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Updated on: 12 Aug 2019, 07:05
Originally posted by gmatter0913 on 02 Aug 2013, 05:38.
Last edited by Bunuel on 12 Aug 2019, 07:05, edited 3 times in total.
Last edited by Bunuel on 12 Aug 2019, 07:05, edited 3 times in total.
Edited the question.
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A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
15%
(low)
Question Stats:
77% (01:08) correct
23%
(01:52)
wrong
based on 5086
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History
Date
Time
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Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
(A) the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
(B) Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terracotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it
(C) it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
(D) more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
(E) more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warriors that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
Note: GMAT revised the question from old revision.
(A) the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
(B) Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terracotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it
(C) it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
(D) more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
(E) more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warriors that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
Note: GMAT revised the question from old revision.
The Official Guide for GMAT Review 2015
Practice Question
Question No.: SC 62
Page: 682
Practice Question
Question No.: SC 62
Page: 682
First Glance
The very long underline signals likely Structure, Meaning, Modifier, or Parallelism issues.
Issues
(1) Modifier: rivaling the pyramids
The original sentence begins with a modifier: rivaling the pyramids or the cities as achievement. The information is talking about something that has not yet been mentioned. What is rivaling the pyramids?
The pyramids of Egypt are works of art. What else in the sentence is a work of art or can be described as an achievement? An army of terra-cotta warriors makes sense and should be placed right after comma, so the original sentence is fine. The other answers offer various other illogical options as the noun following the comma:
(B) Qin Shi Huang (a person is not a work of art)
(C) it (referring to how long the warriors look to make)
(D) artisans (people are not works of art)
(E) 36 years (a length of time is not a work of art)
Eliminate answers (B), (C), (D), and (E) because each uses an illogical noun following the comma.
(2) Meaning
The sentence contains a lot of modifier; the placement of some modifiers in answers (B) and (C) confuse the meaning.
In answer (B), the pronoun it refers to the army, so that the sentence reads: an army that was created by artisans who took 36 years to complete the army. This is an equivalent example: the cake that was created by the chef who spent 3 hours to make the cake. As though the second cake is a different cake!
The sequence of modifiers in answer (C) is confusing:
(C) to create an army of warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Huang
What happened more than 2,000 years ago? The army was created. The warriors didn't just appear, nor were they protected 2,000 years ago. The modifier should more clearly point o the action that occurred more than 2,000 years ago. Further, the placement interrupts another noun and modifier pair: the warriors (more than 2,000 years ago) that would protect Qin Shi Huang. The two halves not in parentheses should be right next to each other; the warriors, not some years ago, are the ones who would protect Huang.
Eliminate answers (B) and (C) for confusing modifier placement.
The Correct Answer
Correct answer (A) is the only one that completes the opening modifier structure correctly: rivaling the pyramids as an achievement, the army of warriors. Further, the placement of the many modifiers is logical.
Annotation 2019-03-05 000020.jpg [ 152.97 KiB | Viewed 45276 times ]
The very long underline signals likely Structure, Meaning, Modifier, or Parallelism issues.
Issues
(1) Modifier: rivaling the pyramids
The original sentence begins with a modifier: rivaling the pyramids or the cities as achievement. The information is talking about something that has not yet been mentioned. What is rivaling the pyramids?
The pyramids of Egypt are works of art. What else in the sentence is a work of art or can be described as an achievement? An army of terra-cotta warriors makes sense and should be placed right after comma, so the original sentence is fine. The other answers offer various other illogical options as the noun following the comma:
(B) Qin Shi Huang (a person is not a work of art)
(C) it (referring to how long the warriors look to make)
(D) artisans (people are not works of art)
(E) 36 years (a length of time is not a work of art)
Eliminate answers (B), (C), (D), and (E) because each uses an illogical noun following the comma.
(2) Meaning
The sentence contains a lot of modifier; the placement of some modifiers in answers (B) and (C) confuse the meaning.
In answer (B), the pronoun it refers to the army, so that the sentence reads: an army that was created by artisans who took 36 years to complete the army. This is an equivalent example: the cake that was created by the chef who spent 3 hours to make the cake. As though the second cake is a different cake!
The sequence of modifiers in answer (C) is confusing:
(C) to create an army of warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Huang
What happened more than 2,000 years ago? The army was created. The warriors didn't just appear, nor were they protected 2,000 years ago. The modifier should more clearly point o the action that occurred more than 2,000 years ago. Further, the placement interrupts another noun and modifier pair: the warriors (more than 2,000 years ago) that would protect Qin Shi Huang. The two halves not in parentheses should be right next to each other; the warriors, not some years ago, are the ones who would protect Huang.
Eliminate answers (B) and (C) for confusing modifier placement.
The Correct Answer
Correct answer (A) is the only one that completes the opening modifier structure correctly: rivaling the pyramids as an achievement, the army of warriors. Further, the placement of the many modifiers is logical.
Attachment:
Annotation 2019-03-05 000020.jpg [ 152.97 KiB | Viewed 45276 times ]
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18 Dec 2018, 15:41
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Hello Everyone!
Let's tackle this question, one problem at a time, and narrow it down to the correct choice! This is an updated version of an old question, so even if you've seen this before, it's going to be slightly different! To begin, here is the original question with the major differences between the options highlighted in orange:
Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
(A) the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
(B) Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terracotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it
(C) it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
(D) more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
(E) more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warriors that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
If we look over the options, it's clear that each option includes the same information in a totally different order. It's going to be too difficult to tackle every single difference. So what do we do?
