Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from

Hi Icecream87, the past participle phrase here (fashioned...) is not intended to modify either Kushan empire or time.

It is intended to modify images of Hindu deities, since these images were fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

In fact, if you look at the correct option (option E), it makes it very clear:

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities date...and were fashioned...

So, for the verb were, the subject is images of Hindu deities. So, we know that the images of Hindu deities were fashioned.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses these participial modifiers, their application and examples in significant detail. In fact, this sentence is given as an example in that section. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id, I can mail the corresponding section.

Hi EducationAisle,

Thanks for answering. I get why this sentence is wrong. I was however trying to understand if that bold part in the sentence would be correct if fashioned was intended to modify time

for instance:
The boutique in Paris, whose owner was robbed is closed.
in Paris correctly modifies boutique so the placement of whose is accepted

But if the sentence was as follows, would it still be correct?
The boutique in Paris, colored red is closed.
Thanks

Yes. Following is an officially correct sentence:

Fossils of the arm of a sloth, found in Puerto Rico in 1991, have been dated at 34 million years old, making the sloth the earliest known mammal on the Greater Antilles islands.

The past participle found modifies fossils and not sloth.

Hi all,

Issue: ",fashioned" modifier describes which noun among IMAGES, DEITIES, and EMPIRE?

Grammatically, ",fashioned" modifier is supposed to describe EMPIRE, the closest noun.

Honestly, for non-native speakers, like me, it is quite tough to decide correct noun that ", fashioned" modifier is assigned to.

So my approach will be that if I have a doubt, such as the above issue, then I just leave it there and examine other options.

Option E makes sense, without any doubt, to me. It is because the missing E will construct a parallelism structure that provides 2 independent ideas:

(1) The images date from the time of the Kushan empire

AND

(2) The images were fashioned.......

Just my 2 cents.

Hello SISDIT,

I am aware that your post is pretty old. However, I will be glad to add my two cents here to describe how the context of the sentence can help us a modifier is meant to modify which entity.

Let's read the original sentence once: Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

From the context of the sentence, we know that something is fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

From the word sandstone we know that the spotted sandstone of Mathura is a kind of stone that is found in Mathura,. Hence, we can safely infer that Gandharan grey schist is also a type of stone.

So what could logically be made up of these one of the types of stones?

EMPIRE: This noun does not make sense. What do we mean by the empire was fashioned from a kind of stone?
DEITIES: This noun also does not make sense because deities mean gods or goddesses that cannot be fashioned from stone:
IMAGES: This noun makes sense because we are aware that images or statues can be fashioned or made from stone.

So the only logical noun entity that the verb-ed modifier fashioned can describe is the images.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Some one please help me,how to find the core of this sentence :- I mean how do I find the subject and verb. Please help me to strip this sentence to it's core.

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, fashioned [either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or] Gandharan grey schist.

A) Empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
B) Empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
C) Empire, either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
D) Empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
E) Empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

If I ask question who or what fashioned Gandharran grey schist.
is this the subject :- Hindu deities fashioned

egmat Please guide.

Hi rajatbanik, the core of the sentence is:

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire.


If you logically think about it, you got the relationship reverse. Hindu deities did not fashion Gandharan grey schist (a stone); the Hindu deities were fashioned (were carved) by Gandharan grey schist.

Perhaps one reason for your mis-interpretation could be that you thought that fashioned was a simple past tense verb. In this sentence however, the only verb is date; fashioned is used as a past participle here, and not as a simple past tense verb.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses an easy framework to distinguish between Simple Past Tense Verb Vs Past Participle. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

If you logically think about it, you got the relationship reverse. Hindu deities did not fashion Gandharan grey schist (a stone); the Hindu deities were fashioned (were carved) by Gandharan grey schist.

Perhaps one reason for your mis-interpretation could be that you thought that fashioned was a simple past tense verb. In this sentence however, the only verb is date; fashioned is used as a past participle here, and not as a simple past tense verb.


Could you please explain what does the verb date here mean.

date means to belong to a particular period / have its origin.

