V08-10

Question

Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters;  accused of spying for Germany in the First World War, she was finally executed by a firing squad for treason in France.

A. Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters; 
B. Like many others acting as double agents and treading in dangerous waters, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, was 
C. Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters was 
D. As with many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treading in dangerous waters was 
E. As with many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters was

VikashAlex · Accepted Answer

This is one of the best question I have ever encountered, but a bit easy if you notice the error. 
This question test your usages of semi colon and the subject verb agreement.

Lets discus few things.  
1) when two independent clause are there i.e both clause independently contain their own subject and verb then both sentence has to be separated by semi-colon. Or comma preceding For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So   . If we use comma without FANBOYS between two independent clause then the sentence will be grammatically incorrect. Or simply use semi-colon between two independent clause.
2) Subject and verb should agree in number.

How to approch? 
 Read the Non-underlined portion: the clause 'she was finally.....' is an independent clause   started with a comma. As this independent clause is started with a comma without FANBOYS means the preceding clause can not be independent clause. The preceding clause has to be either dependent clause or modifier that modifying the independent clause ( she was finally....) or that modifying the subject (she).

Now reject the options that make the preceding clause independent (i.e has a verb and subject of its own)

Option B: : 'Like many others....' is modifier giving extra information about Mata Hari. ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' is also extra information about Mata Hari. Hence read the sentence without this extra information.   Mata Hari   was accused  of spying for Germany in the First World War ,   she   was finally executed  by a firing squad for treason in France.  Hence two independent clause is separated by just a comma without using FANBOYS. Hence this is grammatically incorrect.

Option C:  Has the same error. ' Like many others .....' , ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' ,and ' treaded in dangerous waters   ' are modifying Mata Hari. Now the sentence will read the same as option A. .   Mata Hari   was accused  of spying for Germany in the First World War ,   she   was finally executed  by a firing squad for treason in France.  Hence two independent clause is separated by just a comma without using FANBOYS. Hence this is grammatically incorrect.

Option D:  Has the same error. ' As with many others....' , ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' , ' treading in dangerous waters   ' are modifying Mata Hari. Now the sentence will read the same as option A. .   Mata Hari   was accused  of spying for Germany in the First World War ,   she   was finally executed  by a firing squad for treason in France.  Hence two independent clause is separated by just a comma without using FANBOYS. Hence this is grammatically incorrect.

Option E:  Has the same error. ' As with many others....' , ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' , ' treaded in dangerous waters   ' are modifying Mata Hari. Now the sentence will read the same as option A.   Mata Hari   was accused  of spying for Germany in the First World War ,   she   was finally executed  by a firing squad for treason in France.  Hence two independent clause is separated by just a comma without using FANBOYS. Hence this is grammatically incorrect.

Option A:  ' Like Many others...' and ' ' a Dutch seductive dancer ' are the extra information. Here ' treaded ' does not work as a modifier but rather as a main verb of this clause, whose subject is Mata Hari. Now read the sentence.    Mata Hari   treaded  in dangerous waters  ;  accused of spying for Germany in the First World War ,   she   was finally executed  by a firing squad for treason in France. . Here, ' accused of spying for Germany in the First World War' is acting as a verb-ed modifier that is modifying ' she '. And two independent clauses (1. Mata hari treaded.... 2. she was finally...) are separated by a semicolon.  Hence correct answer

Lets come to Like vs As:

1) 'Like' is never used in a clause that contain verb. But ' like ' can be used used in a sentence i.e that contains many modifiers and other clauses. Note: verb can not be used in with 'like' i.e ' Like has to be followed be some phrase or modifier. Example 1: 'Like he does' is wrong because 'like' can not be use in a same clause. Example 2: ' Like many others who do there work ' is correct. Because the clause ' who do there work' does not contain the work 'like'. Here ' like ' is clearly out of that clause. Moreover, her 'Like' is followed by a noun ( others).  Hence in all the options use of 'like' is correct.

2) 'As' is always be used in a clause if it is used in comparison context. Here in all the options 'as' is used in a comparison context, so needed verb. But there is a word  eclipse , which allows 'as' to be used without verb only if 'as' is followed by prepositional phrase. Here in option D and E 'As' is followed by prepositional phrase (with many others who acted as double agents), hence using 'as' without verb here is grammatically correct.  Eclipse means it uses the verb implicitly rather than explicitly.  . That means 'as' with prepositional phrase is mentioned with the verb but to shorten the sentence we use eclipse. For example: As in the last quarter, the company exceeded its revenue goals this quarter. This sentence means : As  it did  in the last quarter, the company exceeded its revenue goals this quarter.  Hence in all the options use of 'As is correct.

e-gmat explains all these things very clearly and logically.

