The ancient Anasazi harvested such native desert vegetation as the pur

Question

The ancient Anasazi harvested such native desert vegetation as the purple-flowered bee plant,  what they now commonly call  wild spinach in northern Arizona and other parts of the southwestern United States.

(A) what they now commonly call

(B) a plant that they now commonly call

(C) now commonly called

(D) and is now commonly called

(E) which it is now commonly called

Guys, the usage of participle in this sentence makes me confused. For me, the participle "now commonly called" modifies "Anasazi" rather than "plant". What do you think?

VeritasPrepBrian · Accepted Answer

Great question here...I've always enjoyed teaching this one.

For those who liked E, keep in mind that "which" is a modifier that takes the place of "plant" - essentially "which" is used as a pronoun, so the word "it" is redundant...we're just piling on at that point. You wouldn't say "For Christmas I got a new bike, which it is red". You'd just say "I got a new bike, which is red..."

For A and B, I think it's important to note that "they" does properly replace "Anasazi" as a pronoun...there's nothing wrong with the pronoun itself. What IS wrong here is the logic. We're talking about the ANCIENT Anasazi...so it's illogical that they would "NOW" commonly call a plant something different. Ancient means that there isn't anything they're doing "now". A and B don't really have a pronoun error, but they're both guilty of a vicious logical error.

C is correct - it properly modifies "plant" with "now commonly called", and therefore is correct.

D, just for completeness' sake, illogically makes it sounds like "Anasazi" is now commonly called "Wild spinach" - the word "and" links the two verbs "harvested" and "is", binding them both to the same subject, Anasazi.

tarek99 · Answer

Why are you saying that the participle seems to modify "Anasazi"? because of the comma? first of all, commas have different usage. In this case, the comma is used to differentiate essential from a non-essential clause. The main purpose of this sentence is to say only that "The ancient Anasazi harvested such native desert vegetation as the purple-flowered bee plant." That's the main point of the sentence.

Also, I disagree that "they" can not refer to "Anasazi." Of course it can. Treat "The Anasazi" the same way you would treat "The French are....", etc. However, the reason I still think that referring to "Anasazi" is wrong is that the sentence says, "they NOW commonly call." How can "Anasazi" now call something when this race used to exist in the ancient time? So that eliminates answer choices A and B.

Option D suggests that "The Anasazi" is now commonly called "wild spinach." So that's illogical

Option E, "which" already refers to "purple-flowered bee plant", so there's no point to add another pronoun "it" since "which" is already a pronoun (or a relative pronoun to be exact) referring to the plant.

So answer C remains as our answer choice.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem: 
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the ancient Anasazi harvested such native desert vegetation as the purple-flowered bee plant, and this plant is now commonly called wild spinach in northern Arizona and other parts of the southwestern United States.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Pronouns + Grammatical Construction + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• Semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses; commas are used to link an independent clause with a dependent one; commas cannot be used to join two independent clauses.

A:  This answer choice suffers from pronoun ambiguity, as the pronoun "they" lacks a clear and logical referent. Further, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase "what they...call", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B:  This answer choice suffers from pronoun ambiguity, as the pronoun "they" lacks a clear and logical referent. Further, Option B uses the needlessly wordy phrase "a plant that...call", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

C:   Correct.  This answer choice avoids the pronoun error seen in Options A and B, as it uses no pronouns. Moreover, Option C avoids the subject-verb disagreement seen in Option D, as it uses the modifying phrase "now commonly called" rather than an active verb phrase ("is commonly called" in Option D). Further, Option C correctly modifies "the purple-flowered bee plant" with now commonly called wild spinach", conveying the intended meaning - that   the purple-flowered bee plant   is now called wild spinach. Additionally, Option C correctly uses a comma to join the independent clause "The ancient Anasazi harvested such native desert vegetation as the purple-flowered bee plant" to the dependent clause "now commonly called wild spinach in northern Arizona and other parts of the southwestern United States". Besides, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D:  This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun phrase "The ancient Anasazi" with the singular verb "is". Further, Option D alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "and is...called"; the construction of this phrase links the verbs "harvested" and "is...called" together in a list, illogically implying that   The ancient Anasazi   are now called wild spinach; the intended meaning is that   the purple-flowered bee plant   is now called wild spinach.

E:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the construction "comma + which" to join the independent clauses "The ancient Anasazi harvested such native desert vegetation as the purple-flowered bee plant" and "it is now commonly called wild spinach in northern Arizona and other parts of the southwestern United States"; remember, semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the use of punctuation on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~10 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk7lx0ndSeA

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

bigoyal · Answer

Here we should use passive voice, as the subject "they" is not someone specific or know. So A and B is out. D and E is also out since they are wordy and in E "which it is" sounds awkward.

C is correct. "now commonly called" is immediately placed after bee plant. Its modifying "bee plant" rather than "ancient Anasazi".

ugimba · Answer

A, and B are out for using 'they'

D -- is out for using 'and' .. you are not listing things so 'and' is wrong here.

E -- wrong for using 'which it' ..

so I arrived to C by POE.

IMO C.

PrakharGMAT · Answer

Hi Experts /  chetan2u

I would have correctly opted option C but then I thought the option C uses " NOW " and Verb-ed modifier "called".

Don't we need to use " Call " because the presence of word " Now " represents current situation.

Please assist what I am missing.

Thanks and Regards,

Prakhar

chetan2u · Answer

Hi Prakhar,

called is not a verb but a past participle here.....
A past participle not necessarily talks of past things..
It modifies the previous NOUN, here 'plant'.....

whenever you see a verb with -ing or -ed, especially after a COMMA, look whether it is verb or past participle....
For that check if the SUBJECT has a VERB, if it already has a verb, then WHAT is this VERB+ed or VERB+ing refering to..

PrakharGMAT · Answer

Hi  chetan2u ,

I agree that "called" is a past participle here. However, I would like to know the usage of "now". if we don;t use "now and just uses the sentence as "commonly called wild spinach" then also it will be correct.

But in this modifier we are using 2 word "Now"- Present tense
Called -> Past

chetan2u · Answer

Hi,

why can't now and called go together..
again CALLED is not showing PAST, it is a past participle and acts as an adjective..

Bombay is now called Mumbai... this is perfectly fine... now + called....

BillyZ · Answer

Well, we can't use "they" in this sentence because "they" doesn't refer to anyone in the sentence.
 
You will HEAR that in spoken English ("they say not to go to that part of town") but the GMAT will never do that.
 
You have to know who "they" are, so you can just use a simple modifier.
 
"The bee plant, now called ..."

You wouldn't want to use "and" in D, because you'd be saying "The Anasazi harvested plants and is now called wild spinach". That's obviously illogical and "which it is" in E is redundant, you wouldn't need "it", we know you're describing the bee plant.

Answer :  C

shabuzen102 · Answer

Hi  VeritasPrepBrian ,

For A and B, if we replace "they" with "people" would that be acceptable? When we use "they", is it absolutely necessary that it has to refer back to some previous subject? Can it be a general "they" as in "people"?
Something like "they say nothing lasts forever" ("we're only here today, love is now or never, take me to your heart, take me to your soul", michael learns to rock anyone??) (also it seems like my strategy of using lyrics to learn English doesn't work out well for GMAT)

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

I'm 100% on board with (B) as you proposed it, with "people" in place of "they." That corrects the logical error with "ancient Anasazi" now commonly calling something.

With (A) I think I'd be 100% on board with your switch ("they" --> "people") if you also change "what" to "which" (so that the modifier is "which people now commonly call..."). I don't think I've ever seen "what" used to introduce a relative modifier quite like what we'd be doing with the one word "they" --> "people" switch in (A), but then again good process-of-elimination would mean that if that's the only logical one left I guess you can do it, and if it's not then that may be your reason for skepticism.

And man I love using song lyrics to make the GMAT more fun and memorable...but lyrics do tend to butcher grammar at times so it's not always quite reliable for Sentence Correction.

HSogani · Answer

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Bunuel · Answer

Please check this post: https://gmatclub.com/forum/introducing- ... 31235.html You should satisfy certain requirements to move to the next level (min 25 kudos).

naveeng15 · Answer

Here we should use passive voice, as the subject "they" is not someone specific or know. So A and B is out. D and E is also out since they are wordy and in E "which it is" sounds awkward.

C is correct. "now commonly called" is immediately placed after bee plant. Its modifying "bee plant" rather than "ancient Anasazi".

JorgeCarmelo · Answer

Thank for sharing your thoughts.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The ancient Anasazi harvested such native desert vegetation as the pur

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