The Maya built cities and ceremonial centers that for reasons still un

Question

The Maya built cities and ceremonial centers that for reasons still unknown they abandoned in the tenth century, and left  the jungle to cover them.

(A) The Maya built cities and ceremonial centers that for reasons still unknown they abandoned in the tenth century, and left 
(B) For reasons still unknown, in the tenth century the Maya abandoned the cities and ceremonial centers they had built, leaving 
(C) Still unknown are the reasons for which the Maya abandoned in the tenth century the cities and ceremonial centers they had built, and left 
(D) In the tenth century and for reasons still unknown, the Maya had abandoned the cities and ceremonial centers they built, and left 
(E) The cities and ceremonial centers the Maya built were abandoned for reasons still unknown in the tenth century, leaving

GmatPrime · Answer

Split 1:
'left' vs 'leaving': 'leaving' suggests that the covering up of the cities was a consequence of the first part- i.e. Mayans abandoning the cities. Sounds right. 'left', on the other hand, implies that Mayans 'left the jungle'--the event-- with the purpose to cover (since 'to+verb' infinitive form denotes purpose) the cities ('them' also seems ambiguous here- could refer to 'cities' or 'the Maya').
Option A, C, D are out.

Split 2:
Active vs passive voice: Option E uses the passive voice 'were abandoned' whereas option B uses the active- 'the Maya abandoned'. Option B also says -the reasons are still unknown in the tenth century- which changes the meaning of the original sentence. Additionally, 'had built'- the past perfect tense helps delineate the timeline of events and rightly so.

Option B over E.

rinkumaa4 · Answer

"For reasons still unknown"  
 Bunuel , Can you explain the bolded phage modify or refer

gvij2017 · Answer

Is "they" correct pronoun for "The Maya"?
I think The Maya is singular here.

Your help is appreciable.

AjiteshArun · Answer

It's correct.  The Maya  refers to the  people , and therefore we need a  they . Another example, this time with a verb:

The  Inca    were ... 
   The  Inca    was ...

Bombsante · Answer

The Maya built cities and ceremonial centers that for reasons still unknown they abandoned in the tenth century, and left  the jungle to cover them.

(A) The Maya built cities and ceremonial centers that for reasons still unknown they abandoned in the tenth century, and left  (The Maya built cities and ceremonial centers...and left the jungle. They didn't leave the jungle in fact they left it to the jungle to cover the cities etc. Illogical meaning. Incorrect) 
(B) For reasons still unknown, in the tenth century the Maya abandoned the cities and ceremonial centers they had built, leaving  (The only contention here could be use of  they , therefore quoting Manhattan SC Guide "The words majority, minority, and plurality are either singular or plural, depending on their context. If you want to indicate the many individual parts of the totality, use a plural verb. If you want to indicate the totality itself, then use a singular verb form". Here  The Maya  indicates people and people will always be plural as mentioned correctly by  AjiteshArun . Also leaving is correctly used to express that they left it to the jungle to cover the cities etc. Best choice)  
(C) Still unknown are the reasons for which the Maya abandoned in the tenth century the cities and ceremonial centers they had built, and left  (Same error as in option A) 
(D) In the tenth century and for reasons still unknown, the Maya had abandoned the cities and ceremonial centers they built, and left  (Same error as in option A) 
(E) The cities and ceremonial centers the Maya built were abandoned for reasons still unknown in the tenth century, leaving  (abandoned for reasons still unknown in the tenth century...incorrectly means that reasons were unknown in the tenth century).

Although IMO, there are a lot more errors in wrong answer choices, I have only mentioned those which I could quickly spot to eliminate the incorrect choices.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The Maya built cities and ceremonial centers that for reasons still un

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The Maya built cities and ceremonial centers that for reasons still un

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