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But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, like Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

A) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, like Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

B) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, abandoned due to a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

C) But already, some of the model cities that had been mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, abandoned due to a range of problems such as official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

D) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, were abandoned due to a range of problems such as official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

E) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems such as official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

Can you please provide the OE for this question?


Hello My friend, here is my approach and take on the question:
A) Wrong usage of like- Like can never be used to show examples: It can only be used for like comparisons among the nouns.
B) This choice is a fragment as there is no main verb. Using abandoned in the option makes this a modifier and modifiers are never complete clauses. See below the red portion:
But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, abandoned due to a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

Now after removing the fluff, what do you have?
But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital abandoned due to a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

So you will see that there is no verb. Also the choice incorrectly uses "like"

C) Wrong usage of due to. Due to can never be used to explain actions. Due to is a preposition and a preposition can only modify a noun and not a clause. Also wrong usage of past perfect.

D) Wrong usage of due to- as explained above.

E) Here is your correct answer. See how this choice replaces due to with because of as because of can modify a verb.

Does this make sense?
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GMATNinja, EducationAisle,Broall

Is the usage of have been abandoned correct. We have in the sentence but already, so we can assume the event already happened. So, I prefer (option D) were abandoned instead of have been abandoned. Secondly, I thought were and would go in line with this construction. I understand this is not a hypothetical situation, where were needs to go with would. But already gives me the confusion as it looks like to me that the event is over and we need were instead of have been.
Can any one justify the how the use of have been in line with would?
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But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, like Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

A) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, like Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

B) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, abandoned due to a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

C) But already, some of the model cities that had been mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, abandoned due to a range of problems such as official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

D) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, were abandoned due to a range of problems such as official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

E) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems such as official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

Can you please provide the OE for this question?


Hello My friend, here is my approach and take on the question:
A) Wrong usage of like- Like can never be used to show examples: It can only be used for like comparisons among the nouns.
B) This choice is a fragment as there is no main verb. Using abandoned in the option makes this a modifier and modifiers are never complete clauses. See below the red portion:
But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, abandoned due to a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

Now after removing the fluff, what do you have?
But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital abandoned due to a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

So you will see that there is no verb. Also the choice incorrectly uses "like"

C) Wrong usage of due to. Due to can never be used to explain actions. Due to is a preposition and a preposition can only modify a noun and not a clause. Also wrong usage of past perfect.

D) Wrong usage of due to- as explained above.

E) Here is your correct answer. See how this choice replaces due to with because of as because of can modify a verb.

Does this make sense?


GMATNinja, EducationAisle,Broall
Hi,

Is the usage of have been abandoned correct. We have in the sentence but already, so we can assume the event already happened. So, I prefer (option D) were abandoned instead of have been abandoned. Secondly, I thought were and would go in line with this construction. I understand this is not a hypothetical situation, where were needs to go with would. But already gives me the confusion as it looks like to me that the event is over and we need were instead of have been.
Can any one justify the how the use of have been in line with would?
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GMATNinja, EducationAisle,Broall
Hi,

Is the usage of have been abandoned correct. We have in the sentence but already, so we can assume the event already happened. So, I prefer (option D) were abandoned instead of have been abandoned. Secondly, I thought were and would go in line with this construction. I understand this is not a hypothetical situation, where were needs to go with would. But already gives me the confusion as it looks like to me that the event is over and we need were instead of have been.
Can any one justify the how the use of have been in line with would?
"Would" is conditional, and "have been" (or "have" + verb) denotes an action that started in the past, but continues in the present -- and there's no reason why we couldn't mix those two, as long as they make sense with the meaning of the sentence. In this case, I think it's reasonable to suggest that the projects are still in the process of being abandoned, so "have been" seems fine. The "would" seems fine, too, because officials didn't actually know exactly how the projects would be financed -- so the conditional "would" makes perfect sense.

That said, the usual caveats apply to this question: GMAC spends somewhere between $1500 and $3000 on each official GMAT question, and even the best test-prep companies can't compete. This one looks particularly suspect to me: most English grammar and usage geeks insist that it's wrong to start a sentence with "but", and I don't think I've ever seen that construction on the GMAT. So please don't waste too much energy on this one.

I hope this helps!
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A) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, like Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

B) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, abandoned due to a range of problems like official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

C) But already, some of the model cities that had been mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, abandoned due to a range of problems such as official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

D) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, were abandoned due to a range of problems such as official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

E) But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, such as Gamacapital, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems such as official corruption and confusion over how the projects would be financed.

A, B - usage of like to present example.
C,D - usage of "due to" for reasoning.

Hence, E is the Answer.
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'Because of' - is used to modify a verb .
'Due to' - is used to modify a noun.

In this question the verb 'abandoned' has to be modified using 'Because of'.
Hence correct answer is option E.

Cheers :)
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