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555-605 (Medium)|   Modifiers|                  
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 03 Apr 2021, 00:19
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Virginie
Hello everyone,

Can a grammar expert help me understand why answer E is correct without a second comma after "the Incan highway" ? (as suggested above by shravyajaladi)

I found it odd without a second coma... For instance, if I say "the best airplane built in the XXth century, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was made from titanium" , would you not add a comma after blackbird ?

Many thanks in advance for your help
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Look at the sentence structure.
In E, the core sentence is "the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long"
Before that and after that we have some additional information.
We will never use a comma after HIGHWAY in the sentence 'the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long'.

The problems in the other answer choices are mostly about the sentence structure.
C and D do not contain a core sentence at all.
A is left incomplete after the WHICH
Problems in B are more subtle: One is that WHICH seems to refer to LENGTH rather than to HIGHWAY

Hope this clarifies your doubt. Please ask if it does not

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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 03 Apr 2021, 04:07
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Virginie
Hello everyone,

Can a grammar expert help me understand why answer E is correct without a second comma after "the Incan highway" ? (as suggested above by shravyajaladi)

I found it odd without a second coma... For instance, if I say "the best airplane built in the XXth century, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was made from titanium" , would you not add a comma after blackbird ?

Many thanks in advance for your help

Look at the sentence structure.
In E, the core sentence is "the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long"
Before that and after that we have some additional information.
We will never use a comma after HIGHWAY in the sentence 'the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long'.

The problems in the other answer choices are mostly about the sentence structure.
C and D do not contain a core sentence at all.
A is left incomplete after the WHICH
Problems in B are more subtle: One is that WHICH seems to refer to LENGTH rather than to HIGHWAY

Hope this clarifies your doubt. Please ask if it does not

Posted from my mobile device
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Hi vv65 and thanks for your help one more time :)

I do agree that the other sentences are wrong
and I do agree it would be a non-sense to add a comma in the sentence "the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long"

But here the sentence is in a different form, because of the words at the beginning :
"the greatest road system [at that time], the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long"

This seems odd to me, I feel like something is missing and I would rather have written something like
"the greatest road system [at that time], called the Incan highway, was over 2,500 miles long"
but maybe I am confused because of my native language

=> could you confirm we can use the response structure in proper english without adding any comma/word..?
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 03 Apr 2021, 16:18
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vv65
Virginie
Hello everyone,

Can a grammar expert help me understand why answer E is correct without a second comma after "the Incan highway" ? (as suggested above by shravyajaladi)

I found it odd without a second coma... For instance, if I say "the best airplane built in the XXth century, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was made from titanium" , would you not add a comma after blackbird ?

Many thanks in advance for your help

Look at the sentence structure.
In E, the core sentence is "the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long"
Before that and after that we have some additional information.
We will never use a comma after HIGHWAY in the sentence 'the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long'.

The problems in the other answer choices are mostly about the sentence structure.
C and D do not contain a core sentence at all.
A is left incomplete after the WHICH
Problems in B are more subtle: One is that WHICH seems to refer to LENGTH rather than to HIGHWAY

Hope this clarifies your doubt. Please ask if it does not

Posted from my mobile device

Hi vv65 and thanks for your help one more time :)

I do agree that the other sentences are wrong
and I do agree it would be a non-sense to add a comma in the sentence "the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long"

But here the sentence is in a different form, because of the words at the beginning :
"the greatest road system [at that time], the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long"

This seems odd to me, I feel like something is missing and I would rather have written something like
"the greatest road system [at that time], called the Incan highway, was over 2,500 miles long"
but maybe I am confused because of my native language

=> could you confirm we can use the response structure in proper english without adding any comma/word..?
Show more

In E, the subject of the sentence is 'The Inca Highway'
The phrase 'the greatest road system at that time' is a modifier that describes the Inca Highway.

There's nothing wrong with that!

'How you would have written it' isn't wrong either.
But it can be dangerous to be thinking of how you would have written something. Doing so can prevent you from evaluating the answer choice properly.
Mean to say, I hope you chose E despite your doubts. And it's good that you are clarifying your doubt.

Take this pair:
- The reigning Wimbledon champion, Simona Halep withdrew from the Miami Open because of a shoulder injury.
- The reigning Wimbledon champion, Simona Halep, withdrew from the Miami Open because of a shoulder injury.

The first of these is like answer E. The subject of the sentence is 'Simona Halep'.
The second is more like your version. The subject of the sentence is 'the reigning champion'.

These are the two core sentences, and both are correct:
- Simona Halep withdrew from the Miami Open.
- The reigning Wimbledon champion withdrew from the Miami Open.

Or if we take your example:
- The best airplane built in the XXth century, [called] the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was made from titanium.
- The best airplane built in the XXth century, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, was made from titanium.

In this case the two sentences are
- The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was made from titanium.
- The best airplane built in the XXth century was made from titanium.

Both of these are grammatical! An author could choose either, depending on what he wanted to emphasize.

