In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was : Sentence Correction (EA only)

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

10 Dec 2021, 05:54

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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

nakib77 wrote:

In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them.

(A) much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them

(B) much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined

(C) much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images as well as constructing and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined

(D) creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisans' creative energy, and also constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them

(E) the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisans' creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them

Verbal Question of The Day: Day 172: Sentence Correction

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Annotation 2019-03-20 074036.jpg

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 in ancient Thailand local artisans' expended much of their creative energy on the creation of Buddha images and on the construction and decoration of the temples in which the statues were enshrined.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Pronouns + Parallelism

• Any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.
• Present participles ("verb+ing" – “enshrining” 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.

A: THis answer choice incorrectly uses "they" to refer to the "artisans" and uses "them" to refer to "images"; please remember, a pronoun and its derivatives can only be used to refer to one noun in a sentence. Further, Option A fails to maintain parallelism between "for the creation of Buddha images" and "when they constructed and decorated the temples"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.

B: Correct. This answer choice uses the clause "much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended...on construction and decoration of the temples", conveying the intended meaning - that local artisans' expended much of their creative energy on the creation of Buddha images and on the construction and decoration of the temples in which the statues were enshrined. Further, Option B maintains parallelism between "the creation of Buddha images" and "on construction and decoration of the temples" and between "construction" and "decoration". Additionally, Option B correctly uses the simple past tense verb "enshrined" to refer to an action that concluded in the past. Besides, Option B avoids the pronoun error seen in Option A, as it only uses "they" to refer to "images"

C: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "on the creation of Buddha images" and "constructing and decoration of the temples" and fails to maintain parallelism between "constructing" and "decoration"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this case) must be parallel.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the clause "creating images of Buddha accounted for...constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them"; the construction of this clause illogically implies that creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisans' creative energy, and also accounted for constructing and decorating the temples that enshrined them; the intended meaning is that local artisans' expended much of their creative energy on the creation of Buddha images and on the construction and decoration of the temples in which the statues were enshrined. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the present perfect tense verb "enshrining" to refer to an event 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" – “enshrining” 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.

E:This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the clause "the creating of Buddha images accounted for...construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them"; the construction of this clause illogically implies that creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisans' creative energy, and also accounted for constructing and decorating the temples that enshrined them; the intended meaning is that local artisans' expended much of their creative energy on the creation of Buddha images and on the construction and decoration of the temples in which the statues were enshrined.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

All the best!
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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

16 Jan 2006, 12:57

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B. much of the local artisansâ€™ creative energy [color=darkblue]was expended on the creation[/color] of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined

:yell

~~it has to be B~~~

A. much of the local artisansâ€™ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them

C. much of the local artisansâ€™ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images as well as constructing and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined should be construction

D. creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisansâ€™ creative energy, and also constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them is this parallel? Obviously not

E. the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisansâ€™ creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them that part doesn't fit

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

17 May 2011, 09:37

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sbsharma wrote:

In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them.

A. much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them
B. much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined
C. much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images as well as constructing and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined
D. creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy, and also constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them
E. the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them

A simple approach to help you answer this question in <20 seconds is to recognize awkwardness with "expended for" and look for other answer choices with other options. I highlighted the important parts above.

Scanning down, I see (B) and (C) have "expended on"--which is what we want so I examine these two further.

In (C), "as well as" is a keyword so I look to the left and to the right.
On the left, "the creation of" is inconsistent with "constructing and decoration of."

Did (B) have this issue?
In (B), the keyword is "and."
On the left we have "the creation of"---which is consistent with "construction and decoration of"

So based on just these clues, I am already inclined to say (B).

After quickly browsing the other answer choices, I was able to conclude with (B).

Notice how I didn't read most of the question and most of the answer choices--just focused on important parts.

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

04 Aug 2011, 09:39

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In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them

a) much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them : expended of Buddha is unidiomatic; expended on is the correct idiom.

b) much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined - maintains //ism on all necessary counters and hence is the correct answer.