(A) empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or - Incorrect

(B) empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from - Incorrect

(C) empire, either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or - Incorrect

(D) empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from - Incorrect

(E) empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from - Correct. SVA. Idiom usage.

Answer: (E).

Analysis : The modifier fashioned is erroneously modifying the previous noun Kushan empire - It seems to state a illogical meaning that KE was fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist. Where as the intended meaning is somewhat :

Many of the earliest known in India
-------------------1) date from the time of the Kushan empire
-------------------2) fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

so both of them are saying something about images of Hindu deities


Option A: Incorrect : As pointed out in analysis.

Option B: Incorrect : Similar issue as in A.

Option C: Incorrect : 1. Same issue as in A.
-------------------------2. Not following the std form idiom Either X or Y (where X ll Y) - here Either X(verb) or Y( noun) (where X notll Y)

Option D: Incorrect : Similar issue as in c(2). Not following the std form idiom Either X or Y (where X ll Y) - here Either X(verb) or Y( noun) (where X notll Y)

Option E: Correct :
--------------------1. Both the information about images of Hindu deities are connected properly by and.
--------------------2. date logically ll were fashioned - both of them being illustrative information about the subject.
--------------------3. Correctly follows the std form idiom Either X (the spotted sandstone of Mathura) or Y (Gandharan grey schist) (where X(noun) ll Y(noun)

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one problem at a time, and narrow it down to the correct option! To begin, here is the original question with any differences between the options highlighted in orange:

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

(A) empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
(B) empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
(C) empire, either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
(D) empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
(E) empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

If we glance over the options quickly, we clearly see 2 places we can focus on:

1. How to handle the verb "fashioned" (modifiers, punctuation, parallelism)
2. or / or from (parallelism)

Let's start with #1 on our list. If we look closely, it appears that options A, B, and C use a comma after the word "empire," which turns the rest of the sentence into a modifier. Options D & E use the word "and" to connect the two parts into one statement. So - which one should we use?

Remember that whenever we see modifiers, we need to make sure they're placed directly before or after what they're modifying. Let's start by checking to see if options A, B, and C use modifiers correctly:

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

modifier = fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.
antecedent (What is it modifying?) = images

We can see from the options available, NONE of them place the modifier next to "images." Instead, they're all incorrectly trying to modify the word "empire":

(A) empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
(B) empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
(C) empire, either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or

This means we can eliminate options A, B, and C because the punctuation turns them into incorrectly placed modifiers.

Now that we're left with only 2 options, let's tackle #2 on the list: parallelism! The word "either" is a tip-off that we need to be careful that both items are written using parallel structure. Let's see how they stack up:

(D) empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist.

...either fashioned from X or from Y = WRONG

Anything that is written AFTER the word "either" needs to be written in both items! For this to be parallel, it would have to say "...either fashioned from X or fashioned from Y."

(E) empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist.

...fashioned either from X or from Y = CORRECT!

This is parallel! The word "fashioned" appears before the word "either," so it doesn't have to be in both items. However, the word "from" is after the word "either," and it should be included with both items (and it is).

There you have it - option E is the correct choice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

54 Thursdays with Ron March 01, 2012 Use of AND

The question discussed at 59:33

Hi all i have a question abt the parallisem

If answer is E, why is the "date" a simple tense and "were" is acceptable here?

There is nothing extraordinary here; both of them are verbs and hence, parallel to each other.

For example:

He is a good boy and exercises daily.

In the above sentence, is and exercises are parallel.

Thanks for your reply. Let me rephrase my question

why the "date" simple tense and "were" simple past are parallel to each other?

He is a good boy and exercised daily? he no longer execises ?

Tenses and parallelism are two separate subjects and should be regarded as such.

The context of the sentence determines the tense usage. For example, following is a correct sentence:

He was born poor, but is now extremely rich.

Parallelism is between was (simple past) and is (simple present). In fact, the first clause is passive voice, while second clause is active voice.

Bottom-line: Tenses and voice should not be treated as decision criteria for parallelism.