Pack 6 Q5: The curator of the museum is eager...

Question

Pack 6, Question 5 of 5:

The curator of the museum is eager to examine  on the archeologists’ artifacts found at the site in Peru while they were digging .

A. on the archeologists’ artifacts found at the site in Peru while they were digging
B. about the artifacts archeologists found while at the dig site in Peru
C. into the archeologists’ artifacts found while digging in Peru
D. the artifacts archeologists found at the dig site in Peru
E. on the artifacts from the archeologists, found while at the dig site in Peru

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DinoPen · Answer

I said D.
I took out A because 'to examine on the archeologists' artifacts' is idiomatically incorrect (I think? - It does not sound right) Also, 'they' is vague, and if it refers to the curator, then the subject-verb agreement is incorrect.
I took out B because 'to examine about' is idiomatically incorrect. (How do you examine about?)
My reasoning is the same for C and E.

TheNightKing · Answer

The initial scan tells us an idiom is in play "on/about/into" but let's say we don't know what idiom is right. So let's ignore it and move on. If we think about "what" the curator is eager to examine? The answer is artifacts so answer is straight D but let's not jump to conclusion. We can keep this in mind though. They should jump right out at us. And "they" is ambiguous here or rather we can say it cannot refer back to archeologists because they don't exist in the sentence. So A is out. "examine about the artifacts". But examine what about them? We have no idea. Also, the tense makes no sense now. "while" at the dig site? while digging may be? Weird enough to get eliminated. So now we are saying the artifacts belong to archeologists? They have the ownership? No. We are saying they found artifacts. Also, examine into ? Into what? Let's just compare last 2 side by side. From our previous learnings, we can see similar issues with option E. Examine on the artifiacts? What on the artifacts? Also, the tense issue with while is still here. D is a better choice. P.S: I am not 100% sure but we will see

NandishSS · Answer

Initial Scan gives us to examine on/about/into. But we examine the artifacts is correct as per the context.

they cannot refer to possessive noun . Incorrect

to examine about artifacts might be OK but while at the dig site is not correct  
While is used to convey two actions happening simultaneously.

to examine into artifacts not a conveyed meaning   Incorrect

Correct

to examine on the artifacts is awkward also while at the dig site is not correct  Incorrect

Raxit85 · Answer

The curator of the museum is eager to examine on the archeologists’ artifacts found at the site in Peru while they were digging.

Meaning: Someone is eager to examine ON the someones'artifacts found somewhere while they were digging. - Red flag to say examine on the someones'artifacts. Correct usage can be, examine someone on something, which doesn't apply in the example. Pronoun ambiguity error, usage of they.

A. on the archeologists’ artifacts found at the site in Peru while they were digging - incorrect as mentioned above.
B. about the artifacts archeologists found while at the dig site in Peru - examine about is somewhat weird idiom and nonsensical, but let's hold rather than rejecting.
C. into the archeologists’ artifacts found while digging in Peru- someone is eager to examine into the archeologists’ artifacts,, where??? Word about site is missing.
D. the artifacts archeologists found at the dig site in Peru - far better option till option D, seems correctly expressed that someone is eager to examine something archeologists found at the dig site in Peru.
E. on the artifacts from the archeologists, found while at the dig site in Peru - from the archeologists is unnecessarily wordy. found while at the dig site in Peru, comma before found is incorrect.

Imo. D.

Posted from my mobile device

suchithra · Answer

"Examine the X" is the most common idiom usage I have come across of the verb examine. The modifier "found at the dig site" should modify artifacts and is best placed closest to the noun.

A. on the  archeologists’ artifacts  found at the site in Peru while they were digging
The artifacts don't belong to archeologists.
B.  about  the artifacts archeologists found while at the dig site in Peru
Option D is better than this option. While is redundant.
C. into the  archeologists’ artifacts  found while digging in Peru
Same error as A. The artifacts don't belong to archeologists. 
D. the artifacts archeologists found at the dig site in Peru
Correct
E. on the artifacts  from  the archeologists,  found  while at the dig site in Peru
This option also sounds as if the artifacts belong to archeologists.
The modifier found, a Verb-ed is modifying archeologists

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation

The curator of the museum is eager to examine  on the archeologists’ artifacts found at the site in Peru while they were digging.

A.  on  the archeologists’ artifacts found at the site in Peru while they were  digging  
 B.  about  the artifacts archeologists found while at the  dig  site in Peru 
 C.  into  the archeologists’ artifacts found while  digging  in Peru 
 D.  the artifacts  archeologists found at the  dig  site in Peru 
 E.  on  the artifacts from the archeologists, found while at the  dig  site in Peru

A review of our answer choices shows that there is a split on how the underlined phrase starts—a preposition or a noun. There is also a split between the use of digging and dig.

When we see that we need to choose between a phrase that starts with a noun or one that starts with a preposition, we should always begin by looking at the non-underlined portion of the sentence. The sentence begins “The curator of the museum is eager to examine.” “Examine” is a transitive verb, which means it must have an object. A prepositional phrase cannot be the object of a verb. An object is always a noun or pronoun or, in some cases, a noun clause. Options A, B, C, and E all start with a preposition (on, about, into, and on, respectively), and a preposition cannot immediately follow a transitive verb.  This means the only possible correct answer is Option D.

And just in case that seems a little too easy, we’ll quickly review some other issues with the incorrect answer options. Option A uses “at the site in Peru while they were digging.” This is wordy and redundant, and other options offer more concise ways of saying the same thing.

Option E makes it hard to tell if the phrase “found while at the dig site in Peru” is modifying “archeologists,” which would mean the archeologists were found at the dig site, and that makes no sense. An argument could be made, though it would be poor placement, that it is modifying artifacts, but then it would mean the artifacts were found while they were at the dig site in Peru, implying that sometimes the artifacts were at other dig sites. That is also nonsensical.

Option B could be clearer, because you could infer that the artifacts were found while the artifacts were digging in Peru. That is definitely illogical.

Now, this narrows our answer choices down to two, and once again, we’re left needing to simply know that transitive verbs are not followed by prepositions.

Option D is best answer.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Great job, DinoPen ! You cracked the code! You are correct that "to examine" can't be followed by a preposition - hence why "to examine on" and "to examine about" sounded wrong to you.

I can't wait to see more great explanations in Pack 7!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  TheNightKing ! You cracked the code on this one! Great explanations for each option, and I like that you also shared your thought process! I'm looking forward to seeing more great explanations from you in Pack 7. These are tough questions, and you've done a great job helping yourself and others learn how to beat them!

Kudos to you!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  NandishSS ! You cracked the code on this one! I like how you set up your explanation - it's easy to read and follow. I can't wait to see more great responses from you in Pack 7!

Kudos to you!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  Raxit85 ! Great breakdown of how you found the problems in the original sentence and how you focused on those in the 5 options. I'm excited to see more great answers from you in Pack 7! Kudos to you!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done, suchithra ! You cracked the code on this one! I also appreciate that you added in your thought process so others could see how you came to find the correct answer.

Kudos to you!

VerbalBot · Answer

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Pack 6 Q5: The curator of the museum is eager...

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Pack 6 Q5: The curator of the museum is eager...

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