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In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland.

(A) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland -Wrong usage of due to

(B) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the Basque army ambushed the Frankish army, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated, and the event was made famous in La Chanson de Roland -Very awkward construction

(C) La Chanson de Roland made famous the obliteration, due to an ambush by the Basque army, of the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 -Correct

(D) In La Chanson de Roland, the Basque army ambushed the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, and obliterated them, and this event was famous at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 -The army ambushed in the war and not in the poem

(E) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, ambushed and obliterated by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland -Not a sentence. "Verb" is missing.
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In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland.

(A) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland

(B) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the Basque army ambushed the Frankish army, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated, and the event was made famous in La Chanson de Roland

(C) La Chanson de Roland made famous the obliteration, due to an ambush by the Basque army, of the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778

(D) In La Chanson de Roland, the Basque army ambushed the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, and obliterated them, and this event was famous at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778

(E) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, ambushed and obliterated by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland


This question discusses the legendary Battle of Roncevaux Pass, one of the only defeats of Charlemagne's long career, and it mentions that gorgeously beautiful medieval French poem, La Chanson de Roland.

This question, among other things, explores the "due to" structure. When is this structure correct or incorrect? You can see a full discussion of this point, as well as the OE for this difficult question, at this blog:
GMAT Sentence Correction: the “Due To” Mistake

Mike :-)

Hi Mike, I have a question regarding option D:

In La Chanson de Roland, the Basque army ambushed the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, and obliterated them, and this event was famous at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778

Here, is the phrase "under the command of Roland" correctly modifying rearguard of the Frankish army or is it modifying Basque army?
Thanks for your help.
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Ace800
Hi Mike, I have a question regarding option D:

In La Chanson de Roland, the Basque army ambushed the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, and obliterated them, and this event was famous at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778

Here, is the phrase "under the command of Roland" correctly modifying rearguard of the Frankish army or is it modifying Basque army?
Thanks for your help.
Dear Ace800,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, this is a noun modifier following the Modifier Touch Rule. Technically, it modifies "rearguard," because the prepositional phrase "of the Frankish army" is a vital noun modifier, and these can come between a target noun and a non-vital modifier.

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
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Ace800
Hi Mike, I have a question regarding option D:

In La Chanson de Roland, the Basque army ambushed the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, and obliterated them, and this event was famous at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778

Here, is the phrase "under the command of Roland" correctly modifying rearguard of the Frankish army or is it modifying Basque army?
Thanks for your help.
Dear Ace800,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, this is a noun modifier following the Modifier Touch Rule. Technically, it modifies "rearguard," because the prepositional phrase "of the Frankish army" is a vital noun modifier, and these can come between a target noun and a non-vital modifier.

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)

Yes, it does. Thanks a lot, Mike! :thumbup:
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This question looks hard, but it is not hard to find the correct answer.
Using POE, ones can eliminate B,D and E.
E has no verb.
D changes the meaning
B misses some important words.
C is much better than A. First, ones need to know the meaning of obliteration which means destruction -> A is awkward.
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mikemcgarry

Here's an alternate version that is correct and probably superior to the OA of this question:
(C4) Because of an ambush by the Basque army, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, an event made famous by La Chanson de Roland.
This version takes the noun "obliteration" and changes it into a verb "was obliterated." In many ways, this is the central action of the sentence, so rhetorically it's good to make this the main verb of the sentence. The verb-modifying "because of" phrase correctly modifies this verb.

This is probably the version I would write if I wanted to communicate this information. When I wrote this SC question, I deliberately created an OA that was error-free but less than ideal. I did this precisely because the GMAT does this all the time.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)

Hi mikemcgarry

I like your sentence, but isn't the modifier "an event made famous by La Chanson de Roland" too far away from "obliteration"?
This sentence does not clearly clarify whether the event being discussed here is the battle itself or the obliteration.
Just want to understand the right structure for future use, nothing to do with the question though...
If there are 2 nouns before the modifier, shouldn't the modifier be placed closest to the one it modifies?

Thanks in advance!
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B is incorrect, the phrase ‘the Frankish Army’ is redundant and the sentence does not make sense. D gets the meaning of the sentence wrong, it talks about the event in the poem La Chanson de Roland when it is supposed to be about the real-life event that was made famous, through the poem. E also gets the meaning incorrect, it says that the Frankish Army obliterated the Basque army, when the original sentence says it is the other way around. Option A uses the passive form, which should be avoided. This means that C is the correct option
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Hi,

Just wanted to know one thing- had I used "because of" instead of "due to" here-"La Chanson de Roland made famous the obliteration, due to an ambush by the Basque army, of the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, at the Battle of Roncevaux", would it mean that now ambush is telling me why it was made(as now it should modify the verb) famous?
I have this confusion because I just want to make clear that does "because of" has the ability to modify things that are distant to it.