Whenever we see a question like this, we should look to the non-underlined portion for a clue to what we should focus on:
Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
The non-underlined portion of this sentence is a modifier! Since that is the only thing that all 5 options has in common, we can focus on that to look for problems. When we focus on modifiers, we must make sure it's placed next to what it's modifying, and it should be clear for readers to understand. Let's see how each option breaks down! To make things easier to spot, I'll include the non-underlined modifier to each option:
(A) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
This is CORRECT! The modifier is referring to the army of terra cotta warriors, and it's clear because both the modifier and its antecedent are right next to each other.
(B) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terracotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it
This is INCORRECT because Qin Shi Huang isn't what the modifier is referring to - it's referring to the terra cotta army. By putting Qin Shi Huang next to the modifier, readers may mistakenly think that the man himself rivaled the pyramids of Egypt and ancient cities of the Maya, which doesn't really make sense.
(C) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
This is INCORRECT because it uses a vague pronoun "it" after the modifier. It's not clear at all what "it" is referring to - what took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create? Your reader might be able to figure it out after reading the sentence a few times, and that's a bad thing! It should be clear to readers what the modifier is referring to!
(D) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
This is INCORRECT because, again, it's not clear what rivaled the pyramids and cities of the Maya. This sentence also strangely states that the artisans may have rivaled the pyramids and cities of the Maya? It's incredibly vague and confusing, so let's rule this one out!
(E) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warriors that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
This is INCORRECT because the modifier isn't placed next to what it's referring to. The sentence is confusing for readers to decipher, which is a big no-no on the GMAT! Modifiers and antecedents should be right next to each other and clear to readers!
There you have it - option A was the correct choice all along! It's the only option that places the modifier and antecedent next to each other!
Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
Let's tackle this question, one problem at a time, and narrow it down to the correct choice! This is an updated version of an old question, so even if you've seen this before, it's going to be slightly different! To begin, here is the original question with the major differences between the options highlighted in orange:
Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
(A) the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
(B) Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terracotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it
(C) it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
(D) more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
(E) more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warriors that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
If we look over the options, it's clear that each option includes the same information in a totally different order. It's going to be too difficult to tackle every single difference. So what do we do?
Whenever we see a question like this, we should look to the non-underlined portion for a clue to what we should focus on:
Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
The non-underlined portion of this sentence is a modifier! Since that is the only thing that all 5 options has in common, we can focus on that to look for problems. When we focus on modifiers, we must make sure it's placed next to what it's modifying, and it should be clear for readers to understand. Let's see how each option breaks down! To make things easier to spot, I'll include the non-underlined modifier to each option:
(A) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
This is CORRECT! The modifier is referring to the army of terra cotta warriors, and it's clear because both the modifier and its antecedent are right next to each other.
(B) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terracotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it
This is INCORRECT because Qin Shi Huang isn't what the modifier is referring to - it's referring to the terra cotta army. By putting Qin Shi Huang next to the modifier, readers may mistakenly think that the man himself rivaled the pyramids of Egypt and ancient cities of the Maya, which doesn't really make sense.
(C) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
This is INCORRECT because it uses a vague pronoun "it" after the modifier. It's not clear at all what "it" is referring to - what took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create? Your reader might be able to figure it out after reading the sentence a few times, and that's a bad thing! It should be clear to readers what the modifier is referring to!
(D) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
This is INCORRECT because, again, it's not clear what rivaled the pyramids and cities of the Maya. This sentence also strangely states that the artisans may have rivaled the pyramids and cities of the Maya? It's incredibly vague and confusing, so let's rule this one out!
(E) Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warriors that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
This is INCORRECT because the modifier isn't placed next to what it's referring to. The sentence is confusing for readers to decipher, which is a big no-no on the GMAT! Modifiers and antecedents should be right next to each other and clear to readers!
There you have it - option A was the correct choice all along! It's the only option that places the modifier and antecedent next to each other!
Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
25 Aug 2013, 10:47
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Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya s an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
A. the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
Correct.
- The main subject is "the army of terra-cotta warriors" which is collective noun ==> singular.
- You do not need to repeat pronoun "it" after complete because it creates redundant error (X took 700,000 artisans more than 36 year to complete X) <== redundant.
- Other options commit to Modifier problem. Please see the beginning of the sentence. "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta".
B. Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terra-cotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it.
Wrong.
- Modifier problem: "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta", NOT "Qin Shi Huang"
- "it" at the end is redundant. X (an army) that was created by Y who took more than 36 years to complete X <== "X" is not necessary.
C. it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife.
Wrong.
- Modifier problem: "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta", NOT "it".
- it took X 36 years to create Y (an army) more than 2000 years THAT would....... <== awkward.
- Misplace modifier "that".
D. more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife.
Wrong.
- Modifier problem: "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta", NOT 700,000 artisans.
E. more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warrios that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife.
Wrong.
- Modifier problem: "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta", NOT "more than 36 years"
Hope it's clear.
A. the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
Correct.
- The main subject is "the army of terra-cotta warriors" which is collective noun ==> singular.
- You do not need to repeat pronoun "it" after complete because it creates redundant error (X took 700,000 artisans more than 36 year to complete X) <== redundant.
- Other options commit to Modifier problem. Please see the beginning of the sentence. "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta".
B. Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terra-cotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it.
Wrong.
- Modifier problem: "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta", NOT "Qin Shi Huang"
- "it" at the end is redundant. X (an army) that was created by Y who took more than 36 years to complete X <== "X" is not necessary.
C. it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife.
Wrong.
- Modifier problem: "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta", NOT "it".
- it took X 36 years to create Y (an army) more than 2000 years THAT would....... <== awkward.
- Misplace modifier "that".
D. more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife.
Wrong.
- Modifier problem: "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta", NOT 700,000 artisans.
E. more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warrios that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife.
Wrong.
- Modifier problem: "Rivaling the pyramids.." what rivals the pyramids ==> Should be "the army of terra-cotta", NOT "more than 36 years"
Hope it's clear.
