The uniformized set of characters, which some historians

Question

The uniformized set of characters, which some historians date  in the late Qing dynasty, was the key to the sustainability and prosperity of the Chinese culture over thousands of years.

A. The uniformized set of characters, which some historians date
B. The uniformized set of characters, which some historians have thought to occur
C. Uniformizing the set of characters, dated by some historians at
D. The uniformization of a set of characters, thought by some historians to have occured
E. The set of characters' uniformization, dated by some historians to have been

Please explain your answer.

pqhai · Accepted Answer

Be aware of preposition "  in  " in the non-underlined part.

The uniformized set of characters, which some historians date   in  the late Qing dynasty, was the key to the sustainability and prosperity of the Chinese culture over thousands of years.

(A) The uniformized set of characters, which some historians date
 Wrong.  " date in " is incorrect idiom. The correct one is "date at...."

(B) The uniformized set of characters, which some historians have thought to occur
 Wrong.  The "set of characters" cannot occur. ( logical problem )
 
(C) Uniformizing the set of characters, dated by some historians at
 Wrong.  Even though "date at" is correct idiom, C is still wrong because of "in" in the non-underlined ==> C will be: "dated by some historians  at in ...". Hence, C is wrong.

(D) The uniformization of a set of characters, thought by some historians to have occured
  Correct.

(E) The set of characters' uniformization, dated by some historians to have been
 Wrong.  Same problem as in A. " dated .....in " is wrong idiom.

Hope it helps.

GMATPill · Answer

The uniformized set of characters, which some historians date  in the late Qing dynasty, was the key to the sustainability and prosperity of the Chinese culture over thousands of years.

(A) The uniformized set of characters, which some historians date

(B) The uniformized set of characters, which some historians have thought to occur

(C) Uniformizing the set of characters, dated by some historians at

(D) The uniformization of a set of characters, thought by some historians to have occured

(E) The set of characters' uniformization, dated by some historians to have been

Original Source: Practice Pill Platform

abhijit_sen · Answer

It is the set of uniform characters that was the key to the sustainability and prosperity of the Chinese culture over thousands of years. So C, D, and E is gone.

Between A and B, I will go for B. Because "date in" does not go well.

greenoak · Answer

Hmm, I would pick D, though it’s the longest one and thus hardly correct

I think that ‘the key to the sustainability and prosperity’ refers not to the set of uniformised characters per se, but rather to the action of uniformization. According to this logic, A and B are wrong. In C, we have ‘dated at in the late Qing dynasty’ which I believe is awkward. In E, I don’t like ‘dated… to have been in’ Thus, D. What is OA?

sanjay_gmat · Answer

A - "date in" is the wrong usage

B - tells us that it's the characters that are thought to have occurred in the late Qing dynasty. This is awkward.

C- very awkward

D - grammatically correct and makes sense.

E - "dated by some historians to have been in" doesn't make sense.

D should be it.

stingraybullray · Answer

Thanks to all of you for answering the question.

The OA is  D . And here is the OE.
What is occuring? Historians are dating something. What are they dating? Not the uniformized set of characters itself, but the time when the characters became uniformized(the uniformization of the characters).

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I was actually looking buy the Manhattan Review SC Guide. But when I went to their web site I found that the SC Guide is available for free to download. I'm not really sure if it is the same as the one available for buying. Can someone confirm? Thanks and I appreciate it.

Transcendentalist · Answer

The uniformized set of characters, which some historians date  in the late Qing dynasty, was the key to the sustainability and prosperity of the Chinese culture over thousands of years.

(A) The uniformized set of characters, which some historians date

'Date in' is incorrect

(B) The uniformized set of characters, which some historians have thought to occur

The uniformized set of characters is not an occurence - Incorrect

(C) Uniformizing the set of characters, dated by some historians at

You cant date an action - Incorrect

(D) The uniformization of a set of characters, thought by some historians to have occured

Grammatically correct but the meaning goes for a toss IMO. Uniformizing "a"/some set of characters was key??? Keep anyways as the lesser of 5 evils

(E) The set of characters' uniformization, dated by some historians to have been

You cant date an event.. Incorrect

Ans D

GMATPill · Answer

Good analysis, guys.

Note that even if you did not know that the idiom "date in" is wrong -- you could have still arrived at the correct answer by examining MEANING.

We all know that the SC is trending towards more meaning-based questions. Not knowing an idiom will most likely not prevent you from getting an answer right. This is a good example.

Step 1) Cut the FLUFF

"The uniformized set of characters.....was the key to the sustainability..of Chinese culture.."

Does it make sense that a set of characters was the key to the sustainability of a culture?

Well, not really - the emphasis needs to be on the word UNIFORMIZED.

It is because these characters were UNIFORMIZED that led to the sustainability of Chinese culture.

The phrase "uniformized set of characters" doesn't really capture that. -- so that brings (A) and (B) into question.

Step 2) Examine (C), (D), and (E)

(C) sounds a little awkward - but we know for sure that it's wrong when we see "at in" towards the end as pqhai noted above.

Between (D) and (E) - (D) more clearly communicates the meaning and emphasis on the word uniformization by putting it up front.

(E)'s "the set of characters' uniformization" - is not preferred when compared to the simplicity in (D).

aslnlot · Answer

D is correct. Source GMATpill sentence correction.

animanga008 · Answer

I picked B but after looking through the other comments I realized that "which," was referring to the characters and not the uniformaty? of the characters.

daagh · Answer

This question reminds me of another similar question that was doing the rounds years ago. the-domesticated-camel-which-some-scholars-date-around-the-86176.html

The domesticated camel, which some scholars date around the twelfth century B.C., was the key to the development of the spice trade in the ancient world.
a. The domesticated camel, which some scholars date
b. The domesticated camel, which some scholars have thought to occur
c. Domesticating the camel, dated by some scholars at
d. The domestication of the camel, thought by some scholars to have occurred
e. The camel's domestication, dated by some scholars to have been

Now that the old question has been reincarnated in a new avatar, we can gain by spotting the wrong use of the concept ‘dated at’ and ‘dated in’. In the old question also, the answer is the same D as in the new version. The only difference is that the old version was given a sub- 600 difficulty level rating but now the rating seems to have improved to 700 levels.

paidlukkha · Answer

the moment you ask the below question, you have a clear entry point & an answer
 what - was the key to the sustainability and prosperity of the Chinese culture over thousands of years?

The uniformized set of characters  - process or output? this talks about output, we need process
 Uniformizing the set of characters  - dated back, process is complete - ing is continuous 
 The uniformization of a set of characters  - The uniformization of = The process of 
 The set of characters' uniformization  - set or output we need, gone

D

rohit8865 · Answer

hazelnut

if the option D would be written as "The uniformization of a set of characters, thought by some historians had occured" is correct one??
i think "uniformization" requires singular verb to be there...

Plz assist..

thanks

VerbalBot · Answer

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The uniformized set of characters, which some historians

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