In Greek theology the supreme being was Esaugetu Emissee

Question

In Greek theology the supreme being was Esaugetu Emissee (Master of Breath), who dwelt in an upper realm in which the sky was the floor, and who had the power to give and to take away the breath of life.

(A) in which the sky was the floor, and who had the power to give and to take

(B) where the sky was the floor, having the power to give and to take

(C) whose floor was the sky, and who has the power of giving and of taking

(D) in which the sky was the floor, with the power of giving and taking

(E) whose floor was the sky, having the power to give and take

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Indian Women of the Western Morning: Their Life in Early America

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Official Answer

A

daagh · Accepted Answer

‘Had’ is being used here to mean, possessed, owned, a simple past tense of have. (It is not a past participle used in past perfect tense here.) The whole text is used in past tense and we require a simple past tense once again in the second arm; hence had

daagh · Answer

In Greek theology, the supreme being was Esaugetu Emissee (Master of Breath), who dwelt in an upper realm  in which the sky was the floor, and who had the power to give and to take  away the breath of life.

One general point before we delve into this SC question; It is supposed to be Creek theology named after a tribe in the US and not Greek theology 
Now on the question on the comma plus verb +ing modifier (adverbial modifier): it is supposed to modify the subject of the previous clause and the action. This goes by the general norm that a modifier is required to modify the proximate clause. In the light of this norm, let us see what the logically modified stuff in each case is.

A. in which the sky was the floor, and who had the power to give and to take— this is correct because of the use of the use of past tense and structural parallelism of ‘who’ and ‘who’  
B. where the sky was the floor, having the power to give and to take ---  The previous clause is ‘ where the sky was the floor” and, therefore, having the power modifies the sky and its being the floor. Wrong . 
C. whose floor was the sky, and who has the power of giving and of taking --- u se of present tense ‘has' is wrong  
D. in which the sky was the floor, with the power of giving and taking –  The preposition modifier acts like an adverbial modifier and wrongly modifies the sky ‘; In addition, the structure of a preposition + a noun+ ing is wrong grammatically as its modifier is not the actor of giving and taking.  
E. whose floor was the sky, having the power to give and take ---  same adverbial modifier problem in which having the power is modifying the sky and its being the floor.

Jp27 · Answer

A it is.

Go with parallelism. In the non-underlined part we have "who dwelt" to modify "the supreme being was Esaugetu Emissee"

A. in which the sky was the floor,  and who  had the power to give and to take ->  who || who 
B. where the sky was the floor,  having the  power to give and to take ->  Having is def the wrong modifier to use.  
C.  whose  floor was the sky, and who has the power  of giving and of taking  -  WHOSE is modifying realm. Realm itself had the sky as the floor? - No sir. of giving and of taking very awkard.  
D. in which the sky was the floor,  with the  power of giving and taking ->  "with the power" is not || to anything.  
E.  whose  floor was the sky,  having  the power to give and take ->  same as B and D!

Sachin9 · Answer

could somebody justify the usage of 'had' in A?

skiingforthewknds · Answer

Agreed you can really nail down this sentence just with verb tense, 'was the master of breath' must be in line with the power that he 'had' in the past.

vishwaprakash · Answer

Split 1 : (at the start of Underline part) Whose Vs "In which" / "where"
Whose usually refer to people not to place. So whose is not correct. Option C and E are out.
In which and where both are correct in current reference

Lets Do POE for the rest of the option Choices.

A. in which the sky was the floor, and who had the power to give and to take
dwelt in an upper realm in which Sky was the floor - Correct
Esaugetu Emissee had power to give and take - correct parallelism - correct.

B. where the sky was the floor,  having the power to give and to take 
Incorrect modified - "having". It refer to noun Sky. It should have refer to Esaugetu Emissee logically.

D. in which the sky was the floor,  with the power of giving and taking 
Incorrect modifier "with the power of giving and taking" fails to modify Esaugetu Emissee

Konstantin1983 · Answer

What is the OA? I marked A but want to be sure that this answer is correct! Please help!

sayantanc2k · Answer

B. The present participle modifier  having the power...  wrongly modifies  supreme being  rather than  Esaugetu Emissee .
C. The present tense  has  is wrong.... should be simple past  had . (The first part of the sentence uses simple past  the supreme being was Esaugetu Emissee  )
D. The prepositional modifier  with the power of giving and taking..  is wrong. 
E. The present participle modifier  having the power to give and take...  wrongly modifies  supreme being  rather than  Esaugetu Emissee .

Option A eliminates the errors above and is the correct option.

Ashokshiva · Answer

pl. explain why the present participle modifier ''having the power..'' modifies the supreme being and not Esaugetu Emissee.

thanks

sayantanc2k · Answer

A present participle modifier may modify the subject of the previous clause or the entire previous clause. Therefore "having the power" may modify either the subject of the previous clause, " the supreme being", or the entire previous clause, but not the object the previous clause, "Esaugetu Emissee".

mvictor · Answer

I got to A in about 40 seconds...

A. in which the sky was the floor, and who had the power to give and to take
in which - correct usage.
and who had - parallel to first "who dwelt" - note that we need past simple, because we have in the underlined portion "supreme being  was "
A looks good.

