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B
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Difficulty:
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Question Stats:
72% (01:34) correct
28%
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wrong
based on 12003
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In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Illiad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced the greatest translation in any language.
A. his translation of the Illiad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced
B. his translation of the Illiad, a work that took him seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced
C. his translation of the Illiad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it is
D. translating the Illiad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it as
E. translating the Illiad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it
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A. his translation of the Illiad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced
B. his translation of the Illiad, a work that took him seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced
C. his translation of the Illiad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it is
D. translating the Illiad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it as
E. translating the Illiad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it
Verbal Question of The Day: Day 174: Sentence Correction
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08 Dec 2017, 03:37
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I can think of plenty of official GMAT questions that are harder, but this one seems to generate a disproportionate amount of pain. Most of you have probably heard me preach about this sort of thing before, but if you’re able to be really really strict and literal with the meaning of the sentence, this question is much, much easier.
Let’s start by lining (A) and (B) up side-by-side, because that will make it easier to see the problem with one of them.
In (A), that first modifier makes less sense: “…a work that, taking him seven years until completion…” Huh? Why not just say “a work that took him seven years to complete”? There’s no good reason to stick “taking him seven years…” into a separate little modifying phrase, wedged between more commas. Plus, you could also argue that “seven years to complete” is a more elegant phrase than “seven years until completion.”
Clearly, (B) is better than (A), so let’s hang onto (B), and ditch (A).
The lowest-hanging fruit here is the use of the past perfect “had taken”, which doesn’t make any sense at all.
In general, a verb in past perfect denotes an action that happens in the “distant past”, before some other past action or “time marker” in the past – in most cases, a second action that is in the simple past tense. We have one of those here: “in 1713, Alexander Pope began translating…” But if we think about the verb tenses literally, the sentence is saying that the work “had taken seven years to complete” BEFORE Pope began translating it. And that’s nonsense. (More on past perfect and other verb tenses in this webinar.)
The other problem is with the pronoun “it.” The referent is clear enough: “it” must refer to “a work.” But there’s no reason to include “it” in the middle of a phrase that modifies the word “work” to begin with: “a work that… literary critic Samuel Johnson… pronounced it as the greatest translation…”
Huh? There’s no reason for the “it” there. If you aren’t totally convinced, try completely stripping out the modifiers for a moment, and replace “it” with “the work”: “… a work that Samuel Johnson pronounced the work as the greatest translation…” Fail.
For those two reasons, we can get rid of (C).
The second problem is a little bit more subtle. The beginning of the underlined portion now uses the phrase “translating the Illiad”, instead of “his translation of the Illiad.” Neither of those things are inherently wrong by themselves, but the phrase is followed by a description: “a work that took seven years…” The sentence is trying to say that Alexander Pope took seven years to write the translation, but (D) is literally suggesting that the Illiad itself is “a work” that took Pope seven years to complete. And that’s nonsense: the Illiad itself wasn’t “a work” completed by Pope; the Illiad was written by Homer, and the translation is Pope’s actual “work.”
Finally, the phrase “a work that took seven years until completion” would be much nicer if it said “a work that took seven years to complete”, but the version in (D) isn’t WRONG, exactly. But the other two issues are a pretty big deal. (D) is out.
Those three things give us more than enough reasons to eliminate (E), and (B) is the best we can do.
Let’s start by lining (A) and (B) up side-by-side, because that will make it easier to see the problem with one of them.
Quote:
Notice the nice parallelism in (B): “a work that took him seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson… pronounced….” No problem: we have two nice, parallel phrases that describe the word “work.”
In (A), that first modifier makes less sense: “…a work that, taking him seven years until completion…” Huh? Why not just say “a work that took him seven years to complete”? There’s no good reason to stick “taking him seven years…” into a separate little modifying phrase, wedged between more commas. Plus, you could also argue that “seven years to complete” is a more elegant phrase than “seven years until completion.”
Clearly, (B) is better than (A), so let’s hang onto (B), and ditch (A).
Quote:
The lowest-hanging fruit here is the use of the past perfect “had taken”, which doesn’t make any sense at all.
In general, a verb in past perfect denotes an action that happens in the “distant past”, before some other past action or “time marker” in the past – in most cases, a second action that is in the simple past tense. We have one of those here: “in 1713, Alexander Pope began translating…” But if we think about the verb tenses literally, the sentence is saying that the work “had taken seven years to complete” BEFORE Pope began translating it. And that’s nonsense. (More on past perfect and other verb tenses in this webinar.)
