Bunuel wrote:
12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition with Lots of FunAlthough German Johannes Gutenberg, who developed the printing press and produced the Gutenberg Bible, later introduced it to Europe, movable type printing was first invented in China, by Bi Sheng.(A) Although German Johannes Gutenberg, who developed the printing press and produced the Gutenberg Bible, later introduced it to Europe, movable type printing was first invented in China, by Bi Sheng.
(B) While Bi Sheng was the first to invent movable type printing, in China, German Johannes Gutenberg later introduced it to Europe with his development of the printing press, using it to produce the Gutenberg Bible.
(C) While Bi Sheng was the first to invent movable type printing, in China, German Johannes Gutenberg later introduced it to Europe, developing the printing press and using it to produce the Gutenberg Bible.
(D) Used to produce the Gutenberg Bible, the printing press was developed by German Johannes Gutenberg; although this introduced movable type printing to Europe, Bi Sheng was the first to invent it, in China.
(E) Used to produce the Gutenberg Bible, the printing press was developed by German Johannes Gutenberg, although this introduced movable type printing to Europe, Bi Sheng was the first to invent it, in China.
Manhattan Prep Official ExplanationFirst Glance: Differences in the answer choices provide clues about what a problem might be testing. Before reading the sentence, glance at the beginning of the underline and down the beginning (just the beginning!) of the five answer choices to look for one early clue as to what this sentence is testing.
The first three answer choices begin with the words
Although and
While, signaling a contrast in meaning; pay attention to Meaning while reading the sentence. Since the entire sentence is underlined, Structure may be tested in this problem.
Issues: (1) Modifiers
Choices (B) and (C), employ
comma –ing structures (
, using it to produce the Gutenberg Bible; , developing … and using), which are used to describe the action in the related independent clause. But the action of
Gutenberg … introduc(ing the printing press) to Europe was not used to produce
the Gutenberg Bible. Rather, the printing press (or movable type printing) would have been used to produce (print) a book. Eliminate choices (B) and (C).
Additionally, in choices (B) and (C), the
in China modifier is set off by commas and not explicitly attached to either the text before or the text after. It could illogically be read to imply that Johannes Gutenberg
introduced it to Europe in China.
(2) Pronouns
In choices (D) and (E), the pronoun this has no sensible noun that could be the antecedent. The noun
printing press cannot introduce movable type printing. The development of the printing press introduced movable type printing to Europe, but “development” does not exist as a noun in these choices. Eliminate choices (D) and (E).
Choices (B) and (C) use the pronoun it twice to refer to two different nouns. The first instance,
introduced it, logically refers to
movable type printing. The second instance,
using it, logically refers to
printing press. It is possible to use the same pronoun twice in a sentence to refer to two different nouns, but the sentence needs to be written very clearly—ideally, with each noun-pronoun pairing quite close to each other and quite far from the other noun-pronoun pairing. Be suspicious of choices (B) and (C) for this reason—if you have to guess or aren’t sure between one of these options and another choice, lean towards the other choice.
(3) Sentence Structure
In choice (E), there are two independent clauses joined only by a comma:
The printing press was developed and
Bi Sheng was the first. Eliminate choice (E) because it is a run-on sentence.
The Correct Answer: Answer (A) correctly employs a
comma-who developed … and produced modifier, clearly describing Johannes Gutenberg. Although the pronoun
it may at first appear questionable, all of the answer choices include at least one instance of this pronoun, and therefore choice (A) cannot be eliminated for this issue. While you might have been tempted to cross off choice (A) because the opening modifier (
Although German Johannes Gutenberg … later introduced it to Europe) is very long, this opening modifier does clearly relate to
movable type printing and is therefore correctly structured.