The basic tenet of //ism in two-part clauses is that, both the arms should be // in from and function. C, D, and E fail to do that precisely

c) much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images as well as constructing and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined : ‘On the creation of’ should be matched by ‘on constructing of’ ( a gerund) and ‘on decoration of’

d) creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisan's creative energy, and also constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them: ‘creating images of’ should be matched by ‘constructing of and decorating of; ‘accounted for’ should be matched by and ‘also for constructing and decorating’

e) the creation of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisan's creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them: ‘creation of’ should be matched by ‘construction of’; in addition, E changes the meaning that the creation of Buddha images accounted for both the creative energy and (the construction and decoration); also ‘accounted for’ should be matched by ‘as well as for’

Logically, what can ‘they’ refer to in B and C? Can ‘they’ refer to artisans? Can the artists or for that matter can the the construction and decorations be enshrined in a temple?

I think the pronoun reference of ‘they’ is not an issue here.

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

10 Jan 2012, 17:37

That is an awesome post Thank You So Much!!. The one thing I do not get is the use of "in which they are enshrined". Is this grammatically correct?

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

10 Jan 2012, 19:16

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Yes, the phrase "in which they are enshrined" is 100% grammatically correct. This is a properly constructed subordinate clause. Subordinate clauses (a.k.a dependent clause) are a HUGE topic on GMAT --- I would suggest consulting whatever review materials you are using.

Very briefly, if this clause were a stand-by-itself independent clause, it would be "they are enshrined in the temples."

Now, consider the ending of the last big sentence, with this piece as a separate sentence.

In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples. They [the Buddha images] are enshrined in the temples.

That's very wordy, which is why folks use subordinate clauses. The rule is:
(a) find the word that will be the anchor, the referent, in the big sentence. Here, that word is "temples."
(b) replace that word in the smaller second sentence with "which": "They were enshrined in which."
(c) Now put the "which" and anything attached to it (here, the preposition "in") at the very beginning of the clause, so it's right next to the anchor word in the original sentence:

In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined.

Does that make sense? Again, if you are unfamiliar with the the idea of a subordinate or dependent clause in a sentence, then I strongly recommend carefully reading any GMAT review materials you have on the subject.

Here's a similar GMAT SC practice question, just for more practice.

https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/1126

The question on at this link should be followed by a video explanation of the answer.

I hope that helps.

Mike

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

11 Jan 2012, 09:46

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Mike’s explanation is damn good. However, if you are in a rapid fire round in the Test, then perhaps the following short work strategy might be handy

This is essentially a test of //ism, and then perhaps style; but I am not sure about the idiom part of ‘expend for’ or ‘expend on’ as according to the freedictionaty.com ‘expend for’, ‘expend on’ and ‘expend in’ are all usable (https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/expend)

A. much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them – wrong because of the un//ism of “creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated”

B. much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined – ‘expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of’ ---Correct //ism

C. much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images as well as constructing and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined - was expended on the creation of Buddha images as well as constructing and decoration--- wrong //ism

D. creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy, and also constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them—wrong becos ‘and also’ is redundant; additionally the meaning is changed in that creating images accounted for 1. The creative energy 2. constructing and 3. decorating

E. the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them--- wrong because of altered intent as in D

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

08 Mar 2012, 17:57

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I have chosen B as the answer:

A. This answer choice breaks the parallelism requirement. Also, what is the purpose of "when" as a relative pronoun here? It doesn't seem to refer to any time or date.

The answer should be along the lines of:

energy was expended on:
-the creation
-the construction
-the decoration

B. This sentence clearly describes the 3 elements that artisan's spend energy on.

C. Again, this answer choice breaks the parallelism requirement. The word "constructing" is wrong here.

D. We want 3 elements that describe what the artisan's spent their energy on. In this case, it splits the "image creation" from the other 2 elements: "constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them." Also, I noticed that after the comma and coordinating conjunction, and, the words do not form an independent clause. This is incorrect because 2 independent clauses should sandwich a comma and a coordinating conjunction. As a result, this sentence is also a fragment.

E. Although I could not find any grammatical errors with this one, the meaning was very confusing. It sounds like "the creation...accounted for...creative energy...as well as construction and decoration." This did not make sense to me at all, so I felt this answer was incorrect.

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

02 Aug 2012, 08:11

mikemcgarry wrote:

Hi, there! I'm happy to help with this.

Original sentence: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them.

First of all, notice the idiom with the verb "to expend." When I expend my energies, with the intended result of giving my energy to X, we say that "I expend my energies on X", not "I expend my energies for X." That eliminates answer choice A.

