Kaplan SC The US Senate's ratification process for

Question

Kaplan SC


The US Senate's ratification process for Jay's Treaty of 1795, concerning frontiers with Canada, trade relations with the British West Indies, and the  payment of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, were  so polarizing that it fostered the creation of the political parties in the United States. 
 
 
payment of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, were 

paying of private debts to British financiers pre-dating the War of Independence, was 

payments of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, were 

paying of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, was 

payment to British financiers of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence, was

stolyar · Answer

had the same doubt between D and E. Finally opt for D. 
E seems to be not as good.

Praetorian · Answer

No intuition please , stolyar.

Lets try to point out the mistake, if there is one

asandeep · Answer

Explanation anyone ? :roll:

anandnk · Answer

The only choices are B,D and E because of verb  was 
B - looks like British financers pre-dating the war of independence
D and E look grammatically correct but D has a subtle problem.

The treaty concerns frontiers, relations, and X
frontiers and relations are simple noun forms. 
D - Here we have a gerund form of noun  paying . D would have been correct if it had  payment of private debts 
E - The noun is  payment to British Financers  

Last comment:
Both D and E have modifer  pre-dating the War of Independence  correctly placed.

gauravnagpal · Answer

thank god its E....noun form of pay...

tingle15 · Answer

The US Senate's ratification process for Jay's Treaty of 1795, concerning frontiers with Canada, trade relations with the British West Indies, and the  payment of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, were  so polarizing that it fostered the creation of the political parties in the United States.

Breaking the question:

1) The US Senate's ratification process for Jay's Treaty of 1795  was  so polarizing that it fostered the creation of the political parties in the United States.
2) concerning  frontiers  with Canada,  trade relations  with the British West Indies, and  the payment  to British financiers of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence

Hence E.

naish · Answer

It's indeed a very elegant explanation. Thank you very much.
However, I am still slightly confused. 'paying' is a noun form (a gerund, as you correctly identified). I have never come across a grammar rule which says 'simple' noun should parallel simple noun. As far as I know, the grammar rule is - 'sentence structure should be parallel in parallel elements of the sentence'. Moreover, the organization of phrases in option E seems somewhat awkward to me.

amitjash · Answer

payment of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, were

paying of private debts to British financiers pre-dating the War of Independence, was

payments of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, were

paying of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, was

payment to British financiers of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence, was
Kaplan SC

The US Senate's ratification process for Jay's Treaty of 1795, concerning frontiers with Canada, trade relations with the British West Indies, and the  payment of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, were  so polarizing that it fostered the creation of the political parties in the United States.

payment of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers,  were

paying of  private debts to British financiers pre-dating the War of Independence, was

payments of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers,  were

paying of  private debts pre-dating the War of Independence to British financiers, was

payment to British financiers of private debts pre-dating the War of Independence, was

B and D not || "Concerning relations.... frontiers... and payment.....
So, E
Any doubt???

praveenism · Answer

Good Question....Got Stumped by C. I thought that were is refering to the previous list of __,__, and ___.But now I realise that its the process we are referring to , not the list of Modifiers !!!!!

jatt86 · Answer

marked E but still confused with the comma b4 was????

geturdream · Answer

The US Senate's ratification process is singular so it has to was. So ruling out A and C

In B pre-dating the War of Independence is modifying British financiers which changes the meaning.
So coming to ||ism, frontiers with Canada, trade relations with ... all are simple noun. So we should look for simple noun. payment to is simple noun but paying of private debts is gerund.

So E is correcr

FQ · Answer

I picked E because British appears right after the noun, seems to be more parallel than other choices

psychomath · Answer

damn i chose D and realized later why it should be E

Kaplan SC The US Senate's ratification process for

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