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Updated on: 01 Jun 2019, 04:24
Originally posted by solidcolor on 31 Aug 2007, 23:33.
Last edited by Bunuel on 01 Jun 2019, 04:24, edited 6 times in total.
Last edited by Bunuel on 01 Jun 2019, 04:24, edited 6 times in total.
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C
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
66% (01:22) correct
34%
(01:48)
wrong
based on 9478
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
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 them.
A. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them
B. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
C. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
D. 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete
E. to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years
A. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them
B. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
C. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
D. 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete
E. to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years
Moderator Note: This topic is found in earlier versions of OG, such as OG 12. Since then, GMAC has altered this question slightly over the years. The version in OG 2018 is HERE
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21 May 2013, 03:15
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This thread seems to have originated from GMAT Prep and then adopted by OG. All the same, the original version seems to be
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 them.
But the OA is not A; The actual answer is C, per MGMAT
A. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them – The subject is the army, referring to a collection antiques. It is a collective noun and singular, as corroborated by the verb “is”. Let’s also not mistake “created” for a verb; it is just a past participle. The pronoun “ them”, an object pronoun, is a problem here; it is plural but earlier its referent was verbed by a singular; so, A is out.
B. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it – The subject is the army; but the pronoun “it” is redundant; It is good enough to say, that the army took more than 700,000 artisans to complete
C. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete --- the subject is again the army and the choice simply skirts the vexing pronoun issue, by altogether dropping it. This is the most concise choice.
D. 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete------ In this choice, the subject changes to 700,00 artisans and although the clause is perfect technically, still the second clause is not connected to the main theme and one is tempted to ask “to complete what?”
E. to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years --- them is a wrong pronoun.
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 them.
But the OA is not A; The actual answer is C, per MGMAT
A. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them – The subject is the army, referring to a collection antiques. It is a collective noun and singular, as corroborated by the verb “is”. Let’s also not mistake “created” for a verb; it is just a past participle. The pronoun “ them”, an object pronoun, is a problem here; it is plural but earlier its referent was verbed by a singular; so, A is out.
B. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it – The subject is the army; but the pronoun “it” is redundant; It is good enough to say, that the army took more than 700,000 artisans to complete
C. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete --- the subject is again the army and the choice simply skirts the vexing pronoun issue, by altogether dropping it. This is the most concise choice.
D. 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete------ In this choice, the subject changes to 700,00 artisans and although the clause is perfect technically, still the second clause is not connected to the main theme and one is tempted to ask “to complete what?”
E. to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years --- them is a wrong pronoun.
13 Jun 2010, 10:46
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Hey All,
I got asked by PM to answer this. Looks like everybody has gotten to the answer on their own, but I'll weigh in anyway (why not?).
Q> 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 them.
A. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them
PROBLEM: This is a parallel question, which we can tell from the conjunction "and". The subject is "the army of terra-cotta- warriors". The first verb is "is" (more than 2000...), and the second is "took" (700,000 artisans). If we remove the first item in the list, the sentence would read "The army...took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them." Obviously, we don't want the "them" part.
B. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
PROBLEM: "The army...took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it." Again, we don't want "it".
C. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
ANSWER: Looks good.
D. 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete
PROBLEM: We need the verb "took" after the "and", or the parallel goes all wrong.
E. to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years
PROBLEM: Definitely don't want an infinitive after the "and", because there's no other infinitive in the sentence.
Hope that helps!
-t
I got asked by PM to answer this. Looks like everybody has gotten to the answer on their own, but I'll weigh in anyway (why not?).
Q> 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 them.
A. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them
PROBLEM: This is a parallel question, which we can tell from the conjunction "and". The subject is "the army of terra-cotta- warriors". The first verb is "is" (more than 2000...), and the second is "took" (700,000 artisans). If we remove the first item in the list, the sentence would read "The army...took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them." Obviously, we don't want the "them" part.
B. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
PROBLEM: "The army...took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it." Again, we don't want "it".
C. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
ANSWER: Looks good.
D. 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete
PROBLEM: We need the verb "took" after the "and", or the parallel goes all wrong.
E. to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years
PROBLEM: Definitely don't want an infinitive after the "and", because there's no other infinitive in the sentence.
Hope that helps!
-t
