The Roman Empire expanded to most of southern Europe and the

The Roman Empire expanded to most of southern Europe and the Mediterranean region by the beginning of the first century C.E., bringing the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian.

A.the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance
'from which were derived Romance' modifies it ( roman empire) ; incorrect

B.the Latin language with it, and from which deriving the Romance
Not parallel ; incorrect
C.with it the Latin language, from which derive the Romance
Correct
D.with it the Latin language, from which derives Romance
SV error ; Incorrect
E.with it the Latin language, and deriving from it the Romance
meaning issue ; Incorrect

This sentence uses a relative clause construction with inversion, starting with "from which was derived..." The relative pronoun "which" refers back to the nearest logical antecedent. In answers A and B, this is the word "it", which refers to "The Roman Empire". Since these sentences incorrectly suggest that the Romance languages were derived from the Roman Empire, they can be eliminated. Answer E uses the same pronoun "it" in two consecutive clauses. In both cases, it refers to the same antecedent "The Roman Empire". This creates the same illogical relationship seen in answers A and B. Answers C and D correctly refer the relative pronoun "which" back to "the Latin Language", but only correct answer C uses the proper plural form of the verb "derive" to match its plural subject "the Romance languages".

VERITAS OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

This sentence uses a relative clause construction with inversion, starting with "from which was derived..." The relative pronoun "which" refers back to the nearest logical antecedent. In answers A and B, this is the word "it", which refers to "The Roman Empire". Since these sentences incorrectly suggest that the Romance languages were derived from the Roman Empire, they can be eliminated. Answer E uses the same pronoun "it" in two consecutive clauses. In both cases, it refers to the same antecedent "The Roman Empire". This creates the same illogical relationship seen in answers A and B. Answers C and D correctly refer the relative pronoun "which" back to "the Latin Language", but only correct answer C uses the proper plural form of the verb "derive" to match its plural subject "the Romance languages".

The Roman Empire expanded to most of southern Europe and the Mediterranean region by the beginning of the first century C.E., bringing the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian.

(A) the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance
From which refers to it which is incorrect.

(B) the Latin language with it, and from which deriving the Romance
From which refers to it which is incorrect.
Roman languages deriving from is incorrect.

(C) with it the Latin language, from which derive the Romance

From which refers to Latin Languages - correct.
Roman languages derive from Latin Language is correct.
(D) with it the Latin language, from which derives Romance
From which refers to Latin Languages - correct.
Roman languages derives from Latin Language is incorrect


(E) with it the Latin language, and deriving from it the Romance
Bringing and deriving is incorrect.
Answer is C

OE:

Correct Answer: C

This sentence uses a relative clause construction with inversion, starting with "from which was derived..." The relative pronoun "which" refers back to the nearest logical antecedent. In answers A and B, this is the word "it", which refers to "The Roman Empire". Since these sentences incorrectly suggest that the Romance languages were derived from the Roman Empire, they can be eliminated. Answer E uses the same pronoun "it" in two consecutive clauses. In both cases, it refers to the same antecedent "The Roman Empire". This creates the same illogical relationship seen in answers A and B. Answers C and D correctly refer the relative pronoun "which" back to "the Latin Language", but only correct answer C uses the proper plural form of the verb "derive" to match its plural subject "the Romance languages".

egmat GMATNinja

Most of discussion here are about reference to pronoun "which" and based on same option C looks correct.
But would you pls elaborate how come present tense in option C is correct ?

"Derive" is some event which happened in past only. So ideally shouldn't the option statement be in past tense.
And as part of pronoun reference rule we know that pronoun can refer to far away nouns in few scenarios. So in this case Option A also looks good to me.

Pls suggest what I am missing out here.

VeritasKarishma Am I right in thinking that derive does not have human as subject. I find the options C, D and E in active form and thus, preferred the passive phrase here as language gets derived from some other language but it does not derive from another language. Please correct me here.

The verb "derive" means to receive/obtain. So A derives from B does not need A to be a person.

For example,
Here is a list of English words derived from other languages: ...

Hence this is correct:
Romance languages derive from Latin.

The Roman Empire expanded to most of southern Europe and the Mediterranean region by the beginning of the first century C.E., bringing the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian.

(A) the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance

-- 'which' refers to the Roman Empire, which makes no sense. Out.

(B) the Latin language with it, and from which deriving the Romance

-- 'which' refers to the Roman Empire, which makes no sense. Out.

(C) with it the Latin language, from which derive the Romance

Looks good. Keep.

(D) with it the Latin language, from which derives Romance

-- SV agreement error. 'derives' is singular and doesn't match up with plural 'languages'.

(E) with it the Latin language, and deriving from it the Romance

-- 'it' is ambiguous here. Out.

Answer is C.

This is an “inverted sentence” -> verb comes before the subject

(C) with it the Latin language, from which derive the Romance

The romance languages derive from latin language

Ans C

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