The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861 near the tow

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 182: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here

The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas,  an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery .

A) an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery

B) an important event in American history marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery

C) was an important event in American history as it had marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery

D) is an important event in American history due to it marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, resulting in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery

E) is an important event in American history as it marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Day 182: Sentence Correction (SC1)

THE PROMPT

I usually strip sentences. 
After you read the prompt, something should seem very strange. Strip the sentence to figure out what seems strange.
The Battle of Bull Run,   which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas,   an important event in American history  in that  this  historic  event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in X and Y.   over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery

This is the stripped sentence

The Battle of Bull Run,  an important event in American history in that this event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in X and Y.

Yes, definitely strange: the sentence lacks a verb. The subject is The Battle of Bull Run. 
The Battle of Bull run IS an important event in American history in that   ABC . . .
The Battle of Bull run WAS an important event in American history in that   ABC . . .

THE OPTIONS

• The sentence lacks a verb. 
• the phrase  in that this historic event  is wordy and weird. Not enough to eliminate, but look for it elsewhere.
• "turning of the tide" is okay because no dedicated noun exists for "turning" as it is used in this sentence. Both deaths and turning are nouns. 
The phrasing is not great, but it is grammatical. 
Eliminate A

• Like option A, option B lacks a working verb.
• "marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War" explains the preceding information and should be set off with a comma after  history  so that we can see why The Battle of Bull Run,  ,  , is important.
Eliminate B

the past tense was gives the false impression that the Battle was at some point in the past important, but it is not important today; the past perfect tense had marked is incorrect
•  was  is the wrong verb tense. Did this epic battle  stop  being an important event in U.S. history? 
The Battle of Bull Run IS still important. We need IS.
• no reason exists to use past perfect (had + verbED)
-- if two events occur in the past and one happens before the other, we use had + ___ED (past participle, verbED) to talk about the earlier event.
-- but we don't need to use past perfect to talk about "the past of the past": even if "was" weren't wrong, the simple past tense "marked" is just fine. (Simple tenses are preferred when possible.)
Eliminate C

Shishou  , I did not see your argument until after I posted, but your argument is very good.
Absent outside knowledge, we have know way to know whether the Battle of Bull Run or the Civil War caused 500,000 deaths.
We don't know which one abolished slavery.
I think we can guess. A battle is part of a larger war. Both are mentioned.
Although we can guess, the matter should be clear.

• DUE TO  Ultimate conclusion:  Due to is problematic and not nearly as good as the construction in E

--  due to it marking  at best is not as clear as the companion phrase in (E) ( as it marked ).

DUE TO does not function well in the sentence
--  due to   cannot modify a clause.
When subject complements get in the mix, things are tricky.
That is,  due to  explains why The Battle of Bull run is an  important event  in American history.
That battle was the first major ground battle of the Civil War.

Replace DUE TO with CAUSED BY
-- Replacing "due to" with "caused by" is not always an accurate test, but we should try anyway. 
-- Replacement is a disaster: 
The Battle of Bull Run . . . is an important event . . . caused by it marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War.
 Ouch. 
•  Compare  - E is better than D
Before struggling full on with "due to" (I hate the phrase and never use it), we  can  say these things
--  due to  should be followed by a noun.
What the option says now is not great: 
--    it marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War 
-- That phrase is not very noun-lilke.
Better:  its  marking   the first major ground battle of the Civil War.

-- Now insert "caused by": The Battle is an important event in American history, caused by it marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War. (Bad.) 
-- The event itself was not caused by its having been the first major ground battle of the Civil War.
-- The event's  importance  was caused by its having been the first major ground battle of the Civil War.
I think we need a noun such as  importance  for "due to" to modify.
At the least, due to is not as clear as the construction in (E): The Battle of Bull run . . .is important as   it marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War.

•  COMMA + RESULTING 
--   resulting in the death of over 500,000  illogically modifies the  subject  of the clause that precedes the phrase (The Battle of Bull Run). Written this way, "resulting . . . " seems to imply that more than half a million people died in this one battle.
-- in rare cases,   modifies the immediately preceding noun. But if you have an option that is grammatical and uses   structure modifies the immediately preceding noun (the Civil War), a modification that is accurate and clear. 
The whole Civil War resulted in more than 500,000 deaths and the abolition of slavery—not the Battle of Bull Run.
•   is better than option D's "resulting in . . ." structure.

