Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth

Question

Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia, enduring several rejections before securing  approval and financing from Spain's King Ferdinand in 1492.

A) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia, enduring several rejections before securing

B)Christopher Columbus refused to accept the conventional wisdom of the earth being flat; he pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia and endured several rejections, finally securing

C) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom of the earth being flat, Christopher Columbus pressed tirelessly for royal support to sail westward to Asia and to endure several rejections; he finally secured

D) Christopher Columbus not only refused to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, he pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia, endured several rejections, and he finally secured

E) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus's effort was tireless in pressing for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia; he endured several rejections before the securing of

CrackverbalGMAT · Accepted Answer

This question is based on Modifiers and Construction.

In Option A,  the modifier “Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat” is placed next to its appropriate subject – Christopher Columbus. The modifier at the end of the sentence - enduring several rejections before securing approval and financing from Spain's King Ferdinand in 1492 – also modifies the same subject.  Therefore, A is the most appropriate option.

Option B contains  the awkward phrase  - the conventional wisdom of  the earth being flat . Even if it had been phrased as such –  the earth’s being …. – the phrase would be awkward and clumsy. In comparison to Option B, Option A is clearer. So, Option B can be eliminated.

The same awkward phrasing is repeated in Option C. Furthermore, the meaning is distorted in this option - Christopher Columbus  pressed tirelessly  for royal support  to sail  westward to Asia and  to endure  several rejections –  this phrasing conveys the meaning that Columbus pressed for royal support to sail and to endure rejections. Since Columbus is unlikely to have pressed for support to endure rejections,  Option C can also be eliminated.

Option D contains  the error of comma splice. It has two main clauses one after the other joined by a comma. It also contains the correlative conjunction ‘not only’, which is generally paired with the conjunction ‘but also’. The pair of conjunctions is incomplete in this option.  So, Option D can be eliminated.

Option E contains  an error of modifier. “Christopher Columbus's effort” would not refuse to accept the conventional wisdom that the Earth was flat.  So, Option E can also be eliminated.

Therefore, A is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

BDSunDevil · Answer

usually   introductory modifier  goes wrong with this sort of SC. Christopher Columbus is correctly placed after comma.

someone79 · Answer

C) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom of the earth being flat, Christopher Columbus pressed tirelessly for royal support to sail westward to Asia and to endure several rejections; he finally secured here the sentence seems to suggest the Columbus pressed tirelessly in order to endure several rejections. I doubt that he wanted to do so.

D) Christopher Columbus not only refused to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, he pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia, endured several rejections, and he finally secured unidiomatic. 'Not only' is present but missing 'but also': Not only A but also B E) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus's effort was tireless in pressing for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia; he endured several rejections before the securing of the sentence seems to suggest that effort was refusing the accept conventional wisdom. Christopher Columbus's can't act as antecedent due to being in possessive form(another peculiarity of GMAT) A and B are both correct grammatically. A is concise. Go with A

gmatpunjabi · Answer

I originally chose Answer B. What makes Choice A more Concise than B?

rajeevrks27 · Answer

@gmatpunjabi
choice b is wrong because
1) refusing to accept and pressing tirelessly was happening together showing simultaneity of action or a continuous action..so A is better than B
2) enduring several rejections(option A) is verb+ ing modifier or present participle which is modifying the action happening( i.e pressed tirelessly) and showing the result.
hope this helps.

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia, enduring several rejections before securing  approval and financing from Spain's King Ferdinand in 1492.

A)  Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia, enduring several rejections before securing

I could not say whether this option is correct or there is any minor flaw in it. So kept at bay.

B)Christopher Columbus refused to accept the conventional wisdom of the earth  being  flat; he pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia and  endured  several rejections, finally securing
 This is incorrect for 2 reasons
1. usage of being. Earth was flat is a theory which is not true for certain period. so Incorrect meaning.
2. He did not endure rejections resulting in approval. He endure them until he got approval.

C) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom of the earth  being  flat, Christopher Columbus pressed tirelessly for royal support to sail westward to Asia and  to endure  several rejections; he finally secured
 This is incorrect for 2 reasons
1. usage of being repeats here from option B. Earth was flat is a theory which is not true for certain period. so Incorrect meaning.
2. Columbus did not press for royal support to endure rejections. Meaning error.

D) Christopher Columbus  not only  refused to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, he pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia, endured several rejections, and he finally secured
 This is incorrect for 2 reasons
1. incorrect usage of idiom not only...but also.
2. pressing, enduring and securing are not consecutive events.

E) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus's effort was tireless in pressing for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia; he endured several rejections before the securing of
 It was Columbus not his effort who refused to accept wisdom.

dabaobao · Answer

A) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia, enduring several rejections before securing  - Correct

B)Christopher Columbus refused to accept the conventional wisdom of the earth being flat; he pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia and endured several rejections, finally securing  - Wrong: 1) Distorts meaning 2) "being" makes it passive.

C) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom of the earth being flat, Christopher Columbus pressed tirelessly for royal support to sail westward to Asia and to endure several rejections; he finally secured  - Wrong: 1) Distorts meaning 2) "being" makes it passive 3) Idiom: Correct idiom is "support for".

D) Christopher Columbus not only refused to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, he pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia, endured several rejections, and he finally secured  - Wrong: 1) "not only" is not followed by "but also". 2) Not parallel

E) Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus's effort was tireless in pressing for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia; he endured several rejections before the securing of  - Wrong: 1) Modifier issue 2) Use of complex gerund "the securing of" instead of preferred present participle "securing". (

Anshul1223333 · Answer

in B] What is wrong in saying 'earth being flat'

Also in the 2nd clause- 
''he pressed tirelessly for royal support for a westward voyage to Asia and endured several rejections, finally securing..... ''

can we say 'ing verbal i.e 'securing' is expressing the outcome of the actions done in previous line?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Anshul1223333 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option B is not exactly incorrect, rather the use of "being" is simply unnecessary, leading to awkwardness and redundancy; remember, “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.

To understand the use of "Being" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2w9FNmjwtw

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

In the construction  preposition + NOUN + __ing... , the "__ing..." part is just modifying the NOUN. Therefore, this kind of modifier is incorrect unless the intended significance in context is actually "prep + NOUN".

If, instead, the intention is to refer to the entire action of the NOUN doing the "__ing", a different kind of modifier will be needed instead.
 that +   is often a workable modifier of this type, but, remember, you should just check out the alternatives in the answer choices.

e.g.,
 I've never heard  of a person  biting a dog  —> INCORRECT
(it's not any 'person' that's unfamiliar to me; it's the whole idea that a human would bite a dog)

I've never heard  that a person has bitten a dog   —> Works.
 I've never heard  of an instance  in which a person has bitten a dog  —> Works, because the object of the preposition is now "an instance" which in turn is described by the entire following clause.

Please note that you cannot just automatically reject the original prepositional phrase construction here. If the intended modifier in context is just the prepositional phrase, then that construction can be just fine. 
e.g.,
 I took some photos  of a person  loitering near my car.  —> Works.
(I really did take photos  of a person .)

In choice B here, "of the earth being flat" is analogous to the first example, "of a person biting a dog". (The old 'conventional wisdom' isn't  of the earth ; it was the entire idea that the earth is flat.)

Therefore choice B does not work.

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

__ING modifiers adopt the same timeframe as the clause to which they're attached. Therefore, this type of modifier could only describe a  consequence or outcome  of the preceding clause if that consequence/outcome is  INSTANTANEOUS —so that it really does, in fact, occur in the same timeframe as the actions/events that caused it.

e.g.,  The lightbulb crashed into the ground, shattering immediately upon impact.  —> This sentence works, because "IMMEDIATELY" tells us that  shattering  happens at exactly the same time as  the lightbulb crashed into the ground .

Choice B does NOT work like this: Columbus secured royal approval and financing LATER, AFTER enduring multiple rejections. This "__ing" modifier is not in the same timeframe as the clause, so it's used incorrectly.

Anshul1223333 · Answer

Deeply impressed with your reasoning

Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that the earth

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