The other problem is with the pronoun “it.” The referent is clear enough: “it” must refer to “a work.” But there’s no reason to include “it” in the middle of a phrase that modifies the word “work” to begin with: “a work that… literary critic Samuel Johnson… pronounced it as the greatest translation…”
Huh? There’s no reason for the “it” there. If you aren’t totally convinced, try completely stripping out the modifiers for a moment, and replace “it” with “the work”: “… a work that Samuel Johnson pronounced the work as the greatest translation…” Fail.
For those two reasons, we can get rid of (C).
Quote:
There are two serious problems with (D). The first one is the same as in (C): the use of the word “it” makes no sense at all. See the explanation for (C) above for more on that issue.
The second problem is a little bit more subtle. The beginning of the underlined portion now uses the phrase “translating the Illiad”, instead of “his translation of the Illiad.” Neither of those things are inherently wrong by themselves, but the phrase is followed by a description: “a work that took seven years…” The sentence is trying to say that Alexander Pope took seven years to write the translation, but (D) is literally suggesting that the Illiad itself is “a work” that took Pope seven years to complete. And that’s nonsense: the Illiad itself wasn’t “a work” completed by Pope; the Illiad was written by Homer, and the translation is Pope’s actual “work.”
Finally, the phrase “a work that took seven years until completion” would be much nicer if it said “a work that took seven years to complete”, but the version in (D) isn’t WRONG, exactly. But the other two issues are a pretty big deal. (D) is out.
Quote:
(E) basically just combines all of the worst errors that we saw in the other answer choices. The use of the past perfect “had taken” is wrong, for the same reasons as in (C) -- see above for a full explanation. The use of “it” is also wrong for exactly the same reasons as (C), and “translating the Illiad” is wrong for exactly the same reasons as (D).
Those three things give us more than enough reasons to eliminate (E), and (B) is the best we can do.
20 Feb 2005, 06:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
Between (B) and (D), I will choose (B)
(B): In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, a work that took him seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced the greatest translation in any language.
1. "a work": correctly modifies "his translation"
2. that(work) took him seven years to complete: correct use of Simple past
3. (after restructuring..) literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced (work) the greatest translation in any language.
(A): In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced the greatest translation in any language.
"that and that": wrong
"until completion": (of what)
(C) ....his translation of the Iliad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it as....
"had": since Independent clause is in Simple past, and "intended job" in dependent clause is complete, we should use simple past for dependent clause.
(D): In 1713, Alexander Pope began translating the Iliad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it as greatest translation in any language.
"it": seems redundant.
"until completion": not ok.
(E): same as (C)
(B): In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, a work that took him seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced the greatest translation in any language.
1. "a work": correctly modifies "his translation"
2. that(work) took him seven years to complete: correct use of Simple past
3. (after restructuring..) literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced (work) the greatest translation in any language.
(A): In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced the greatest translation in any language.
"that and that": wrong
"until completion": (of what)
(C) ....his translation of the Iliad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it as....
"had": since Independent clause is in Simple past, and "intended job" in dependent clause is complete, we should use simple past for dependent clause.
(D): In 1713, Alexander Pope began translating the Iliad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced it as greatest translation in any language.
"it": seems redundant.
"until completion": not ok.
(E): same as (C)
23 Nov 2021, 04:45
Kudos
Bookmarks
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 core meaning of this sentence is that Alexander Pope began his translation of the Illiad in 1713, and this translation took him seven years to complete and was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson.
Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Parallelism + Verb Forms
• In a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.
• Past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past".
• Present participles ("verb+ing" – “exhibiting” in this sentence) are used to modify nouns, refer to ongoing events in any time period, and (when preceded by a comma) express cause-effect relationships.
• The infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" – “to + take” in this sentence) is the preferred construction for referring to the purpose/intent of an action.
• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.
A: This answer choice incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "taking" in this sentence) to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and present participles ("verb+ing" – “exhibiting” in this sentence) are used to modify nouns, refer to ongoing events in any time period, and (when preceded by a comma) express cause-effect relationships. Further, Option A uses the phrase "until completion" to refer to the purpose of the action "taking"; please remember, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is the preferred construction for referring to the purpose/intent of an action.
B: Correct. This answer choice correctly modifies "his translation of the Illiad" with "a work that took him seven years to complete" and uses "pronounced", conveying the intended meaning - that Alexander Pope's translation of the Illiad took seven years to complete was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson. Further, Option B correctly uses the simple past tense verb "took" to refer to the later of two actions - Pope beginning his translation and the translation taking seven years to complete. Additionally, Option B maintains parallelism between "that took him seven years to complete" and "that literary critic...language". Besides, Option B uses the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + complete" in this sentence) to refer to the purpose of the action "took".