BTW we do not need the word CALLED (in your example). I don't think it's wrong, but it just makes the sentence sound awkward.
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 04 Apr 2021, 01:09
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Thank you so much for this very clear explanation !
This is true I should not think about how to better write the sentence and rather pick the best one... the issue was that I was tempted to disregard it in my final choice
I will have to keep in mind that, even if I don't like how this structure sounds, I should consider it right :)
Thanks again and have a nice day !
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 01 Jun 2021, 11:19
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Hello thereisaFire,

Thank you for the Pm. :-)

I want to clarify one doubt I have in choice E.

Quote:
The verb-ing modifier "extending .....Chile" modifies the previous action/clause. Now, since we know that the Doer of the modifier and the Doer of the modified entity should be same.
Here, the subject or the doer of the modified action is "The Incan Highway" and I think it does not make sense to say that the highway did the action of extending.
Hence, as per this logic, E should have been wrong.

Please let me know where I am faltering.

Appreciate it
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Yes, it is true that the action presented by the comma + verb-ing modifier must logically connect with the subject of the modified action in modifying this action. This condition does stand in the correct answer choice of this question.

The comma + verb-ing modifier "extending... Chile" modifies the preceding clause "the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long" by presenting logical explanation of this clause. The highway itself extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile. So, the modifier action does connect logically with the subject (the Incan highway) of the modified action.

Let me know if you need further clarification on the same.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 26 Jul 2021, 03:33
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While I understand why option C is incorrect and in this case option E seems the most correct option, I am still confused by the arrangements of clauses in option E.

the main clause ' the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long' is between two commas, and I have read on this forum several times that the main clause can not be inserted between two commas.

Experts, please help resolve this query.

Thanks
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 30 Jul 2021, 06:37
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Green12345554
While I understand why option C is incorrect and in this case option E seems the most correct option, I am still confused by the arrangements of clauses in option E.

the main clause ' the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long' is between two commas, and I have read on this forum several times that the main clause can not be inserted between two commas.

Experts, please help resolve this query.

Thanks
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You have to be really careful about making up "rules" that may or may not hold true on every single GMAT SC question. There simply isn't a rule saying that the main clause can't be between two commas. (C) starts with a modifier, goes into the main clause, and then ends with another modifier. That is absolutely fine!

Much of the time, information between two commas contains non-essential modifying information. But that doesn't mean that the stuff between commas is always non-essential. If the sentence makes sense and doesn't contain any black-and-white grammar errors, then you should leave it in and seek lower-hanging fruit in the other options.

I hope that helps a bit!
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 11 Jan 2022, 05:49
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.

A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending “which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile” tells us more about the Incan Highway, but this sentence does not have a main verb.

B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, which had extended “had extended” implies that it does not extend that far anymore.

C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended “which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile” tells us more about the Incan Highway, but this sentence does not have a main verb.

D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended This sentence makes it seem like it was extended because it was over 2,500 miles in length.

E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending The clause beginning with“, extending” properly describes the Incan Highway.

- Nitha Jay
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 12 Jan 2022, 08:54
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"this road is extended to point B" is correct. "this road is extended from point a to point b" is incorrect. this is purely meaning problem. so, choice d is wrong.

we have to find out a meaning problem for a sc questions. after eliminating 2 or 3 choice with structure error, we have to find the meaning error. focus on meaning to find meaning errors . this is realy hard. sometime, we feel some choice is better than the other but dont know why the first is better because we can not analyse the meaning for a short time
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 01 Feb 2022, 03:47
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GMATNinja,

Based on your example, can we say that Verb-ed always have a doer whereas Verb-ing may or may not have a doer?

GMATNinja
Abhishekrao12
I have a couple of questions :

1) My question is why cant i consider the extended as a past participle that is modifying the Incan highway?
I initially thought that "over 2,500 miles ... and extended (past participle) " will act as a modifier modifying the Incan highway.

2) I do understand that if i consider extended as a past participle , then i will have a prepositional phrase "over 2,500 miles..." parallel to a past participle modifier. So i can eliminate this option for nonparallel structure. Is my understanding correct ?

GMATNinja
There is a subtle difference between these two options:

    1) "The Incan Highway, extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile, ..." - This implies that someone or something extended the highway. As described in this post, that isn't quite what we want here.
    2) "The Incan Highway, extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile, ..." - With "extending", there is no implication that someone or something extended the highway. Instead, the highway simply stretches out in distance.

Similarly, if we write, "The highway was extended...", we suggest that someone or something stretched out the highway, and that isn't the right meaning here.

And, yes, you could also argue that the parallelism is off here. But even if we get rid or the word "over" in choice (C) and make it, "... which was 2,500 miles in length and extended...", we'd still have the same issues described above.

I hope that helps a bit!
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 01 Feb 2022, 12:38
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Quote:
Based on your example, can we say that Verb-ed always have a doer whereas Verb-ing may or may not have a doer?
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Nah. I could write, "Tired after a long day of chasing squirrels, Tim collapsed on the sofa and ate his weight in Cheetos." Here, "tired" describes "Tim," but the -ed modifier doesn't really have a doer.

