before noon on June 7 that year, an earthquake struck and two-thirds of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean, to be entombed over the years by layers of coral, silt and sea grasses.  The effect, archeologists say, was much  like the eruption that buried ancient Pompeii. A slice of civilization was instantly frozen.

gmatt1476 · Accepted Answer

Official Explanation

Logical predication; Parallelism

The sentence is meant to indicate that an earthquake caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean. However, the sentence as stated has two major flaws:

First, as the sentence is worded, the phrase that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean modifies The effect of the earthquake. This implies that the effect is what caused most of Port Royal to sink, whereas it was the earthquake itself that caused most of Port Royal to sink.

Second, the comparison is faulty: the effect is compared to the eruption. Presumably, the earthquake itself is what is meant to be compared to the eruption.

A. This choice suffers from the two major flaws discussed above.

B. This choice attaches the modifier as the result of an earthquake to most of Port Royal. This implies, confusingly, that most of Port Royal was the result of an earthquake. Furthermore, the sentence improperly compares the effect to the eruption, whereas the earthquake itself is what should be compared to the eruption.

C. This choice places the modifying phrase in its effects immediately before the sinking, suggesting that we are discussing the effects of the sinking rather than the effects of the earthquake.

D. Correct. This choice properly compares the earthquake to the eruption that buried Pompeii.

E. This choice improperly compares an effect of the earthquake to the eruption that buried Pompeii.

The correct answer is D.

hiranmay · Answer

The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was  like the eruption that buried ancient Pompeii: in each case a slice of civilization was instantly frozen in time.

(A)  The effect   of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean  was --> "The effect" can't be compare w/ "the eruption" i.e. "the eruption" should be compare w/ "the earthquake"
(B)  As the result of an earthquake, most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean;   the effect  was 
(C) In its effects, the sinking of most of Port Royal into the Caribbean was the result of an earthquake --> D is better: passive voice
(D) The earthquake  that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean  was , in its effects  -->  correct : The earthquake was like the eruption
(E)  Most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean because of an earthquake,   the effect  of which was

MofeBhatia · Answer

Correct option is D.

Let’s see what’s wrong with other options

A - the effect didn’t cause Port Royal to sink . Earthquake did.
B - the effect of ? ..It is not clear what effect is talked about
C -Earthquake cannot be compared to the eruption that buried ancient Pompeii. 
The effect of earthquake must be compare with eruption that caused destruction in Pompeii. 
E - wrong usage of which.

FLP922 · Answer

In Option D a comma follows the verb: "The earthquake   was,   like the eruption".
Is that accepted?

I would have expected another comma to read: "The earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was, in its effects ,  like the eruption..."

Thanks

dushyanta · Answer

I was also thinking the same.. 
a lot of places i have seen this to be called out as a modifier issue

generis  - Just want to know why this is not a modifier issue here?

Kanika3agg · Answer

I cant seem to understand option D here. Shouldnt we have a comma after in its effects?

Priyanka2018 · Answer

Exactly the reason why i eliminated this choice
In GMAT advance book I am finding some really new rules it seems.

daagh  can you please explain this
Also can you please explain that whether 'That' can modify the noun in the preposition-
Eg--The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was........
In the OE it is written that this sentence means that the effect caused the Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean, but i thought that here 'that' is referring to earthquake
Please explain

Thanks in Advance,
Priyanka

daagh · Answer

Dushyant/Priya

Okay. As per you suggestion, let us put a comma after effects, make it a non-essential modifier, and see what the difference is.

In another way, let us remove the comma after the verb 'was' and see what the difference is among all the three choices.

Original: (D) The earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was, in its effects like the eruption that buried ancient Pompeii: in each case, a slice of civilization was instantly frozen in time.

