haardiksharma wrote:
Located in the vast Atlantic Ocean, about seven miles off the coast of Venezuela, is a small but fertile island that had retained from the period of its first discovery the name of Trinidad, and though picturesque, has rarely been visited by Europeans until the sixteenth century.
A. is a small but fertile island that had retained from the period of its first discovery the name of Trinidad, and though picturesque, has rarely been
-- has rarely been visited UNTIL the sixteenth century?
-- "has rarely been" refers to the recent and ongoing past, not 500 years ago.
Correct: The island has rarely been visited for the last 20 years. (recent past)
Correct: The island had rarely been visited by Europeans until 500 years ago, just a short while after they discovered it.
-- past perfect = past of the past and requires
one event rendered in simple past (discovered) OR
a time marker of some sort that points to a particular moment in time in the past
B. was the small but fertile island of Trinidad, which retained its name from the period when it had first been discovered, and though picturesque, it had rarely been
-- nothing suggests that this island no longer exists
C. Trinidad is a small but fertile island that retains its name from the period of its first discovery, and though picturesque, has rarely been
-- same problem as that in A
D. is a small but fertile island, which has retained from the period of its first discovery the name of Trinidad, and though picturesque, had rarely been
-- the best of a horrible lot of 5, but still flawed.
-- no reason exists to place the prepositional phrase between the verb and its object
E. the small but fertile island of Trinidad, retaining its name from the period of its first discovery, though picturesque, rarely
-- comma splice, visited modifies discovery (maybe), no verb in what should be a clause at the end (I think - what a mess)
Responding to a PMshweta5 ,
mohshu , and
haardiksharma , this sentence is of such poor quality that I have locked and I will archive it.
I have marked
one error in each option, though every option except (D) contains many errors.
If I tried to explain the errors in these options I would be typing for at least an hour—and
for no reason because this sentence does not resemble a GMAT question.
Non-official questions vary in quality. This one is really awful.
Only (D) comes somewhat close to making sense, but
(1) its insertion of
from the period of its discovery between "retains" and "the name of Trinidad" is unnecessary and unnatural. We do not separate verbs from their objects for no reason at all, and adverbs of time are placed near the end of a phrase.
(2) even if the poorly placed prepositional phrase is moved, the phrasing of the sentence is unnatural, unidiomatic, awkward, and rhetorically ineffective.
I will lock and archive this question.
Please do not waste your energy or time worrying about it.
close
Updated on: 13 Sep 2019, 15:37
