kukretipiyush and Chethan92 , sure.
Among other errors, the most solid error in Option D is lack of parallelism.
-- spread is a working verb in simple past tense
-- ruled is a past participle (a verbED)

• Option D is not parallel

The Mayan civilization spread over many states. . .[unlike]
the Aztecs civilization ruled [by one supreme leader]

spread is an active past tense verb.
-- What did Mayan civilization do? It spread over many states

ruled is a past participle (verbED), not a verb.
-- What did Aztec civilization actively do? Nothing. Aztec civilization WAS ruled . . . civilization is the object of the verb, not the doer of the action.
(Unlike Mayan civilization, Aztec civilization is not the subject of that clause)
-- So ruled by one supreme leader is a participle phrase (a verbED phrase) that modifies Aztec civilization.
-- Who ruled Aztec civilization? One supreme leader.

The past tense of TO RULE and the past participle of TO RULE are the same.

• How do we know or figure out that RULED is a past participle?
-- once we find what we think might be a verb parallel to "spread," in this case, "ruled," we ask,
did the subject do this action?

Did Aztec civilization itself rule?
No. The supreme leader ruled.
Aztec civilization [OBJECT of verb] was ruled BY one supreme leader [SUBJECT, doer of verb].

Stated differently, one supreme leader [SUBJECT] ruled Aztec civilization [OBJECT of verb].

Takeaway: If the subject civilization did not do the action ruled, then ruled is a past participle (a verbED), not a working verb.
Because ruled can be EITHER a past tense verb OR a past participle (a verbED), whatever precedes ruled must be
(1) the subject of the verb ruled (not true in this question) or
(2) a noun modified by participial (verbED) ruled. (Past participles modify the immediately preceding noun.) True in this question.

• Another way: Examine the passive voice in clauses
The moment we see a preposition that makes the clause passive (in this case, BY),
we should ask whether the subject (the doer) and the object (the done to) have been reversed.
(The direct object, the "done to," cannot actively VERB anything)
Who ruled in this case? One supreme leader.

• Learn to recognize past participles that are derived from shortened clauses

In this sentence, a clause has been reduced to a phrase
(a "reduced relative clause")
-- The original was: UNLIKE Aztec civilization THAT WAS RULED by one supreme leader
has been shortened to
-- The reduced version : UNLIKE Aztec civilization ruled by one supreme leader

We can reduce (shorten) clauses to phrases, especially when the clauses contain a relative pronoun and a TO BE verb.
Reduced clauses are very common on the GMAT.

To reduce a relative clause to a past participle phrase:
(1) Remove the relative pronoun (THAT)
(2) Remove the "to be" verb (WAS)
(3) Put the past participle (RULED) after the noun it modifies (CIVILIZATION)

Similar
Chimpanzees that are raised by human beings cannot be released into the wild.
-- Remove the THAT
-- Remove the ARE (the "to be" verb).
-- Place the verbED after chimpanzees, which the verbED modifies. Then we have:
Chimpanzees raised by human beings cannot be released into the wild.

Aztec civilization itself did not rule. Aztec civilization WAS ruled [by one supreme leader].
Aztec civilization [that was] ruled by ABC
and
Mayan civilization spread are not parallel.

• The modifier of "states"? Compare B to D
The technicalities of with-phrases that include "having" are not as clear as the utter lack of parallelism above.

We could, however, compare B to D.
For a moment, ignore whether the modifiers are grammatical.

B: ... states, each of which had its own sovereign ruler,
D: ... states with each having its own sovereign ruler,

Read alone or in context, it is hard to argue that D is better than B in terms of clear meaning and rhetorical effectiveness.

BTW, the which in of which refers to the thing that was just mentioned: states.

Phrases such as "each of which" often sound unfamiliar or weird to non-native speakers,
but the phrases are common.
"Each of which had" (Subject/Verb) is a lot more effective than "with each having" (Preposition/Subject/Participle(verbED))

some of which, many of which, each of which, none of whom, all of whom, a few of which . . .
these kinds of phrases are common in English and fairly frequent on the GMAT.

Hope that analysis helps.
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Can anyone explain why option d is wrong??

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generis sir, Can you help why D is wrong?

The Mayan civilization spread over many states with each having its own sovereign ruler, unlike the Aztecs civilization's ruling by one supreme leader.


A. The Mayan civilization spread over many states with each having its own sovereign ruler, unlike the Aztecs civilization's ruling

This option means that each of Mayan civilization has its own ruler which is incorrect since intended meaning is to say that each state had a ruler. Incorrect.