Notice also, what the original sentence is trying to do is construct a valid parallel structure. The "local artisan's creative energy" went to two places: (a) "creation of Buddha images", and (b) the work they did constructing & decorating temples. The correct sentence should have a valid parallel structure between those two elements. This is another flaw of answer (A) --- "the creation" vs. "they constructed and decorated". Not parallel. :-(

Answer (C) repeats that problem: "the creation" vs. "constructing and decorating". Not parallel. :-(

Answer (E) repeats that problem: "the creating" vs. "construction and decoration". Not parallel. :-(

That narrows the choice down to (B) vs. (D).

Notice that (D) is very wordy; it has an indirect inactive structure (from "artisans expended energy on X", active, to "X accounted for artisans energy", passive and weak). :-(

(B) gets the idiom ("expended on") correct; it gets the parallel structure correct; and it's a direct & active formulation of the information. Yeah! This is our best choice.

Does that made sense? Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mike

Mike,
Can you explain Choice E ? I thought' for much of'and 'construction and decoration of' are parallel.

..

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

07 Aug 2012, 11:28

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farukqmul wrote:

Mike,
Can you explain Choice E ? I thought 'for much of' and 'construction and decoration of' are parallel.

..

Here's the original prompt with choice (E)
In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them.
E. the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them

Let's plug in choice (E) and look at the sentence:
In ancient Thailand, the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them
Superficially, the terms "creative energy" and "construction and decoration" are all nouns, so they could be grammatically parallel. The problem is: they are not logically parallel.

Consider the overall structure:

X accounted for Y as well as Z

means

X accounted for Y
and, separately, X accounted for Z

Consider that here:
the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy
and, separately,
the creating of Buddha images accounted for the construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them

That's not the meaning the original sentence is trying to express. What is it trying to say is that ----
the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy
and, separately,
the construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy

We are trying to create a parallelism between the three types of work, each of which occupied the creative energy of the artisans. Those three types of work were
(a) the creating of Buddha images
(b) the construction of the temples
(c) the decoration of the temples

Logically, those three need to be in parallel, and they are not in (E). It's not enough to have superficial grammatical parallelism if that parallelism does not reflect the deeper logic of the situation. Grammar and logic must always point to the same conclusions.

You may find this blog germane:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... n-english/

Does all this make sense? Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Mike :-)

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

25 Jul 2013, 22:24

mikemcgarry wrote:

Hi, there! I'm happy to help with this.

Original sentence: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them.

First of all, notice the idiom with the verb "to expend." When I expend my energies, with the intended result of giving my energy to X, we say that "I expend my energies on X", not "I expend my energies for X." That eliminates answer choice A.

Notice also, what the original sentence is trying to do is construct a valid parallel structure. The "local artisan's creative energy" went to two places: (a) "creation of Buddha images", and (b) the work they did constructing & decorating temples. The correct sentence should have a valid parallel structure between those two elements. This is another flaw of answer (A) --- "the creation" vs. "they constructed and decorated". Not parallel. :-(

Answer (C) repeats that problem: "the creation" vs. "constructing and decorating". Not parallel. :-(

Answer (E) repeats that problem: "the creating" vs. "construction and decoration". Not parallel. :-(

That narrows the choice down to (B) vs. (D).

Notice that (D) is very wordy; it has an indirect inactive structure (from "artisans expended energy on X", active, to "X accounted for artisans energy", passive and weak). :-(

(B) gets the idiom ("expended on") correct; it gets the parallel structure correct; and it's a direct & active formulation of the information. Yeah! This is our best choice.

Does that made sense? Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mike

hey Mike,,

Can we eliminate A on the ground of "when" ?
D and E for the verb-ING modifier at the beginning which has no subject and then choose between B and C?

i also did not understand the ll structure that you have refered ..Could you please explain that again

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

26 Jul 2013, 13:55

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WaterFlowsUp wrote:

hey Mike,

Can we eliminate A on the ground of "when" ?
D and E for the verb-ING modifier at the beginning which has no subject and then choose between B and C?
i also did not understand the ll structure that you have referred ..Could you please explain that again

Dear WaterFlowsUp,
I'm happy to respond. BTW, I like your paradoxical screenname. :-)

Question #1: yes, choice (A) is a trainwreck on a number of grounds. The "when" clause is a blatant violation of parallelism, so that's just as good a reason to reject it as is the idiom mistake.

