Aaron’s report on the “Persian Immortals” told how a

Thank you very much for the answers.
I think I got it.
In this case, since all the other answer choices are really bad and clearly wrong, we take (A) as the answer even though the use of tell isn`t optimal.

Yes you got it right, but, usually these are not there with the correct answer choices. The case like this could be rare in actual GMAT, but still possible. So, just make a note of it.

Vercules

Friends,

I have a quick question on Q28.

Q28. Aaron’s report on the “Persian Immortals” told how a powerful army acted as both Imperial Guard and standing army during the expansion of the Persian Empire in the fourth and fifth century B.C.
a) told how a powerful army acted as both
b) said much how a powerful army filled the ranks of both
c) determined that a powerful army acted as such
d) was saying that of a great army which acted as each a
e) did tell how a powerful army carried out the responsibilities of a

The book says "told" is always followed by the direct object. However in this example, neither option a) nor e) has an object after told/tell. IF told/tell can go without a following object, then what is the difference between a) and e)? Both options could be right!!

Saurabh

Dear Saurabh,

I'm happy to respond.

My friend, you are relatively new to GMAT Club. Here's a important guideline you need to learn. Please do not start a brand new thread for a question that has already been posted on GMAT Club. Always search first, because most questions from most major sources already have been posted. It's quite likely that you will find the answer to you question in the discussion in a pre-existent thread, and if you don't, that's the appropriate place to ask your question. I have merged your post into such a pre-existent thread. You may find insight reading through the previous posts in this thread.

My friend, the grammatical piece you are missing is the idea of a substantive clause (also known as a "noun clause"). This is a full clause that takes the place of a noun. See this lesson:
Substantive Clauses
A substantive clause acts as a noun and can take a variety of noun-roles: subject, direct object, or object of a preposition.

In (A), the object of the verb "told" is the substantive clause that begins at "how" and continues to the end of the sentence. All that is the direct object of the verb--after all, all that is what is "told."

In (E), the construction "did tell" is awkward and incorrect. Everything after the verb is fine, but the verb is flawed.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

a) told how a powerful army acted as both
b) said much how a powerful army filled the ranks of both
c) determined that a powerful army acted as such
d) was saying that of a great army which acted as each a
e) did tell how a powerful army carried out the responsibilities of a