The Mayans believed that Universe exists at both physical level and sp

Question

The Mayans believed that Universe exists at both physical level and spiritual level of being, and many individual Mayans claimed to have  direct contact with it by the way of  an ichana(dream) experience.

A. direct contact with it by the way of
B. contact with it directly with it
C. contact with the last directly through
D. direct contact with latter by means of
E. contact directly with the spiritual level due to

mahakmalik · Answer

I know A is wrong because of wrong Pronoun.
A) It refers to universe but when we read further options we realize that it should refer to spiritual world.
B)It just makes no sense(Even two year old will rule it out).
C)It should not use last because when we choose between two things from previous sentence ,we use latter and former.
D)It is perfecto!
E)It is wordy and Due to(I think) changes the meaning.

+1Kudo if you like

raj44 · Answer

how do you know "it" refers to spiritual and not physical? It can also refer to Physical in which the option could also have "former" instead of latter

Guilio · Answer

Fairly easy question. Not so much due to very few rules being tested, but 3 of 5 answers really don't make any sense or are essentially wordy.

Between A and D: it has no clear antecedent, D solves the problem nicely.

Best,
Jay

ArunpriyanJ · Answer

Experts, I am struggling to identify the errors in Choice 'E'. Request your help. Thanks, A

sayantanc2k · Answer

sananoor   ArunpriyanJ

Nice explanation.. just an extension to your explanation: an adjective is required to modify a noun; an adverb cannot modify a noun.

Here  contact  is a noun.Therefore to modify  contact  we need an adjective ( direct ); the adverb  directly  cannot modify the noun  contact .

KarishmaB · Answer

Responding to a pm:

Two problems with option (E):
1. "contact directly" is incorrect as pointed out by sayantanc2k above. 
2. "due to" is incorrect. "due to" means "because of". If Mayans claimed to have contact, it would be "by means of" an ichana experience, not because of an "ichana experience". The ichana experience is unlikely to be something on which they have no control.

chetan2u · Answer

Hi,
 you are absolutely correct with the explanation..

Not in context with this Q..
  I may differ on  "due to" means "because of".  ...
but i am sure you too would have meant taht these two can mean the same in a broader sense
I believe “due to” acts as adjectival prepositional phrases and “because of” acts as adverbial prepositional phrases...
so typically due to is preceded by 'to be', which may not be the case with 'because of'
so may not exactly mean the same..

KarishmaB · Answer

The two are used in different situations but they mean the same thing - they reflect a cause.

chetan2u · Answer

the two are neither interchangeable nor mean same thing..
DUE TO means Attributable to  
Its as per OG..
As I said, you can say that both mean the same in broader/casual manner, but they do not mean exactly same and that is why they are not interchangeable, and they are used in different situations..

bpdulog · Answer

Shouldn't it be due to  the  latter?

AkshdeepS · Answer

VeritasKarishma  : Can we ever use "contact directly" in correct sense or Is this construction always wrong?
We say many times " You can contact me directly or You can contact directly (or directly contact) to me. Are both these constructions wrong always.
If this is the case, then "You can contact direct with me" also seems awkward.

Please help.

KarishmaB · Answer

When contact is used as a verb, "contact directly" is correct. "directly" is an adverb that modifies the verb "contact"
e.g.
Please contact me directly.

On the other hand, here contact is used as a noun. So you need to use the adjective "direct". 
...they claimed to have direct contact ...
"claimed" is the verb. "contact" is a noun.

AjiteshArun · Answer

We don't want a  to  at the end.

You can directly contact  to  me.

AkshdeepS · Answer

Ohh..So true. This shows how good I am in SC

. Thanks for pointing out.

AkshdeepS · Answer

Thanks a lot Karishma.

mbaman20 · Answer

bpdulog  : I agree with you, choice D seemed logical except for the lack of "the" preceding "latter". Doesn't seem like an official GMAT question to me.

The Mayans believed that Universe exists at both physical level and sp

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The Mayans believed that Universe exists at both physical level and sp

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards