The handshake, long used as a means of conducting business, is believe

Question

The handshake, long used as a means of conducting business, is believed to date to ancient times,  where it was a means of showing strangers  that the extended hand held no weapon.

A- Where it was a means of showing strangers
B- Having been a means to show strangers
C- Being a means to showing strangers
D- Where it meant of showing strangers
E- Used as a means to show strangers

CounterSniper · Accepted Answer

is E a modifier ?

Imo-

E looks like a modifier for  the handshake  ,but a modifier cannot be this far especially when we have already used the verb   is  .
Therefore ,
if E is a modifier then it is incorrectly modifying times because times cannot be used as a means to show strangers
if E is not a modifier then it is missing the subject.

A rectifies the error of the missing subject .

Thus 
A

shiva007 · Answer

should we eliminate options containing "being" and "having" directly?
How to distinguish a "verb-ed" as "modifier" and "Verb".
Here, in option E, "Used" is a verb or a verb-ed modifier ?

dimmak · Answer

A- Where  it was a means  of showing strangers
B-  Having been  a means to show strangers
C-  Being  a means  to showing  strangers
D- Where it  meant  of showing strangers
E-  Used as a means to show strangers

shiva007 · Answer

in option E, "Used" is a modifier, right?
Can you explain why option B is incorrect? as "having been" means something which was in past and isnt anymore.

correct me if i'm wrong.

TIA

dimmak · Answer

Sorry, check again the answer, I have edited it with option E, that should be the correct ans . It is true that as you refer to a period of time is more apropiate to use "when" instead of "where", in E the ans is more direct and avoid the use of pronouns.

shiva007 · Answer

How is “where” used for “ancient times” better than “when” ? In option -A

Can you explain a bit on that?

Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

CounterSniper · Answer

I guess when is used in case of time reference and where is used in case of physical reference , but is it a thumb rule ?
I am no expert , but I would not go ahead and omit an answer choice only because of this rule.
Imo E has a bigger issue than A .

If experts can pitch in, it will be really helpful.

shreyasawhney · Answer

Can you please help explain this question?
Is 'where' a correct modifier for 'ancient times'?

nrisbood · Answer

I agree where deterred me to choose E. I think it should be when. Ancient times is not a place

arun6765 · Answer

Not an expert but let me keep my views on this one.

Replacing E in the original sentence.
The handshake, long used as a means of conducting business, is believed to date to ancient times, Used as a means to show stranger s that the extended hand held no weapon
 Here Used as a mean to show stranger illogically modifies ancient times instead of handshake(verb-ed modifier) .

Although A is not the perfect choice but it is best of the lot.

Hope it helps.

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

None of the choices are correct, nor would C be correct with "to show." We've already seen the problem with "where," but most of the replacement choices seem to modify "times" instead of "the handshake." If I were forced to pick an answer from this lot, I'd actually go with B, since it's the easiest to imagine as an adverbial modifier applied to the whole preceding clause, but I don't think this would fly on the GMAT.

PhantomDeath · Answer

'B' is the correct answer (or, at least, the least terrible). The OA should change to reflect that. 'where' can never be used as a way to solely indicate a period of time.

dprocrastinator · Answer

Thanks DimitryFarber, this was really very helpful.

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

Glad I could help! I definitely wouldn't try to learn from this problem, especially since it is describing the ancient pre-2020 world, in which people shook hands!

This barbaric exchange of pathogens has long since fallen by the wayside.

sk3rdi · Answer

I went with B but that didn't sound too convincing either. The rule i remember from the Manhattan SC says the adverb where must be used to modify a place... someone help clarify this please.

Meet95 · Answer

there are ,two idiom a means to and a means of
here a means of goes well also where is use to denote the time
so ans A is correct

The handshake, long used as a means of conducting business, is believe

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The handshake, long used as a means of conducting business, is believe

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