Thanks for the support
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In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland.

Meaning:
In the battle of X,
The Frankish army under Roland was defeated by Basque army.
This even was made famous in one novel.

Error analysis:
1."an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland " is not an ing modifier so it modifies the "Basque army" and not the entire clause.


(A) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland.
ans: error 1 and 2.

(B) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the Basque army ambushed the Frankish army, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated, and the event was made famous in La Chanson de Roland
ans: subject Basque army , verb is "was obliterated". Focus on meaning.

(C) La Chanson de Roland made famous the obliteration, due to an ambush by the Basque army, of the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778
ans: no error
due to is followed by "ambush", which is a noun.

(D) In La Chanson de Roland, the Basque army ambushed the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, and obliterated them, and this event was famous at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778
ans: the Basque army obliterated the Frankish army in the battle not in the book.
this event was made famous in the book.
also the use of "this " is not encouraged.

(E) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, ambushed and obliterated by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland
ans:error 1 repeated.
and missing verb.
Franish army was ambushed.
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In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland.

(A) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland

(B) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the Basque army ambushed the Frankish army, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated, and the event was made famous in La Chanson de Roland

(C) La Chanson de Roland made famous the obliteration, due to an ambush by the Basque army, of the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778

(D) In La Chanson de Roland, the Basque army ambushed the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, and obliterated them, and this event was famous at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778

(E) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, ambushed and obliterated by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland


This question discusses the legendary Battle of Roncevaux Pass, one of the only defeats of Charlemagne's long career, and it mentions that gorgeously beautiful medieval French poem, La Chanson de Roland.

This question, among other things, explores the "due to" structure. When is this structure correct or incorrect? You can see a full discussion of this point, as well as the OE for this difficult question, at this blog:
GMAT Sentence Correction: the “Due To” Mistake

Mike :-)



Thanks. Now I am clear on the 'due to' and 'because of' usages. But still I find option C as run on sentence. Or we choose C just because other options are more wrong?
I am completely stumped by such questions when almost all looks wrong.
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I selected the "C", but still uncertain that what is the Verb in sentence "C". If I assume the verb is "made", but how can a place actively make famous the obliteration. Why not using the passive voice, as "La....Roland was made famous by the obliteration"
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In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland.

In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland
>>Incorrect usage of ‘due to’. ‘Due to’ should not be used after a verb.’Because of’ should have been used here rather.
Hence option A is incorrect


(B) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the Basque army ambushed the Frankish army, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated, and the event was made famous in La Chanson de Roland
>> “the Basque army ambushed the Frankish army, ………was obliterated” doesn’t make any sense.
>> “the event was made famous” is also incorrect as you cannot forcefully make something famous. “La Chanson de Roland made the event famous” is the correct way of putting it.
Hence option B is incorrect



(C) La Chanson de Roland made famous the obliteration, due to an ambush by the Basque army, of the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778
>>Correct Option

(D) In La Chanson de Roland, the Basque army ambushed the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, and obliterated them, and this event was famous at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778
>>“obliterated them” is incorrect because as per the original sentence rearguard of Frankish army was obliterated and therefore a singular should be used. Also it says ‘this event was famous at the battle’….we don’t know this for certain. As per the orginal sentence, the book made the event famous.

(E) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, ambushed and obliterated by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland
>>It says the rearguard ambushed…. This is totally incorrect as it sounds like the rearguard was the one who did the action. The correct usage would have been the rearguard was ambused
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Quote:
In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland.

(A) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated due to an ambush by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland

(B) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the Basque army ambushed the Frankish army, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, was obliterated, and the event was made famous in La Chanson de Roland

(C) La Chanson de Roland made famous the obliteration, due to an ambush by the Basque army, of the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778

(D) In La Chanson de Roland, the Basque army ambushed the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, and obliterated them, and this event was famous at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778

(E) In the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland, ambushed and obliterated by the Basque army, an event made famous in La Chanson de Roland

B, D & E can be eliminated easily.
B- "the Basque army ambushed the Frankish army, the rearguard of the Frankish army, under the command of Roland" - the rearguard of the Frankish army is an appositive for Frankish army which is just plain wrong
D- The battle does not happen in the book "La Chanson de Roland". The book simple describes the battle
E- Not a complete sentence

The remaining choices are A & C.
In A, there is just 1 simple error which is the use of "due to". Simple rule: Due to is used for modifying a noun and because of is used for modifying a verb.
The only option left is C, which is the correct answer.
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