So, no universal rule to memorize here. There's no avoiding it. You're going to have use context and... think. :)

I hope that clears things up!
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 22 Jun 2022, 10:14
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.


(A) Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
(B) Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, which had extended
(C) Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended
(D) Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
(E) Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending


SC37620.01
Verbal Review 2020 NEW QUESTION
manhattan RonPurewal Sir i feel e is correct but i have a doubt, when ,ing modifier is used you said it must satisfy with the previous clause subject and ron sir said that previous subject is personally doing that thing, but in this option highway can't extend himself on its own. PLEASE REPLY!!!! need urgent help

Dear experts,
RonPurewal egmat GMATNinja GMATNinjatwo @empowergmat daagh mikemcgarry
I have the same doubt.
"Verb-ing + comma" plays 2 major roles - either it presents the result of previous clause or it presents the how aspect of the previous clause. However, in addition to this, the doer of the action needs to be the same.
While, I am thoroughly convinced that "extending ..." clearly describes the "Incan highway" I cannot convince myself about how can Incan highway be the doer of the action "extending .."
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I have the same doubt. Request experts to clarify.
Thanks in advance.
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 22 Jun 2022, 16:08
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Sravan95
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rishabhmishra1993

manhattan RonPurewal Sir i feel e is correct but i have a doubt, when ,ing modifier is used you said it must satisfy with the previous clause subject and ron sir said that previous subject is personally doing that thing, but in this option highway can't extend himself on its own. PLEASE REPLY!!!! need urgent help

Dear experts,
RonPurewal egmat GMATNinja GMATNinjatwo @empowergmat daagh mikemcgarry
I have the same doubt.
"Verb-ing + comma" plays 2 major roles - either it presents the result of previous clause or it presents the how aspect of the previous clause. However, in addition to this, the doer of the action needs to be the same.
While, I am thoroughly convinced that "extending ..." clearly describes the "Incan highway" I cannot convince myself about how can Incan highway be the doer of the action "extending .."

I have the same doubt. Request experts to clarify.
Thanks in advance.
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We attempted to address this question earlier in the thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-greatest ... l#p2515476.

Let us know if you have any follow-up questions!
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 07 Jul 2022, 07:02
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I have a question for this problem

In GMAT Prep the options are a little bit different :

The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.


A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending


Could any experts please elaborate on (B)?

(B) Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended

I'm not whether it is wrong just because of " , and" .

[The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus] is noun

was is a verb

extended can also be a verb parallel with was

Why is (B) wrong?
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 30 May 2023, 12:44
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Doesn't choice E place vital information between two commas? I'm struggling to differentiate between choices B & E
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 30 May 2023, 22:52
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cby21
Doesn't choice E place vital information between two commas? I'm struggling to differentiate between choices B & E
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Hi cby21,

That's not a pair of commas. The first comma is for the initial modifier (the greatest road system...), while the last comma is for the final modifier (extending...).

Quote:
The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.
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The element in the middle is the main subject-verb combination (the Incan highway was).
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 11 Jun 2023, 11:46
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.


(A) Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending 'and' suggests that we have parallelism here but the distance and 'extending' is not parallel. Also ", which," is wrong in my opnion
(B) Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, which had extended the length extended from location A to location B or the highway did?
(C) Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended okay at first glance, parallelism works. which -> refers to the highway. Lets keep. but wait! what is the verb in the sentence? the subject in the greatest road... but theres no verb here!
(D) Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended alarm! GMAT doesnt like 'being'. Is there anything else wrong here? is 'was' necessary here?
(E) Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending extending modifies the highway, Good! and acts as a verb to the whole sentence so no to repeat c's mistake - CORRECT
* Notice that in (E), the subject is actually the highway, which is great! it makes sense. The first clause of the sentence modifies the highway as well as the last part
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 12 Sep 2023, 03:55
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chile.

Option Elimination -

(A) Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending - "which" introduces a relative clause, but there is no verb here.
(B) Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, which had extended - the reference to "which" is ambiguous, and neither makes sense. "which" referring to "length" is wrong. Moreover, "had extended" means an action before another past action "was extended." Are we saying before it was the Incan highway, it was already extended? No. These actions are simultaneous. Wrong.
(C) Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended - No verb. Wrong.
(D) Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended - usage of "being" as a modifier is an issue because of a wrong meaning. Usage is ok if
1. used as a noun/noun phrase such as Being punctual is an essential trait in the business world/The philosophy course explores the nature of being (here the nature of being refers to the philosophical inquiry into existence and reality or
2. passive continuous verbs such as - The car is being repaired by the mechanics.

Moreover, In a passive construction, "the road system was extended" doer? Did someone hold it from two corners and just extend it? Is it a clay toy? No. Wrong.

(E) Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending - ING is adverbial and modifies the preceding clause "highway was over 2,500 miles long." Ok.
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The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of 08 Jun 2025, 01:12
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