The answer is E

GMAC does not test the difference between answers D and E this closely very often, but it does test the   vs   quite regularly.

COMMENTS

sathik63  , welcome to SC Butler (and  anvesh004  , I am not sure whether I ever welcomed you, so if I did, you get two welcomes).

These answers range from very good to excellent. 
I like the distinctive voices and personalities. And the varied approaches help people who follow. Understanding the way SC works is easier when an aspirant can see more than one approach to a problem.

Very nice work. Kudos to all.

psrinath96 · Answer

The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas, an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery.

A) an important event in American history in  that  this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and  a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery  - Modifier error,wordy & awkward

B)  an important even t in American history  marking  the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery- SV & Meaning error

C)  was  an important event in American history as it  had  marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery- there is no time related events

D) is an important event in American history  due to it marking  the first major ground battle of the Civil War, resulting in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery- SV error

E) is an important event in American history as it marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery-  Correct

"PLEASE GIVE ME   KUDOS     IF YOU LIKE MY ANSWER ANALYSIS"

Shivan21 · Answer

A) an important event in American history  in that this historic event  was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery
No verb for the main subject "The Battle of Bull Run". So incorrect.
Also "in that this historic event" phrase is wordy and not required.

B) an important event in American history marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
No verb for the main subject "The Battle of Bull Run". So incorrect.

C)  was  an important event in American history as it  had marked  the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
Usage of "was" is incorrect since the event is still important n America's history. Also usage of "had marked" is incorrect since there is no timeline given

D) is an important event in American history  due to  it marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, resulting in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
Usage of "had marked" is incorrect as it doesnt convey a "caused by" meanig here

E)  is  an important event in American history as it  marked  the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
 Correct for using "is" and "marked" which are correct verb forms

So IMO, E is the correct answer

sathik63 · Answer

A and B lack verb.(construction - Subject + modifier + modifier + modifier)

In C was an important event suggest that the event is not important anymore.

In D usage of marking is incorrect continuous tense conveys wrong meaning and makes no sense.

E is perfect without any error.

Posted from my mobile device

exc4libur · Answer

MEANING
The Battle of Bull is an important event in American history because it marked the first battle of the Civil War.
The Civil War resulted in the death of many Americans and the abolition of slavery.

A) "The Battle… an important event was the…" fragment; "a turning of the tide against…" unintended;
B) "The Battle… an important event… marking…" fragment;
C) "was an important event" imps the event is not important any more in American History, unintended;
D) "due to" imps that the event was caused by, but the intent is to express why this is an important event; "marking" imps the event is still marking the first major battle, nonsense; "resulting…" could imp that the event "Battle of Bull" resulted in abolition of slavery, but in fact, it was the Civil War, unclear unintended;

Answer (E)

snoep · Answer

The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas, an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery.

an important event/was an important event/is an important event. the first two 'which took place' and 'near the town' -> both describe Battle. So, we could have another modifier suggesting it an important event or we could have a verb was or is. we could have 'was' as battle took place in the past or it could have 'is' as we are talking about an event in the history..at the first glance, these splits are fine as long as they  end fine per the context of rest of the sentence .

there were consequences of War -> resulted in deaths and abolition of slavery. the AC that will describe these resulting consequences efficiently will be better.

A)  an important event  in American history  in that  this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery
an important even in the history  in that  - in that makes it wordy. War resulted in deaths and a  turning of the tide . we can definitely simplify turning of the tide part. second part is also not parallel -> 'result in A & B'

B) an important event in American history marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
first part of modifier is fine, however, the whole sentence now does not have the verb et all. Sentence does not have a complete thought anymore.

C) was an important event in American history as it had marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
was an important event -> While there is no grammatical error in using the past tense, Does the sentence intend to suggest it was an important event and is no longer an important event. No. as it had marked -> suggests the sequence of events as 'Marking' , "resulted in death's and abolition' and became an important even in history. however , this sentence does not require sequencing rather reasoning as to why Battle was an important event.

