Stymieing the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army

Complicated wording, but in fact a rather easy question.

First split: not only X, but also Y
A, B and C out

Between D and E
D. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders. the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing
Issues
- Stymieing the Armada's plans is modifying the reason - Wrong
- gale winds is not parallel with the sacrificing.
Action noun || complex gerund - OK
Simple noun || complex gerund - Not OK

D Out


E. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders. the defeat of the Spanish Armada was due not only to gale winds that favored the British but also to the sacrifice - Correct

Official Explanation

The original sentence begins with an opening modifier: Stymieing the Armada’s plans… Flanders. The subject following the modifier should be whatever stymied the Armada’s plans, but the reason did not stymie its plans. Rather, the defeat of the Armada prevented it from later meeting up with the Duke of Parma’s army.

(A) The opening modifier incorrectly modifies the reason. It is also redundant to write the reason for X was due to Y. Only one of the two (reason or due to) is needed.

(B) The X and Y elements in the idiom not only X but also Y must be parallel, but due to gale winds is not parallel to the sacrifice. Either due to must be placed before not only (due to not only gale winds but also the sacrifice) or it must be repeated for both elements (not only due to gale winds but also due to the sacrifice).

(C) The X and Y elements in the idiom not only X but also Y must be parallel, but due to gale winds is not parallel to the sacrificing. Either due to must be placed before not only (due to not only gale winds but also the sacrificing) or it must be repeated for both elements (not only due to gale winds but also due to the sacrificing).

(D) The opening modifier incorrectly modifies the reason.

(E) Correct. The opening modifier correctly modifies the defeat. The X and Y elements in due not only to gale winds but also to the sacrifice are parallel.

mikemcgarry GMATNinja daagh sayantanc2k

I remember reading that GMAT would never have a split infinitive in the correct answer as it is a controversial subject but it seems like that is the case here. I eliminated A, B & C because of incorrect parallelism between not only and but also. I knocked out E because of the split infinitive and chose D.

Looking back, I understand why D would otherwise be wrong because "Stymeing" should be modifying the defeat, and not the reason. But I would like to confirm if this could be a possible situation on the actual Exam?

Thanks!
Anudeep

Responding to a pm:

Options (A) and (D) have modifier errors.
"Stymieing the Armada’s plans ..." - what stymied the Armada's plan? The "defeat" did, not "the reason" for defeat.

Options (B) and (C) have parallelism errors.
"not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrifice"
The structure is not only A but also B in which A and B must be parallel. But the structure is (B) and (C) is "not only due to A but also B" which is incorrect. It should be either "due to not only A but also B" or "not only due to A but also due to B"

(E) corrects all these problems.

For the understanding of 'which ... ' modifier in options B and C. What does it refer to - defeat? But which cannot refer to an action, right? Closest noun?

Hi, Can 'which ....' modifier logically refer to the preceding clause?
For the understanding of 'which ... ' modifier in options B and C. What does it refer to - defeat? But 'which' cannot refer to an action, right? Is defeat a noun here?

"defeat" is a noun here, but I feel in B and C, "which" is referring to "Spanish Armada". That's a big reason why these options are wrong.

As PavaniRaghunath pointed out, defeat is indeed a noun here.

Correct answer- E)
A) Stymieing the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing- Modifier error

B)The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrifice- Parallelisms error

C)The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing- Parallelisms error

D)Stymieing the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing-Modifier error

E)Stymieing the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, the defeat of the Spanish Armada was due not only to gale winds that favored the British but also to the sacrifice-Correct

Fairly easy if you cut the fluff.

(A) Stymieing the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing -- "the reason" is not "stymieing the armada's plans..". Modifier placement issue. Eliminate.

(B) The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrifice -- "which" is incorrectly modifying "spanish armada" when we need to modify "the defeat"

(C) The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing -- same as B.

(D) Stymieing the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing -- same as A.

(E) Stymieing the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, the defeat of the Spanish Armada was due not only to gale winds that favored the British but also to the sacrifice -- Correct.

AjiteshArun

Can "The Reason" or "Reason" be followed by a noun, or it should always be followed by a clause?
Kindly help.

Hi rocky620,

I don't think reason can be directly followed by only a noun, but we can use a noun after reason for, reason behind, and even reason of. We often see a subject-verb pair after reason because the that after reason is understood.

1. ... the reason (that) + {subject} + {verb}

Reason why and reason being are also possible, but the GMAT would probably not prefer options with those constructions. Then there's reason to, which is followed by the plain form of the verb.

Can you please confirm if "which" in "Options B and C" is modifying "the defeat" or " the Spanish Armada".

Stymieing the Armada’s plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma’s army off the coast of Flanders, -- this opening modifer modifies the defeat or the reason ? I think it should modify the reason.

Regards,
Arup