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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Trans 13 Apr 2015, 02:42
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Hi,
IMO,

A. "Their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house." It is an noun + noun modifier, which is modifying murals.
B. " Their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography". Run on. 2 independent clauses cannot be joined with a comma.
C. Same as B
D. "Their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their style varies among women and houses." Parallelism error ( noun+ noun modifier cannot be paralled to an independent clause)
E. Parallelism error. Same as D.

Thanks!
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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Trans 13 Apr 2015, 06:03
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Well you can eliminate B,D and E because of "among". We use "among" when we talk about three or more objects. Hence here we should use "between". Between A and C the former is correct because in C the use of "they" is unclear and A is a correct and concise sentence
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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Trans 13 Apr 2015, 08:06
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Tough for me. My 2 cents. Need OE.

Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal to photograph the art of Ndebele women, whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house.

Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal to photograph the art of Ndebele women,
whose murals are brilliantly colored,
--their geometrical symmetries embellished
--with old and new iconography
---and
--in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house[/u].


A. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house

B. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and their style is varying among women and houses

C. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and they are in styles that vary from woman to woman and house to house
>> ||sm issue.

D. with murals brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their style varies among women and houses

E. with murals that are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their styles vary among women and houses

Modifier whose Vs with:
whose points back to women where as with is an adverbial modifier modifies verb. As per the sentence context former makes sense.
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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Trans 13 Apr 2015, 20:53
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Tough for me. My 2 cents. Need OE.

Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal to photograph the art of Ndebele women, whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house.

Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal to photograph the art of Ndebele women,
whose murals are brilliantly colored,
--their geometrical symmetries embellished
--with old and new iconography
---and
--in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house[/u].


A. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house

B. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and their style is varying among women and houses

C. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and they are in styles that vary from woman to woman and house to house
>> ||sm issue.

D. with murals brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their style varies among women and houses

E. with murals that are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their styles vary among women and houses

Modifier whose Vs with:
whose points back to women where as with is an adverbial modifier modifies verb. As per the sentence context former makes sense.
Show more

Hi JarvisR ,

I think "with.." can modify noun or verb depending on the context of the sentence.
IMO, In the options D and E, the 'with..' modifier doesn't makes sense as murals cannot be drawn on women.
Your comments.

Thanks!
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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Trans 14 Apr 2016, 22:45
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I don't feel any explanation above is correct. A is not correct because of the reasons discussed above. This is a tough problem of Noun+Noun modifiers.
Here we go:

A) Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal to photograph the art of Ndebele
women, whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new
iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house.

Here "whose" is modifying "women" and 'their" is modifying "murals"

"Their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography": It is a Phrase or Noun+Noun modifier modifying murals. "Embellished" is not a verb.
It is a "verb+ed" modifier. "Geometrical symmetries" cannot perform the action of embellishment, making this sentence a phrase.

"In a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house": Again a phrase modifying murals.

So, both phrases are parallel to each other modifying "murals".

By practising Noun+Noun modifiers again and again. I come to the conclusion that they make the point of the clause they are modifying more believable.

Ex1: Here, murals are brilliantly colored. How can you say that they are brilliantly colored?
A: Their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house

Ex2: John, his arms flailing in the wind, called out desperately for help. How can his action be proved?
A: "His arms flailing in the wind" is a modifier modifying John . So, the modifier is proving John's action of calling for help.

You can look at them the way you want.


2) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and their style is varying among women and houses


3) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and they are in styles that vary from woman to woman and house to house

Both modifiers in sentence 2 and 3 are clauses, and 1st is separated without "FANBOYS". If "as" is present before "their" then these sentences can be grammatically correct. However, it will change the intended meaning
Also, in 3rd sentence "they are in styles" is wordy and awkward.

4) with murals brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their
style varies among women and houses

5)with murals that are brilliantly colored,their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography,
and their styles vary among women and houses

In both of the sentences, the first modifier is a phrase and the second is a clause.

Hope it helps.
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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Trans 22 Feb 2017, 14:54
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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal to photograph the art of Ndebele women, whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house.

(A) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house
(B) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and their style is varying among women and houses
(C) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and they are in styles that vary from woman to woman and house to house
(D) with murals brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their style varies among women and houses
(E) with murals that are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their styles vary among women and houses

the noun is the Ndebele women pronoun whose murals... option A is correct.
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The part "their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house" is an absolute phrase modifier. Following is an excerpt from Manhattan SC guide:

A few GMAT sentences use a sophisticated modifier called an Absolute Phrase. Absolute phrases are composed of a noun plus a noun modifier. These phrases do not have to modify what they touch; rather, they modify the main clause in some way.

The construction of an absolute phrase is as follows:
Noun / noun phrase + noun / noun phrase modifier

Here,
Noun phrase: "their geometrical symmetries"
Noun phrase modifier: "embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house".

This noun phrase + noun phrase modifier (i.e. the absolute phrase) as a whole refers to the clause "whose murals are brilliantly colored".
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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Trans 07 May 2018, 09:12
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At the heart of this beautiful and moving book are the mural paintings that cover Ndebele tribal houses in the South African Transvaal. Margaret Courtney-Clarke, a photojournalist raised in South-West Africa, traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal and in NDEBELE: THE ART OF AN AFRICAN TRIBE (Rizzoli, $45) she has recorded the art of the Ndebele women, including beadwork and ceremonial objects.

The murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their style varies from woman to woman and house to house. Younger women, adding acrylic paints and modern motifs like airplanes and cityscapes to the traditional clay pigments and bold abstract shapes, have created a new style - colorful, intricate, compact. Much of this has been achieved amid the squalor of resettlement. The Government's removal of hundreds of thousands of Ndebele to the tiny, overpopulated ''homeland'' of KwaNdebele has destroyed elements of the architecture that occasions the art, but the painting itself still flourishes in places, against terrible odds, in the misery of resettlement camps. The author's photographs need no justification beyond the artistry of their subjects. But an awareness of the circumstances surrounding the art makes the achievement of Ndebele women even more powerful.
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selfAnnihilation
Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal to photograph the art of Ndebele women, whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house.
(A) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house
(B) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and their style is varying among women and houses
(C) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and they are in styles that vary from woman to woman and house to house
(D) with murals brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their style varies among women and houses
(E) with murals that are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their styles vary among women and houses

Didn't quite understand how is the OA correct.

Hii selfannihilation.
The question involves the topic Absolute Phrases.
For more on how to tackle Absolute Phrases, visit

Before proceeding into the question, please note that two independent clause can't co-exist just by a mere separation of a "comma". To join two ICs, we need to have a conjunction word and that the absolute phrases can't stand alone.

A) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house
The green shaded portion correctly describes the blue shaded portion, is an absolute phrase and can't stand alone. The best technique is to ask \(HOW\) on the termination of the last IC and if the next clause answers your question exactly in its own words, then that clause is the absolute phrase and is the answer.
In this case, the last clause describes HOW murals were brilliantly coloured by explaining that their geometrical symmetries were embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house.

All other choices are disasters in that they either have ambiguity issue or IC issue. Here conjunction words would have been really helpful.

If you need more explanations how I eliminated the rest of others, do let me know. I will try my best.
Hope that helps.
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Hi @markub,
Can this also be applied to the question here: floating-in-the-waters-of-the-equatorial-pacific-an-array

Thanks
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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Trans 17 Jul 2020, 12:40
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(A) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house

photograph the art of Ndebele women, their geometrical symmetries embellished
&
photograph the art of Ndebele women, in a style that varies >> Look parallel

(B) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and their style is varying among women and houses

photograph the art of Ndebele women, their geometrical symmetries
&
photograph the art of Ndebele women, their style is varying >> Usage of varying + among is not correct here

(C) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and they are in styles that vary from woman to woman and house to house

they are in styles usage is awkward

(D) with murals brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their style varies among women and houses

with murals usage is awkward

(E) with murals that are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their styles vary among women and houses

with murals usage is awkward
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"their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house "
Please can anyone explain me parallelism here..
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Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Trans 07 Dec 2020, 05:13
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Hey AndrewN, how are you doing ?

Need some help, I think this is a poor question and A seems to be incorrect as per my below reasoning.


Quote:

(A) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house
Show more

Issue 1. I dont get how "embellished" past participle and in a style that varies are parallel, usage of "and" demands parallelism. IMO

Issue 2. From X to Y is the idiom, this usage seems so alien, From X to Y and X to Y. ? is the "from" understood to be repeated like ellipses ?

Issue 3. structural issue, I dont get the structure of A:

Sub+verb, modifier, and modifier ? don't we need an and between modifier 1 and modifier 2.


Appreciate your reply! always
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Hey AndrewN, how are you doing ?

Need some help, I think this is a poor question and A seems to be incorrect as per my below reasoning.


Quote:

(A) whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house

Issue 1. I dont get how "embellished" past participle and in a style that varies are parallel, usage of "and" demands parallelism. IMO

Issue 2. From X to Y is the idiom, this usage seems so alien, From X to Y and X to Y. ? is the "from" understood to be repeated like ellipses ?

Issue 3. structural issue, I dont get the structure of A:

Sub+verb, modifier, and modifier ? don't we need an and between modifier 1 and modifier 2.

Appreciate your reply! always
Show more
Hello, Hero. I am doing fine, thank you for asking. I hope all is well on your end. To be straightforward, I have no problem with the question or OA. There is some embellishment going on in the question itself, but the basic structure is one of main clause + dependent clause + absolute phrase. Speaking to your points, the first issue hinges on the parallel components of an and. Although identical parts of speech are as tightly parallel as can be, there is nothing wrong with a little mixing and matching, as long as the parallel components could be placed in reverse order without destroying the sentence. Try it out on the part of the sentence in question:

their geometrical symmetries in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house and embellished with old and new iconography

Sure, I would prefer a verb-turned-adjective before the prepositional phrase in a style, but I would not write off the answer choice simply because I did not see executed or made, for example.

You seem to have worked out the second issue yourself, and this feature is what I meant earlier in mentioning embellishment within the question. There are simply two (parallel) elements here that fit into the from X to Y construct, and yes, there is an understood from at the head of the second element. We see this type of description used somewhat commonly in articles on, say, language: ... with dialects that vary from region to region and village to village. Notice that you could just as easily put the second part, about the villages, first.

I think I may have accidentally touched on your third concern first. Whose murals are brilliantly colored is a clause, not a modifier in the same sense as a modifying phrase. Absolute phrase questions tend to cause GMAT™ aspirants a lot of grief. A lot of them appear as harder questions on this site, anyway.

In the end, I would not label the question "Poor quality." I would give it about an 8 out of 10. I would expect tighter parallelism regarding the first issue on the actual GMAT™, but remember, you always have to go by what is on the screen, and your goal is to select the best answer of the five choices presented.

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me about this question. As always, good luck with your studies.

- Andrew
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