The state religion of ancient China, which came into existence at leas

A is wrong because the meaning of A is wrong
A says: The state religion of ancient China, which came into existence at least as far back as the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 220) and perhaps as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050 B.C. to 771 B.C.), allowed only emperors performing the ritual worship of heaven, perceiving them as special links between the earthly and celestial realms.-----------------> this means that "The state religion of ancient China" ALLOWED nothing other than this !! this can also mean that "The state religion of ancient China" never allowed people to live !!

Hi pqhai,
can we say that in A, performing the ritual workshop and perceiving is in present tense. These has to be in past tense.
If this allow X to Y doesn't come to our mind, what's the other way to eliminate A.
TIA

Hi 2013gmat.

IMO, A is also wrong because of "perceiving......" - Verb-ing modifier.

If you re-read A, it seems to convey the idea that The state religion of ancient China allowed only emperors to perform the ritual worship --> RESULT: they, emperors, were perceived as special links between the earthly and celestial realms. That logic is not the intended meaning. Emperors did not need to perform the ritual worship IN ORDER TO BE perceived as special links between the earthly and celestial realms.

Hope it helps.

performing and perceiving used here are actually called present participles. It is worthwhile to note that participles don't have tense of their own and they just derive their tense from the main verb of the sentence.

The world economy is facing challenging times.
– Present participle challenging in a sentence in present continuous tense.

In 2007, the world economy faced challenging times.
– Present participle challenging in a sentence in past tense.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses this concept of participles. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id, I can send you the corresponding section.

This is the key. In choice A, "performing" isn't a verb--it's a modifier. That means the the state religion allowed only emperors (using an uncommon definition of allow, "to let enter or stay"). But not just any emperors were allowed into the state religion--only those emperors performing the proper rites were allowed in! This is clearly not the intended meaning of the sentence, and therefore answer (A) must be wrong.

Hope this helps!

The state religion of ancient China, which came into existence at least as far back as the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 220) and perhaps as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050 B.C. to 771 B.C.), allowed only emperors performing the ritual worship of heaven, perceiving them as special links between the earthly and celestial realms.

For this particular problem you don't need to worry about the middle.

A. only emperors performing the ritual worship of heaven, perceiving them as
The sentence doesn't make any sense.

B. only emperors to perform the ritual worship of heaven, with the perception of them being
There are better word choices than "being". Contrary to popular GMAT belief, "being" is not always a deal breaker but in this case it is.

C. the ritual worship of heaven to be performed only by emperors, who were perceived as
Bingo.

D. the ritual worship of heaven, performed by emperors only, with the perception of them as
This sentence also makes no sense. What about the ritual worship of heaven?

E. the ritual worship of heaven as performed by emperors only, who were perceived to be
as performed is wrong. Does anyone also know if "perceived to be" is wrong to?

Here is my logic to eliminate all the other options excepting C

a) only emperors performing the ritual worship of heaven, perceiving them as

1. COMMA + VERB-ing (perceiving) modifies the clause before the COMMA which doesn't make sense. Also, the sentence illogically means "state religion" actually "perceived" something.
2. The use of "performing" as a modifier is also wrong. These modifiers are used in active sense, meaning an action done by the performer himself. Here, it almost means that the "emperors" were actually "performing the rituals", something that the sentence doesn't actual intend to say.

b) only emperors to perform the ritual worship of heaven, with the perception of them being
1. "PREP+NOUN+VERB-ing" is wrong in this case. First because the use of "being" as modifier is unnecessary. Second, the modifier "being" doesn't actually modify the noun "them" rather it tries to modify the action.
2. Adverbial modifier "with", which literally signifies the sense of possession, is also incorrect.

c) the ritual worship of heaven to be performed only by emperors, who were perceived as
- Correct

d) the ritual worship of heaven, performed by emperors only, with the perception of them as
1. Adverbial modifier "with", which literally signifies the sense of possession, is also incorrect.
2. "perception of them as " is unnecessarily wordy.
3. Also, it changes the meaning of the sentence

e) the ritual worship of heaven as performed by emperors only, who were perceived to be
1. "as performed by emperors only" - As followed by a clause is a construction used in comparisons. Completely illogical since it compares between "The state religion allowed the ritual worship..." with "<it was> performed by emperors"
2. "who" should be placed right after the "emperors"
3. the placement of "only" is also incorrect.

The state religion of ancient China, which came into existence at least as far back as the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 220) and perhaps as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050 B.C. to 771 B.C.), allowed only emperors performing the ritual worship of heaven, perceiving them as special links between the earthly and celestial realms.

Analysis:
The state religion of ancient China,
which came into existence at least as far back as the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 220) and perhaps as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050 B.C. to 771 B.C.),
allowed only emperors performing the ritual worship of heaven, perceiving them as special links between the earthly and celestial realms.

A. only emperors performing the ritual worship of heaven, perceiving them as
>> allowed only emperor changes the meaning.
B. only emperors to perform the ritual worship of heaven, with the perception of them being
>> Whats wrong with B. To me it sounds weird. Can someone help with B??
C. the ritual worship of heaven to be performed only by emperors, who were perceived as
D. the ritual worship of heaven, performed by emperors only, with the perception of them as
>>Sounds as if specific rituals were allowed.
E. the ritual worship of heaven as performed by emperors only, who were perceived to be

A. only emperors performing the ritual worship of heaven, perceiving them as (No verb for the sentence)
B. only emperors to perform the ritual worship of heaven, with the perception of them being (wrong usage of with )
C. the ritual worship of heaven to be performed only by emperors, who were perceived as (rectifies the verb error, who is correctly modifying emperor)
D. the ritual worship of heaven, performed by emperors only, with the perception of them as (verb missing)
E. the ritual worship of heaven as performed by emperors only, who were perceived to be (verb missing)

VeritasKarishma GMATNinja pqhai

I found this part "the ritual worship of heaven to be performed only by emperors,..." in option C passive.

Generally we reject passive construction in Gmat.
Could you please throw some more light on this ?

As discussed in this post, the passive voice isn't strictly wrong on the GMAT, so it’s rarely the deciding factor on official questions. The use of the passive voice in (C) might be a very small vote against (C), but it is not a good reason to automatically eliminate it.

We have much better reasons for eliminating the other four choices, so (C) is the best one!

Is it not obvious to think of the rituals to be the link rather than the emperor himself?

Megablaziken, not sure if the query still remains but no, it isnt obvious. Although, I agree that that is not illogical at all and makes perfect sense. But the there is just one "ritual" here and not "rituals" and the entity that acts as the link is plural in all the choices.

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