I gave lots of efforts - writing so long and how to clearly write it - towards this question to clarify all doubts.

+1 kudos if it helped you.

souvik101990 · Answer

Official Solution:

Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters;  accused of spying for Germany in the First World War, she was finally executed by a firing squad for treason in France.

A. Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters; 
B. Like many others acting as double agents and treading in dangerous waters, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, was 
C. Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters was 
D. As with many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treading in dangerous waters was 
E. As with many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters was

A. The semi colon puts the structure in proper place; correct choice.
 
B. ‘Acting and treading’ give a feeling that the events were ongoing.
 
C. A run-on; no conjugation between ‘waters' and 'was’
 
D. 'As with' denotes as if Mata Hari was accused along with others
 
E. Same error as C

Answer: A

sagar2911 · Answer

I am not really sure about the OA here.
'Like' can only be followed by a Noun / Noun Phrase, but never a clause. Here, 'Like' is followed by 'many others who acted as double agents', which is a clause consisting of a noun & a verb.
Please correct me if i am wrong.

rukna · Answer

I did this question wrong because I was thinking on lines of Like vs As.

Now I see that A is correct because all other choices have two independent clause join by a comma. Is this theory correct ?

suyashtcs · Answer

can some one justify the use of "as" and "like" here?

roneileonel · Answer

Hi  sagar2911 ,

In the sentence, we have: Like noun + modifiers.

suyashtcs

"Like" works as comparison structure. The use of "as", however, doesn't follow any rule in this sentence, in my opinion.

rukna

I think that you are right. I missed the question because I didn't read totally the not underlined portion... The question is pretty simple if the modifier in the second clause is ignored.

" Like many others who acted as double agents, Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer, treaded in dangerous waters ;... she was finally executed by a firing squad for treason in France."

MaryLily · Answer

My question is simple: why not "treading" since the subject is the one that makes the action. 
... Mata Hari, a Dutch seductive dancer,  treading  in dangerous waters;

sayantanc2k · Answer

Option D is a run-on sentence:
Mata hari was spying, she was finally executed..... two independent clauses are separated by a comma.

Moreover, GMAT does not prefer placing two consecutive modifiers that refer to the same noun. In option D "a Dutch seductive dancer" and "treading in dangerous waters" are placed one after the other referring to Mata Hari.

dept · Answer

I think this is a  high-quality  question and I agree with explanation.

Sushmiu · Answer

I don't agree with the explanation. The word like must be followed only by a noun/pronoun and not a clause right? Please correct me if am wrong.

rishabhmishra · Answer

daagh  please sir explain this question I think C is correct as we need verb for mata hari and i agree 2 independent clause must be connected though semicolon but that semicolon must came after first world war and if i consider semicolon after dangerous water "accused of spying" lead to ask question who and it can't be independent please explain 
thanks in advance

daagh · Answer

rishab 
Let's strip the original text bare; there are two parts in effect. 
1(Like many others… modifier), Mat Hari ( the subject) treaded ( verb) in dangerous waters 
2. ( accused of spying… a modifier), She ( subject) was finally executed (verb). 
 
In other words, the original text is a compound sentence consisting of two independent parts, each with its subject and verb. 
 This is a copybook sentence. 
But the second sentence is a run-on ( was is the verb for Mata Hari, and yet again, you have another clause - she was executed - without conjunction to conjugate them. Therefore it is a comma splice. 
C is yet again fused sentence. Mata Hari, the subject has two verbs namely treaded and was finally executed without even a comma between them. - This is a fatal blunder.

Please note that the part accused of spying is a modifier of the second part; the first part ends with dangerous waters. That is what the original wished to convey. Changing the original intent is not appreciated unless it is against logic.

rishabhmishra · Answer

Thanks a lot  daagh  .Now i am clear with your explanation; You are always helpful.

Abhishek008 · Answer

I think this is a  high-quality  question and I agree with explanation.

BottomJee · Answer

I think this is a  high-quality  question and I agree with explanation.

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