B. The Mayan civilization spread over many states, each of which had its own sovereign ruler, but the Aztecs civilization was ruled

The best out of all choices, correct. Contrast is clear & concise

C. Unlike the Mayan civilization which spread over many states with each having its own sovereign ruler, the ruling of Aztecs civilization was

Mayan civilization is compared with ruling of Aztecs, incorrect.

D. The Mayan civilization spread over many states with each having its own sovereign ruler, unlike the Aztecs civilization ruled

Mayan civilization spread is compared with Aztec civilization ruled, incorrect. By the way I also marked this choice! Silly!

E. The Mayan civilization's spreading over many states with each having its own sovereign ruler was unlike the Aztecs civilization which was ruled

Mayan civilization's spreading compared with Aztech civilization, incorrect.

Brilliant question!!

Option A, C, and E are gone straightaway (incorrect comparison.. E is weirdly incorrect)

It is between B and D..

spread clearly is a verb and clearly has to be parallel to a verb ie *was ruled*

In option D, spread(a verb as per the context of the sentence) is parallel to ruled( a verb-ed modifier) and that doesn’t make any sense. Verb cannot be parallel to a verb-ed modifier. Hence D is incorrect..

B is the answer..


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A compares Mayan civilization to Aztec civilization's ruling - INCORRECT
C compares Mayan civilization to the ruling of Aztec civilization - INCORRECT
E compares Mayan civilization's spreading (which seems weird) to Aztec civilization - INCORRECT

In B and D, comparison is made between Mayan civilization and Aztec civilization
B - each of which had its own sovereign ruler, - which refers to 'many states', use of 'had' makes sense - CORRECT
D- with each having its own sovereign ruler, - 'with each having' is INCORRECT usage

Hence, B is CORRECT

generis So can I conclude that in parallelism we can have an Active voice parallel a Passive voice BUT in comparisons we cannot have an Active voice compared to a Passive voice?

this is not official question, so, i give lower priority to the discussion of this problem.

the intended meaning is the contrast between the fact that M civilization spread over many states and the fact that A civilization is ruled by one leader. choice B show this contrast and is correct.

choice A, E, and C compare ruling with civilization. wrong comparison.
in choice D, 'states with each.." is wrong grammatically.
meaning in choice D is also wrong. meaning in D is
M civilization spread and A civilization which is ruled by one leader do not spread. the comparison is about difference between 2 nouns. the difference is that one noun spreads and other noun dont spread. 'like/unlike' is used to show that one noun do some action and other dont do that action. so, 'like' is not fit in this problem. the meaning la the contrast between 2 phenonmina.

EducationAisle

In option B I am little confused about why "spread" is used as a verb and not participle.

ParamjitDasGMAT

Can you throw some light on the errors of option D?

Thanks

Because Mayan civilization did the act of spreading.

It's like this:

In the 19th century, the British empire spread over continents.
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EducationAisle

In option D,
Spread is acting as a verb in the first part.
"ruled" is acting as a past-participle/ Verb-ed.
Hence the comparison is wrong.

Am I right?

Thanks

D creates bit of an ambiguity. Notice the structure of D:

.......its own sovereign ruler, unlike the Aztecs civilization...

So, this might seem to suggest that "sovereign ruler" and "Aztecs civilization" are being compared.
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EducationAisle

You mean to say that Aztecs civilization does not have its own sovereign ruler? and we need to compare Mayan with Aztec civilization. Hence, this ambiguous.

Am I right?

Basically D seems to compare "sovereign ruler" and "Aztecs civilization".

For example:

Peter would like to buy a car, like his brother.

This would not be a great construct, because this sentence seems to be comparing car with brother.

A better construct would be:

Like his brother, Peter would like to buy a car.

The above sentence is now correctly comparing his brother and Peter.
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Hi krndatta,

Aside from the comparison error, the fatal flaw in D comes in the second half when we don't have a comma before the participle "ruled" (the Aztec civilization ruled) ; This is incorrect grammatically -- there is only one Aztecs civilization, so we should have a non-essential modifier describing it.

Hope this helps.

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ParamjitDasGMAT,

How is there a full clause?
After "unlike", we have "AC ruled....".
Isn't "ruled" acting as Verb-ed/ Past Participle?
Hence, one more error in option D?

Please evaluate my reasoning.

You are right -- I had missed the 'by' earlier when I posted my response. I have updated my reasoning in my post.
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That even option B has same comparison- ruler with civilisation spread

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