With a non-essential modifier- (D) the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was, in its effects, like the eruption that buried ancient Pompeii: in each case, a slice of civilization was instantly frozen in time.
(Or)

With an essential modifier- (D) The earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was in its effects like the eruption that buried ancient Pompeii: in each case, a slice of civilization was instantly frozen in time.

In the given example, the creation of modifier is even antithetical. We should not mistake that the intent of the page is to compare two disasters. It is the similarity in effect of losing a slice of civilization that is in focus. Therefore, the effect part is an essential modifier. By converting it into a non-essential modifier with a parenthesis, we are altering the intent.

Priyanka2018 · Answer

daagh  I get it now. Thanks.
Can you please address this --

Also can you please explain that whether 'That' can modify the noun in the preposition-
Eg--The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was........
In the OE it is written that this sentence means that the effect caused the Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean, but i thought that here 'that' is referring to earthquake
Please explain

Thanks in Advance,
Priyanka

daagh · Answer

Priya

These are all grey areas. Many times, GMAT avers that therelative pronoun 'that 'stands for a noun I the front. Sometimes like in this case, it seems to refer to some distant noun namely 'the effect'. But the second point raised by the OE seals the fate of choice A even if the first one was confusing. I don't think OE's changed thinking should leave us stranded.

Take away: Can you find a way out of a tangle without getting stuck, whatever the impediment ? This is the training.

GMATIntensive · Answer

Sentence Analysis

https://www.thegmatco.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1.jpg

The sentence talks about the effect of an earthquake. Which earthquake? The one that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean.

This effect was like an eruption. Which eruption? The one that buried ancient Pompeii.

In both cases (earthquake and eruption), a part of humanity ceased to exist.

The only problem with the given sentence is that it compares the ‘effect’ of the earthquake with the ‘eruption’. Logically, the earthquake should be compared with the eruption, or the effect of the earthquake should be compared with the effect of the eruption.

Option Analysis

A.  The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was 
 Incorrect . This option has the error highlighted above.

B.  As the result of an earthquake, most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean; the effect was 
 Incorrect . This option has the same meaning error as option A.

C.  In its effects, the sinking of most of Port Royal into the Caribbean was the result of an earthquake  
 Incorrect . For the following reasons:

1. The “its” in “in its effects” refers to the subject of the main clause, which is “the sinking”. Essentially, this option means - “in the sinking’s effects, the sinking of most…”. The option conveys a nonsensical meaning. Logically, the sentence should talk about the effects of the earthquake, not the sinking.

2. In this construction, “earthquake like the eruption” is grammatically incorrect. The correct way to put this is “earthquake that was like the eruption”.

D.  The earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was, in its effects, 
 Correct .This option corrects the error in the original sentence. Given this option, the sentence means that the earthquake was like the eruption in terms of its effects i.e. the earthquake and the eruption had similar effects.

E.  Most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean because of an earthquake, the effect of which was 
 Incorrect . This option has the same meaning error as option A.

LIBERTYRodP · Answer

COMPARISONS

(A) The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was  --------- This one is comparing "the effect" to "the eruption". Wrong logical parallelism.

(B) As the result of an earthquake, most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean; the effect was  -------- This one is also comparing "the effect" to "the eruption". Wrong logical parallelism.

(C) In its effects, the sinking of most of Port Royal into the Caribbean was the result of an earthquake  -------- This one is comparing "the sinking" to "the eruption". It is also wrong because "the sinking" was an effect, and the "eruption" was a cause. In reality, what the author wants to compare is "eruption" to "earthquake", in the sense that both had similar effects.

(D) The earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was, in its effects,    -------- Ugly but correct.

(E) Most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean because of an earthquake, the effect of which was  ---------- This one is comparing "the effect" to "the eruption". Wrong logical parallelism.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

This question tests  comparison .

In questions such as these, we need to carefully understand what entities are being logically and grammatically compared.

What is the sentence trying to say?
In this case, we might not get the complete sense just by reading the question. For these types of questions, you might have to compare the different answer choices to understand the ‘intent’ of the question.