B. where the sky was the floor,  having  the power to give and to take
it is not clear what the ing modifier tries to modify - moreover, it doesn't make any sense to use the ing modifier, as it has to be associated with the noun & verb of the previous clause.
SB was EE, and the result was the power? nope
SB was EE, by having the power? nope.
B is clearly not good.

C. whose floor was the sky, and who  has  the power of giving and of taking
as discussed in A, we need past simple verb.

D. in which the sky was the floor,  with  the power of giving and taking
as it is written now...the floor had the power...

E. whose floor was the sky,  having  the power to give and take
same mistake as in B.

A is the answer!

ZiongPan · Answer

Hi experts,

one more question for (D)

I think "with blah.." can validly modify "who", and does not necessarily make an ambiguity according to the context. Consider this:

Visitors to the park have often looked up into the leafy canopy and saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs hang like socks on a clothesline.
(A) saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs hang
(B) saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs were hanging
(C) saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, with arms and legs hanging
(D) seen monkeys sleeping on the branches, with arms and legs hanging
(E) seen monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs have hung

The OA is D, and "with arms..." modifies "monkeys", not the closest noun "branches".

So which principle stipulates that "with blah..." must modify the closest noun?
Is there a better way for us to skip this trap? Because the problem about "with modifier" is just so annoying.

Many thanks!

guhancr7 · Answer

HI experts, could anyone please help me out with how the usage of 'had' is correct in option A.

GMATNinja ,  GMATNinjaTwo ,  aragonn ,  generis

AjiteshArun · Answer

The important thing to remember here is that the  had  is  past tense , and not past perfect (past perfect is  had  + past participle).

A teacher  has  the power to set homework.  ← This is in the simple present tense ( has ).
 A teacher  had  the power to set homework.  ← This is the same sentence, just in the simple past tense ( had ).

holyjohn · Answer

That's a sharp question you asked!

We should look for the  intended meaning  always.

OP's question gives information about Esaugetu Emissee.
And we have 2 info about Esaugetu given.
① Esaugetu dwelt in an upper realm.
② Esaugetu had a certain power.

If we describe ① with ②, it will break the intended meaning. There is a reason the sentence was written in parallel structure.

So rather than judging if "with" prepositional phrase modifies which previous nouns, judge the whole sentence from the perspective of intended meaning.

Let's go over the monkey question.

What is the intended meaning?

Who saw the monkeys? The visitors.
Because the visitors  have looked up  (the canopy), we cannot say "saw" monkeys because the sentence started with present perfect tense.
We need to parallel the structure.

So logically visitors  have looked up  and  have seen  monkeys.

We can now eliminate A, B, and C.

Now comes to the crux of your question.

Between D and E, 
the difference is
(D) seen monkeys sleeping on the branches,  with  arms and legs  hanging 
(E) seen monkeys sleeping on the branches,  whose  arms and legs  have hung

It's not only with/whose that is different!
The verbs are also different between D and E. This is WHY (E) is wrong. 
Visitors may have looked up canopy and have seen monkeys, but the monkeys' arms and legs are not have hung!
It should be in past tense, not present perfect tense.

If (E) read like this, then it would have been perfectly fine.
(E) seen monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs  were hanging  ━  CORRECT

So you see, using with or whose does not make much difference in this case either. It's always the intended meaning that differs.

For your reference,
WHOSE is used to describe all kind of nouns - inanimate objects, animals, or people.
WITH is used to describe a characteristic of a previous clause.

So in this case you CANNOT say in this logic: WHOSE describes animals so it's clearer. Nope, that's not the case.

Between D and E we are given the same modifying description about arms and legs. So logically it would be monkeys having arms and legs.

Hope this helps.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

A.  Correct Answer.   ‘Who lived’ and ‘who had power’ are parallel.  
B.  Eliminate.  The participle modifier beginning with ‘having’ modifies the entire preceding clause ‘who lived… floor’. This does not make sense as ‘having the power’ has no bearing on where he lived. 
C.  Eliminate.  ‘who lived’ and ‘who has’ are not parallel. The tenses do not agree. 
D.  Eliminate.  ‘with the power… taking’ modifies the preceding clause. It has no bearing on the action ‘lived’. 
E.  Eliminate.  Same as B. The participle modifier beginning with ‘having’ modifies the entire preceding clause and has no bearing on where he lived.

Hope this helps!

chillbrorelax · Answer

The important thing to remember here is that the  had  is  past tense , and not past perfect (past perfect is  had  + past participle).

A teacher  has  the power to set homework.  ← This is in the simple present tense ( has ).
 A teacher  had  the power to set homework.  ← This is the same sentence, just in the simple past tense ( had ).

This is a great takeaway. I did not know this.

Thanks.

Hoozan · Answer

EducationAisle  is the first half of all the options correct? In other words do  in which, where, and whose  correctly modify "realm"

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Hoozan, if your question is whether  in which  and  whose  can  grammatically  modify  realm , then the answer is  yes .

Remember that among relative pronouns,  which  can modify  non-persons , while  whose  can pretty much modify  anything .

In Greek theology the supreme being was Esaugetu Emissee

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In Greek theology the supreme being was Esaugetu Emissee

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