D) is an important event in American history due to it marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, resulting in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
due to 'it' -> it refers to important event, important event marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War. -> important event did not mark the major ground battle. Also, rephrase this as - is this an important event resulting in the deaths? is that why it is an important - No. Due to it marking the first major -> Due should be followed by noun instead of the clause. we need a reason why it was an important event, hence 'because' or 'as' should be used.

E) is an important event in American history as it marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery 
this option suggests - battle is an important even in the history (even today) as it marked .... War, which resulted in the death ...and the abolition... parallelism is great. meaning is great.

E looks good !

anvesh004 · Answer

IMO, Answer is E.

No Verb for the Subject "The Battle".
Usage of "in that" cannot be usage for reasoning.
 Incorrect

No Verb for the Subject "The Battle".
 Incorrect

"was" is not the correct verb as the fact the it is an important event is still applicable on present.
"had marked": past perfect is not needed here. No verb sequence intended.
 Incorrect

Usage is "Due to" is wrong. It can only modify a Noun.
 Incorrect

Usage of "is" shows present tense.
Usage of "as" mentions reasoning.
 Correct

chaitralirr · Answer

The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas,  an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery .

Meaning: X battle took place in year Y, near Z town, an imp battle of the civil war. The civil war resulted in over 5XXX deaths and turning of the tide against practice of slavery.

Error: in that this historic event is incorrect and a turning of tide is incorrect

A) an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery.  the reasons mentioned above

B) an important event in American history marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery  marking is incorrectly modifying history it should modify the battle of run

C) was an important event in American history as it had marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery "simple tense should be used instead of was"

D) is an important event in American history due to it marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, resulting in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery

E) is an important event in American history as it marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery  the correct use of tense and modifiers

IMO E

eakabuah · Answer

Option A: The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas,  an important event in American history  in that this historic event  was  the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery.
A verb is required in front of  an important event in American history . The verb  was  is in the wrong tense, creating an impression as though The Battle of Bull Run is no longer the first major ground battle of the Civil War. The right tense of the verb should be the simple present tense  is . Eliminate option A.

Option B:  The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas,   an important event in American history   marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery .
Option B is made up of modifiers without a main clause, hence does not form a sentence. There is no working verb for the subject of the sentence  The Battle of Bull Run . Eliminate B.

Option C: The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas,  was  an important event in American history as it  had marked  the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in  the death of over 500,000 Americans  and  the abolition of slavery. 
The tense of the verb  was  is past tense. This is not appropriate in the context. The verb tense suggests that the Battle of Bull Run is no longer an important even in America. This is not what the author intends to convey. The verb should be in the simple present tense. In addition, the use of had marked, the past perfect tense as though history has been rewritten and a new ground battle discovered that is now considered the first ground battle. The simple past tense  marked  is adequate. The parallelism in the last which clause of the sentence is correct. Eliminate Option C.

Option D: The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas,  is  an important event in American history due to it  marking  the first major ground battle of the Civil War,  resulting  in the death of over 500,000 Americans and  the abolition  of slavery. The verb  is  is correctly in the right tense. However, there is a parallelism issue. Simple gerunds  marking  and  resulting  are not parallel to the action noun  the abolition of slavery . In order to maintain parallelism, the action noun can be changed to simple gerund, abolishing or the simple gerunds changed into complex gerunds. Logically, it is not proper to make two events which are the results of the battle parallel to the battle itself. Eliminate option D.

Option E: The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas,  is  an important event in American history as it  marked  the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in  the death of over 500,000 Americans  and  the abolition of slavery .
This the correct option. The verb  is  is in the right tense, simple present tense. The parallelism issue in option D is corrected by appropriately making two events which were the aftermaths of the battle parallel:  the death of over 500,000 Americans  and  the abolition of slavery.

SonGoku · Answer

The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas, an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery.

OptionA::
That this...!! This refer to nouns only here this is referring to that and that is referring to American history. Wrong reference!
Parallelism problem in second part of sentence.
Eliminate A

Option B::
No verb so eliminate it.!Although took is a verb, it’s swallowed by which 
Eliminate it.