Here the sentence is saying that the earthquake in the Caribbean was like the eruption in Pompeii in terms of the effects it both had.

Based on this, let’s eliminate the options:

(A)  The effect of the earthquake  that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was
(B) As the result of an earthquake, most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean;  the effect was 
(C)  In its effects,  the sinking of most of Port Royal into the Caribbean was the result of an earthquake
(D)  The earthquake  that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was,  in its effects ,
(E) Most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean because of an earthquake,  the effect of which was

Eliminate Options A, B, C, and E  for incorrect comparison.

Option D  is the best choice.

Hope this helps!

h31337u · Answer

The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was like the eruption that buried ancient Pompeii: in each case a slice of civilization was instantly frozen in time.

(A) The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was
(B) As the result of an earthquake, most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean; the effect was
(C) In its effects, the sinking of most of Port Royal into the Caribbean was the result of an earthquake
(D) The earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink into the Caribbean was, in its effects,
(E) Most of Port Royal sank into the Caribbean because of an earthquake, the effect of which was

IMO, the answer is "D". 
The key issue is that the earthquake is being compared with the eruption.

And only C and D do the job. 
Now, beteween C and D, 
"in its effects" is correctly placed to say "we are comparing the earthquake and the eruption in its effects".
Also the sinking was the result of an earthquake is too wordy.

Hence, D is correct.

shameekv1989 · Answer

MentorTutoring   daagh

Is it okay to compare a concrete noun such as earthquake to an action noun such as eruption?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  shameekv1989 . There is no problem with such a noun-to-noun comparison. How else are we to describe natural disasters? Volcanoes erupt, but, despite the name  earthquake , we do not say that the earth quakes, at least not in more modern parlance. And then we have the aquatic disasters like  hurricane ,  typhoon , and  tsunami , all of which show just how much English likes to borrow from other languages (and make consistency quite difficult to achieve when it comes to pinning down grammatical rules).

- Andrew

shameekv1989 · Answer

Hello Andrew,  MentorTutoring

Thanks for replying.

So would you say that "earthquake" in this sentence is acting more like an action noun itself since there is no better way to convey it? And thus this comparison is correct.

In general, can a concrete noun be compared to an action noun otherwise? As in, is it grammatically correct?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  shameekv1989 . I would, in fact, call an earthquake an action noun. That is, you can feel the tremors of an earthquake, but you cannot reach out and touch something you would call an earthquake. Likewise, you can see, touch, hear, smell, and even taste the byproducts of an eruption, but you cannot experience an eruption itself by using the five senses. Think about it:

1)  I see an eruption  means  I see a volcano erupting 
2)  I feel an eruption  means  I feel the heat, tremors, etc., of an erupting volcano 
3)  I hear an eruption  means  I hear a volcano erupting  (presumably because I am near one)
4)  I smell an eruption  means  I smell the burning, etc., associated with an erupting volcano 
5)  I taste an eruption  means  I perceive a difference in the taste of something because a volcano is erupting  (i.e. I am not grabbing a spoonful of lava)

So in the sentence at hand, I would say that like is being compared to like. On the GMAT™, I would be more concerned about spotting a comparison between a concrete or action noun and a phrase in the second slot, as in, using the sentence in front of us,  The earthquake  and  the erupting volcano . Such comparisons come up a lot on the test, and they provide easy grounds for dismissal as long as you know how to spot them.

- Andrew

daagh · Answer

To me, earthquake is an action noun since there is an action of the earth quaking(shaking or trembling] in it. The difference is more critical between concrete nouns and abstract nouns, where concrete nouns are more solid and touchable such as a book, or table while abstract nouns are more perceivable, such as sight, smell, warmth, etc

Has there been a split on it ever before in GMAT?

Has there been a split on it ever before in GMAT?

The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink in

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The effect of the earthquake that caused most of Port Royal to sink in

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