The overwhelming number of American prospectors in the Klondike Gold

Official Explanation:

The overwhelming number of American prospectors in the Klondike Gold Rush was precipitated by the Panic of 1896, which in turn had been precipitated by the Panic of 1893, precipitating itself three years earlier by the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

A. precipitating itself three years earlier
B. which itself had been precipitated three years earlier
C. itself being precipitated three years earlier
D. having been three years earlier precipitated itself
E. three years earlier itself having been precipitated

When answer choices are relatively short and have a lot of differences among them, it is important to consider the entire sentence, not just the underlined portion, to figure out what we really need to evaluate within the answer choices.

The main clause in the sentence is “The overwhelming number of American prospectors in the Klondike Gold Rush was precipitated by the Panic of 1896.” “Was precipitated” is passive voice, which is usually avoided, but this is in the non-underlined portion of the sentence, so the choice of passive voice must be for a reason. Passive voice is when the action is being done to the subject, versus the subject doing the action. In this sentence, it was important for us to see that what caused the action was the Panic of 1896, and there is a relative clause modifying the Panic of 1896. We learn that the Panic of 1896 had been precipitated by the Panic of 1893. The relative clause used the past perfect construction (had been precipitated) to indicate this occurred before the Panic of 1896 precipitated a large number of prospectors in the gold rush.

Our review of the non-underlined portion shows that we are looking at a sequence of events, with the most recent event listed first and then we are moving back in time. One event was caused by another which was caused by another, etc.

With that in mind, let’s go through our answer choices one by one.

Option A: precipitating itself three years earlier
An event cannot precipitate (or cause or lead to) itself. One event must cause another event. This cannot be the correct answer.

Option B: which itself had been precipitated three years earlier
This creates another relative clause, which makes the sentence parallel. It also uses the past perfect tense to show that the Sherman Silver Act led to the Panic of 1893. This sentence makes sense and uses the correct wording and parallel construction. This could be our answer.

Option C: itself being precipitated three years earlier
The use of an -ing word here is weaker than using a verb, and the construction is very awkward. This cannot be the best answer.

Option D: having been three years earlier precipitated itself
Why use a gerund (having) rather than a verb? It’s a weak construction. The placement of “three years earlier” makes it unclear what is being modified, and it is an awkward construction. This cannot be the best answer.

Option E: three years earlier itself having been precipitated
This placement makes it seem like “itself” happened three years earlier. That doesn’t make any sense. This also uses the gerund construction versus a verb in past perfect. This cannot be the best answer.

We have successfully eliminated four answer choices and are left with an answer that is parallel, uses strong construction, and makes sense. Option B is the best answer.

Well done Raxit85! You cracked the code on this one! I like that you focused on breaking down the overall meaning of the whole sentence, which is exactly what you should do if you struggle to find any easy splits!

Kudos to you!

Well done suchithra! You did a great job of looking at the non-underlined parts of the sentence for help! Hopefully the official explanation we posted this afternoon will answer your questions. If not, feel free to tag me at EMPOWERgmatVerbal or send a message, and I'll be glad to help you work through it!

Kudos to you!

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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