In 1632, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan began constructing the Taj Maha

Question

In 1632, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan began constructing the Taj Mahal, whose design was partly inspired by the majestic Humayun’s tomb,  which itself had been inspired  by the Gur-e Amir.

(A) which itself had been inspired

(B) itself being inspired

(C) having been inspired

(D) whose inspiration was

(E) inspiring

CEdward · Answer

I will give a shot at this:

In 1632, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan began constructing the Taj Mahal, whose design was partly inspired by the majestic Humayun’s tomb, which itself had been inspired by the Gur-e Amir. (600-700)

(A) which itself had been inspired - Correct (including correct usage of the past perfect tense to indicate that the tomb was inspired prior to its inspiring the Taj Mahal
(B)  itself being  inspired - Incorrect
(C)  having been  inspired - Humayun's tomb having been inspired? 
(D)  whose  inspiration was - 'who'/'whom' and the possessive whose seems applicable to people not things
(E)  inspiring  - nonsense; this is a restrictive modifier that would therefore modify the preceding clause...'whose design was partly...' inspiring by? No.

winterschool · Answer

In 1632, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan began constructing the Taj Mahal, whose design was partly inspired by the majestic Humayun’s tomb, which itself had been inspired by the Gur-e Amir.

(A)  which itself had been inspired   Correct

(B)  itself  being inspired  Incorrect

pronoun error- itself refers which?

(C)  having  been inspired  Incorrect

modifying which - Taj Mahal or Humayun’s tomb

(D)  whose inspiration was   Incorrect

Humayun’s tomb inspiration was - sounds bad

(E)  inspiring   Incorrect

which inspire?

YASH750 · Answer

The original sentence seems correct. IMO A is the correct answer.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

Answer: A

Which , in A, correctly refers to Humayun’s tomb in the original sentence, making it the correct answer. In B, it is not clear who  itself  is referring to, Humayun’s tomb or Taj Mahal. Also, the use of  being  is awkward. In C  having  is ambiguous and awkward. While D looks correct, it becomes incorrect the moment you connect it to the word after the underline—  by . You can say X  was inspired by  Y but you cannot say  the inspiration of X was by Y . The use of  inspiring by  in E makes no sense.

KarishmaB · Answer

RohitSaluja

A was inspired by B, which itself had been inspired by C.

C inspired B. After that B inspired A. We are using past tense with the first action "A was inspired by B". So use of past perfect is correct for the previous action "B had been inspired by C".

Also, the use of "which" after B clarifies that we are modifying B.

(A) is correct.

RohitSaluja · Answer

Thanks Karishma for always coming to the rescue!!

In 1632, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan began constructing the Taj Maha

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In 1632, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan began constructing the Taj Maha

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