C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "pronounced it is"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning of this part of the sentence is that Alexander Pope's translation of the Illiad was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb "had taken" to refer to the later of two actions - Pope beginning his translation and the translation taking seven years to complete; please remember, past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past".
D: This answer choice incorrectly modifies "the Illiad" with "a work that took seven years until completion", incorrectly implying that the Illiad took Alexander Pope seven years to complete; the intended meaning is that Pope's translation of the Illiad took seven years to complete; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Moreover, Option D further alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "pronounced it is"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that Alexander Pope's translation of the Illiad was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson. Additionally, Option E uses the phrase "until completion" to refer to the purpose of the action "took"; please remember, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is the preferred construction for referring to the purpose/intent of an action.
E: This answer choice incorrectly modifies "the Illiad" with "a work that had taken seven years to complete", incorrectly implying that the Illiad took Alexander Pope seven years to complete; the intended meaning is that Pope's translation of the Illiad took seven years to complete; please remember, in a“noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Moreover, Option E further alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "pronounced it"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that Alexander Pope's translation of the Illiad was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb "had taken" to refer to the later of two actions - Pope beginning his translation and the translation taking sever years to complete; please remember, past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past". Additionally, Option E fails to maintain parallelism between "that had taken seven years to complete" and "literary critic Samuel Johnson...pronounced it...language"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.
Hence, B is the best answer choice.
To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1minute):
To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
To understand the concept of using "Infinitive Verb Forms" and "Present Participles" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
chunjuwu
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that Alexander Pope began his translation of the Illiad in 1713, and this translation took him seven years to complete and was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson.
Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Parallelism + Verb Forms
• In a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.
• Past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past".
• Present participles ("verb+ing" – “exhibiting” in this sentence) are used to modify nouns, refer to ongoing events in any time period, and (when preceded by a comma) express cause-effect relationships.
• The infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" – “to + take” in this sentence) is the preferred construction for referring to the purpose/intent of an action.
• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.
A: This answer choice incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "taking" in this sentence) to refer to an action that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past, and present participles ("verb+ing" – “exhibiting” in this sentence) are used to modify nouns, refer to ongoing events in any time period, and (when preceded by a comma) express cause-effect relationships. Further, Option A uses the phrase "until completion" to refer to the purpose of the action "taking"; please remember, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is the preferred construction for referring to the purpose/intent of an action.
B: Correct. This answer choice correctly modifies "his translation of the Illiad" with "a work that took him seven years to complete" and uses "pronounced", conveying the intended meaning - that Alexander Pope's translation of the Illiad took seven years to complete was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson. Further, Option B correctly uses the simple past tense verb "took" to refer to the later of two actions - Pope beginning his translation and the translation taking seven years to complete. Additionally, Option B maintains parallelism between "that took him seven years to complete" and "that literary critic...language". Besides, Option B uses the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + complete" in this sentence) to refer to the purpose of the action "took".
C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "pronounced it is"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning of this part of the sentence is that Alexander Pope's translation of the Illiad was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb "had taken" to refer to the later of two actions - Pope beginning his translation and the translation taking seven years to complete; please remember, past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past".
D: This answer choice incorrectly modifies "the Illiad" with "a work that took seven years until completion", incorrectly implying that the Illiad took Alexander Pope seven years to complete; the intended meaning is that Pope's translation of the Illiad took seven years to complete; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Moreover, Option D further alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "pronounced it is"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that Alexander Pope's translation of the Illiad was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson. Additionally, Option E uses the phrase "until completion" to refer to the purpose of the action "took"; please remember, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is the preferred construction for referring to the purpose/intent of an action.
E: This answer choice incorrectly modifies "the Illiad" with "a work that had taken seven years to complete", incorrectly implying that the Illiad took Alexander Pope seven years to complete; the intended meaning is that Pope's translation of the Illiad took seven years to complete; please remember, in a“noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Moreover, Option E further alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "pronounced it"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that Alexander Pope's translation of the Illiad was pronounced the greatest translation in any language by Samuel Johnson. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the past perfect tense verb "had taken" to refer to the later of two actions - Pope beginning his translation and the translation taking sever years to complete; please remember, past perfect tense (marked by the use of helping verb "had") is used when a sentence contains two actions in the past; the helping verb "had" is used with the action in the "greater past". Additionally, Option E fails to maintain parallelism between "that had taken seven years to complete" and "literary critic Samuel Johnson...pronounced it...language"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.
Hence, B is the best answer choice.
To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1minute):
To understand the concept of "Past Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
To understand the concept of using "Infinitive Verb Forms" and "Present Participles" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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