Option C::
Was tells us that event is no more an important one.
Had..? Why? Already specific date was mentioned so we don’t need it

Option D:: 
Due to is nonsense if you want to check , replace it with caused by 
Eliminate D

Option E::
E is better compared to C . No had, past is there 
E is the final answer

Posted from my mobile device

SonGoku · Answer

Hey  generis  please add one more question for oct 23. Both links are same

Posted from my mobile device

TheNightKing · Answer

Take a deep breath first.! The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas, an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery . Now realise that there is no verb in the sentence. The Battle of Bull Run is followed by modifiers. So we need a verb. Option A and B both commit the same mistake. So both are gone. In all three options we have a verb now. So that's good. Look at option D. It uses "resulting" which means it is modifying the entire phrase before it and that is not the case here. The War had results and not the "is an important even blah blah". So D is out. Well, everything looks similar except the use of tense. You can realise for a fact that "The War" is usually an important event till current date which makes E the right option. And if you don't then do you really have a valid reason to use "had" in option D? There is no mention of things in past perfect and past tense. (the 2 layer structure that is needed for past perfect tense). For all those reasons, E is the best option.

generis · Answer

SonGoku , thank you. See below in red for the link to the second question. I have updated the main page of SC Butler, HERE . You can also find SC Butler links in another place. Odds are very good that I will not mess up a link in two separate places. WHERE TO FIND A DAY'S 2 QUESTIONS: I post the day's questions on the last page of SC Butler as a separate post and thus a second place to find the questions. Those separate posts look like this image: SC Butler separate post with links.JPG You can find that post and any other recent questions by going to the main SC Butler page and choosing the LAST page available, this way: SC Butler separate post with links how to find it.JPG I post the questions and links in that separate post before I do anything else. The most recent questions are always on the last page available. For OCT 23 2019 the post with both (correct) links is HERE . Here's the link to the other question. I extended the time to answer by 12 hours. Question #2 for Oct 23 is here : https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-recent-dec ... 08884.html

Lampard42 · Answer

Project SC Butler: Day 182: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here

The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas,  an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery .

A) an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery -  First part is a fragment. No verb for the battle of bull run

B) an important event in American history marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery  First part is a fragment. No verb for the battle of bull run

C) was an important event in American history as it had marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery  - Corrects the issue in options A and B, But verb tense is wrong. It is still a important event in history.
 
D) is an important event in American history due to it marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, resulting in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery - "Marking" - incorrect + "Resulting" modifies the PC which is incorrect must modify only to civil war.

E) is an important event in American history as it marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery -  Correct

Shishou · Answer

The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas, an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery.

A) an important event in American history in that this historic event was the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths and a turning of the tide against the practice of slavery  this incorrectly says the town of Manassas is an important event. It's the Battle of Bull run that should be the important event. The more painful problem is that this construction does not contain a main verb and is hence a sentence fragment

B) an important event in American history marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
  the same problem as A. Modifier error and a sentence fragment

C) was an important event in American history as it had marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
E) is an important event in American history as it marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery

D) is an important event in American history due to it marking the first major ground battle of the Civil War, resulting in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
 I will admit I considered this since I am not sure if the battle of bull run or 
or the civil war was what resulted in the death toll and the abolition of slavery. One could make a case that the use of due to is wrong but I have heard too many conflicting opinions on it.

E) is an important event in American history as it marked the first major ground battle of the Civil War, which resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans and the abolition of slavery
 perfectly captures the meaning and has no modifier error like A and B do. Also has a main verb and shows that the Civil war had a huge death toll and was instrumental in ending slavery

Answer is E.
 generis  can u shed some light on the use of due to and how to tell if it's the civil war which caused the death toll or the battle of bull run.Obviously ,we can't use outside information

SonGoku · Answer

thanks  generis  i took my first test today and i saw a significant improvement in SC. I'm already doing RC butler and reading Harvard magazine()you posted in a link some sc question). I'll do the same for CR.
I Have 2 months left to GMAT from now.
But one thing when taking hard questions I am getting stuck with hard ones. Even though I'm getting correct.,They're killing my time. what can i do for reducing the time for hard question?Mainly for SC and RC?

generis · Answer

Shishou , you raise very good points, which I did not see until after I posted.

I had thought about the issues.you pose, but in a way that was too cursory. I have edited the post to address some of your concerns. Nice work.

generis · Answer

SonGoku , I will think about this question. I must answer it later because I need to sign off. I am glad that you are doing well.

generis · Answer

I posted the official explanation  here .

The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861 near the tow

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861 near the tow

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