Questions #2: the "-ing" form of a verb has three potential roles
(a) part of a present progressive verb
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-verbs ... ive-tense/
(b) a participle (i.e. a modifier)
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/participle ... -the-gmat/
(c) a gerund (which acts as a noun)
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... d-phrases/
In choice (D) the word "creating" is a gerund, and in fact, the gerund phrase "creating images of Buddha" is the subject of the verb "accounted".
This post discusses distinguishing these three easy-to-confuse grammatical constructions:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-ing-form-of-a-verb/

Questions #3: because the parallelism is faulty in many of the incorrect choices, I will diagram the parallelism in choice (B), the OA. First, here's the whole sentence:
In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined
Now, an attempt at a clear diagram ----
(main clause of sentence:) In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended
(first branch of parallelism:) on the creation of Buddha images
(conjunction linking the two parallel branches:) and
(second branch of the parallelism:) on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined

Both branches of the parallelism begin with the preposition "on", and the words in dark green are the parallel words. Notice, all three here are "-tion" nouns, whereas in incorrect answer choices, some are "-tion" noun while others are gerunds or phrases.

Does this make everything clear and answer all of your questions?
Mike :-)

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

26 Feb 2015, 03:34

Hi everybody,

I am struggling with the correct answer choice B, which I mistakenly crossed off when doing this problem. From MGMAT SC, I learned that you must not put simple gerunds (construction and decoration) and complex gerunds (THE creation) into a parallel construction? Has anybody an explanation?

Thanks!

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

26 Feb 2015, 11:43

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nanasgis wrote:

Hi everybody,

I am struggling with the correct answer choice B, which I mistakenly crossed off when doing this problem. From MGMAT SC, I learned that you must not put simple gerunds (construction and decoration) and complex gerunds (THE creation) into a parallel construction? Has anybody an explanation?

Thanks!

Dear nanasgis,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

With all due respect, my friend, I think you are misunderstanding what a gerund is. A gerund, very specifically, is a verb form, the "-ing" form of a verb. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... d-phrases/
creating
constructing
decorating
Those are gerunds. What MGMAT says about these is perfectly true --- with an article (a, an, the), one becomes a "complex gerund" which could be in parallel with an ordinary noun. Furthermore, we wouldn't put a simple gerund in parallel with a complex gerund. That't the rule for gerunds.

You seem to be confusing all action nouns with gerunds. Anything that ends with "-tion" is a noun. Nouns and gerunds are mutually exclusive. A gerund is a verb-form that is taking the role of a noun, but it is very different from a bonafide noun. Many "-tion" nouns are action words, but those are all nouns: they are NOT gerunds.
creation
construction
decoration
Those are nouns, not gerunds. The rules for gerunds (simple vs. complex) are 100% irrelevant to nouns. We are perfectly able to put any noun in parallel with any other noun. The logic & meaning would provide constraints to what would make a legitimate parallel structure, but the presence or absence of articles doesn't matter in the least. Option (B) does not contain a single gerund, so any rules governing different types of gerunds is 100% irrelevant to option (B).

Does all this make sense, my friend?
Mike :-)

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

19 Jun 2016, 03:06

Note, however, that option B is not perfectly parallel. It lacks a "the" between "on" and "construction and decoration". Hence, there could have been even a better option.

B) much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined.

Could someone please explain the reason/s why I should discard option D?

Thank you.

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

19 Jun 2016, 13:50

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EBITDA wrote:

Note, however, that option B is not perfectly parallel. It lacks a "the" between "on" and "construction and decoration". Hence, there could have been even a better option.

B) much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined.

Could someone please explain the reason/s why I should discard option D?

Thank you.

2 reasons:

1. "And" and "also" are redundant.
2. "constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them" is a subject without any verb.

B

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Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

20 Oct 2016, 06:06

sayantanc2k wrote:

EBITDA wrote:

Note, however, that option B is not perfectly parallel. It lacks a "the" between "on" and "construction and decoration". Hence, there could have been even a better option.

B) much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined.

Could someone please explain the reason/s why I should discard option D?

Thank you.

2 reasons:

1. "And" and "also" are redundant.
2. "constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them" is a subject without any verb.

Can you please explain the use of 'in which' in the sentence?

gmatclubot

Re: In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was [#permalink]

20 Oct 2016, 06:06

GMAT Sentence Correction (EA only) Questions

In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans' creative energy was