Unlike other Mayan cities, Cancun's commercial power

Question

Unlike other Mayan cities,   Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities  .

A. Cancun's commercial power throughout lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

B. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

C. the commercial power of Cancun throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

D. Cancun seemed to be using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which was a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, in becoming commercial power throughout the lowlands

E. Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands

anairamitch1804 · Accepted Answer

Unlike X, Y. So, A, B, and C are out because of wrong comparison.
Between D and E. E is correct because of reasons mentioned below :-

Point #1: In D, the major problem is with the use of “seemed to be using” – this implies that “fact X about Cancun seemed to be the case sometime in the past.” However, the objective of the sentence is to stand in the present and look back at the past. i.e. look back today and make an observation about how Cancun was in the past. The present perfect tense “seems to have used” does this best.
Point #2: does ‘which’ in D modify “foot of the highlands” or “the highlands”? We have official questions that have approved of both. So this is an ambiguous issue. Option E is therefore preferred because it simply gets rid of this ambiguity.
Point #3: there is a statement of purpose or intent here. Cancun did “X in order to become Y.” So, the infinitive form “to become” in E is better than the -ing form in D.
Point #4: Just read out options D and E – E is better in terms of concision.

bkk145 · Answer

This one is between D and E. These are the only options that correctly compare "Cancun" with "cities".

In D, "which" is incorrectly placed as it modifies "highlands", and it sounds unidiomatic. Consider these two sentences:

I used my psychic power in overcoming GMAT.
I used my psychic power to overcome GMAT.

The latter is idiomatic. Out of these two, I picked E.

PROFESSIONAL · Answer

This one is between D and E. But I feel the answer to the following is D.

The usage of the perfect tense (have) has no significance here , and can be eliminated.So I eliminated E.
Moreover, 'seem to be' is idiomatic .

Answer: D.

I feel the usage of 'which' clearly modifies the highlands..

Some one pls..clarify..

rpmodi · Answer

Between D and E , I eliminated D because "seemed to be using" + which  was  didn't seem quite right . here , author is suggesting higlands was a source ? I think if it said which is a source , it would have made more sense?

sondenso · Answer

I agree,  E

Can you explain your feeling more about this? I did not get the point!

rpmodi · Answer

Sorry for confusion, I meant usage of  was  didn't seem right .Usage of which is fine since it is directly referring to hilands.

Skywalker18 · Answer

Unlike other Mayan cities,   Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities  .

A. Cancun's commercial power throughout lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities - comparison issue - city vs power

B. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities- comparison issue - city vs power

C. the commercial power of Cancun throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities. - comparison issue - city vs power

D. Cancun seemed to be using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which was a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, in becoming commercial power throughout the lowlands
E. Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the[color=#ff0000] foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities,[/color] to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands

E. Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands - Correct

Answer E

HimanshuW11 · Answer

Unlike other Mayan cities,  Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

In the original sentence the Mayan cities are compared to “Cancun’s commercial power” which is an incorrect comparison. Mayan cities can be compared to Cancun. Hence A, B and C go out.
(A) Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of
the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

(B) Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at
the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

(C) the commercial power of Cancun throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic
position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

(D)  Cancun seemed to be using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which was a source of jade,
obsidian, and other valuable commodities, in becoming a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

Idiom: (Using X in becoming Y), this is idiomatically incorrect. 
 USE  has 2 idiomatically correct forms: 
1. USES X to Y.(Used in option E). 
2. USES X as Y.

Which modifies “foot of highlands” or “highlands” this is ambiguous.

The sentence makes it feel like it was the thing of past, while in the original sentence the author intends to talk about it in the present.

(E)  Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and
other valuable commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

Right Idiom: (USED X to become Y)
Right Tense Mood.
Ambiguity about which is resolved here. Where “a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities,” a noun phrase modifies the noun “foot of the highlands”

Tushrgupta · Answer

Still confused For....Is Cancun seems to "have" is correct? Since Cancun is singular.

Posted from my mobile device

lathikashyam · Answer

Unlike other Mayan cities,  Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.
 
A. Cancun's commercial power throughout lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities
B. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities
C. the commercial power of Cancun throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.
D. Cancun seemed to be using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which was a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, in becoming commercial power throughout the lowlands
E.  Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands

Solution:

The original sentence is comparing Cancun’s commercial power to other Mayan cities, which is the wrong comparison 
Therefore, rule out A, B & C 
Between D & E
D – ‘which’ seems to be modifying ‘highlands’, so which ‘was’ (plural: highlands) is not grammatical 
 E – to become a commercial power – idiomatic

mSKR · Answer

Is n't it ambiguous in E as it seems :
 strategic position at the foot of the highlands
 strategic position at a source of jade, 
 strategic position at obsidian, and 
 strategic position at other valuable commodities,
or 
 strategic position at the foot of the highlands
 strategic position at a source of jade, a source of obsidian, and a source of other valuable commodities,

But in D by using which, It becomes very clear. that source of XYZ refers to highlands

2. 
seems to have (E) vs seemed to be (D)
Here E refers as they already used it
But in D refers to : seemed to be (means not sure it was used )
So is not D better than E?

Please share your opinion on above 2 thoughts.  GMATNinja   IanStewart   GMATGuruNY

Thanks!

IanStewart · Answer

This split is not decisive in my view, but you can't parse E that way. By meaning alone ("obsidian" or "other valuable commodities" is not a "strategic position") that interpretation doesn't make sense, before even thinking about the parallelism issues. We have a list: "source of X, Y and Z" that must go together. Answer E is not ambiguous.

The sentence is describing something that appears to be true now, so "seems" is correct.

But the only difference I need to see here is the difference between "in becoming" and "to become". Those -ing constructions are almost always bad writing, and if there's a perfectly good answer choice that replaces one of them, that's going to be the right answer almost always.

dcummins · Answer

The beginning of this sentence opens with a comparison. The comparison is comparing mayan cities with each other, hence anything that illogically compares a mayan city to something that isn't a mayan city is incorrect at the outset:

A.  Cancun's commercial power  throughout lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

B.  Cancun's commercial power  throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

C.  the commercial power of Cancun  throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

Between D and E

In D the tenses are a bit confusing and the non-restrictive modifier can be a bit-off, although not entirely wrong.

In D, the message conveyed is that Cancun seemed to be using something that was a source of something in becoming a commercial power.

If something "was" a source of something it by definition no longer "is" a source of that something, so if Cancun is still "becoming" a commercial power then how can they rely on something that no longer exists to become that power?

The message to me wasn't clear.

With E, the message is very clear

IanStewart · Answer

I had the same thought too at first, but "was" is not a critical problem in D, because everything in D is in the past. So if, when Cancun was becoming a power, its location was a source of valuable commodities, but no longer is, then the verb tense is correct in D (it's easier to see that "was" is fine in D if you 'fix' D by replacing "in becoming" with "to become"). That's a plausible meaning, so we can't rule out D on that basis alone. Answer D has other problems though.

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Unlike other Mayan cities, Cancun's commercial power

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Unlike other Mayan cities, Cancun's commercial power

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