The Easter Islanders were good builders and

Question

The Easter Islanders were good builders and  managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, doing it without   any power source other than their own muscles.

A. managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, doing it without

B. managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, did it without

C. managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, making them while not having

D. managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, making do without

E. 30 ton stone statues were erected , making them do without

SohGMAT2020 · Answer

Can someone please compare option A with option D. Thanks

Hatakekakashi · Answer

Are you asking because D is the OA?

SohGMAT2020 · Answer

Yes, D is the OA. While the use of « it » is problematic in A. I wanted to check some opinions about D.

Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

Hatakekakashi · Answer

Because of your query my answer will be biased because I will frame my reply to make sure that D looks like answer but do you have an OE?

poojapandav95 · Answer

A and B have pronoun antecedent error. ( usage of IT )
C is unnecessarily a wordy construction.
E has parallelism error ( passive construction )
D - The best choice

Foreheadson · Answer

making do? is this ok in grammar?

Posted from my mobile device

Hatakekakashi · Answer

make do
phrase of make
manage with the limited or inadequate means available.
"Dad would have to make do with an old car"

so yes

poojapandav95 · Answer

Foreheadson

Make do is a phrase which means managing with limited / inadequate means available.

svasan05 · Answer

The Easter Islanders were good builders and  managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, doing it without  any power source other than their own muscles.

A. managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, doing it without  "doing it" clearly refers to "erect", but is redundant - the verb "doing" does not provide any additional information except referring to another verb which is already specified. Eliminate.

B. managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, did it without  Same error as in (A). Eliminate.

C. managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, making them while not having  "while not having" is simply a wordy way of saying "without". Hold on to this for now - we will eliminate this option if there is a better one later.

D. managed to erect 30 ton stone statues, making do without  Correct answer - above errors are rectified and no new errors are introduced.

E. 30 ton stone statues were erected , making them do without  "making" refers back to "Easter Islanders", and the only possible antecedent for "them" is also the same noun. This sentence appears to imply that the Easter Islanders made themselves do something, which is incorrect. Eliminate.

Since option (D) is so much cleaner than option (C), we can eliminate option (C).

Hope this helps.

jabhatta2 · Answer

VeritasKarishma  - I was curious -- does the adverbial modifier have to modify BOTH the parallel elements or just the "Y element" in the parallel statement ?

For example in option A for this question :

Can I eliminate option A because the adverbial phrase "doing it without any power source other than their own muscles" is not modifying the X element  . The adverbial phrase seems to me to be only modifying the Y phrase of the previous sentence  The Easter Islanders managed to erect 30 ton statues ]

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

The Easter Islanders were good builders and

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The Easter Islanders were good builders and

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards