The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of

Question

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The full body armor of  England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the
highlight  of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando is the highlight

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando’s are the highlights

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, is the highlight

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)

THE PROMPT

• Issue: no "double possessives" on the GMAT

(1) To construct a possessive noun, use only one method   
On the GMAT, use one construction or the other, but not both

→ Method #1 to create a possessive noun:  use an apostrophe  →   's   =  X's Y 
 Correct :  my neighbor's garden 
X = neighbor, Y = garden

→ Method #2 to create a possessive noun:  use OF  =  Y of X 
 Correct :  the garden of my neighbor 
Y = garden, X = neighbor

→   Do not use Y of X's  
That is, GMAC disallows the use of both possessive indicators in the same phrase.
→ Choose one method or the other. Not both. 
  WRONG: Y of X's  
 WRONG :  the garden of my neighbor's

I have never seen an exception to this rule in an official question.

Every option uses  that of,  in which that = full body armor.
The phrase  that  of   establishes possession; we should not also use an apostrophe-S.

• Issue: "Additive phrases" such as  as well as  do not change a singular subject to a plural one

→ When a subject   is followed by an additive phrase   of ABC], that phrase is not part of the main subject and thus does not make a singular subject plural. 
The additive phrase ( as well as ) is a modifier of the subject, not a second subject.

→ How do we know whether the part that appears to create a compound subject (but does not) is an additive phrase?
1) it does  not  use the word  and 
2) it is set off by commas (I cannot think of a single example in the English language in which an additive phrase is not set off by commas, let alone a single example in an official question)
3) the phrase is one from this list:  accompanied by, along with, as well as, in addition to, including,  and  together with .

THE OPTIONS

• I do not see any errors

• the possessive pattern is correct (Y of X)

•  as well as  is an additive phrase that does not change a singular subject into a plural one. 
The singular subject "full body armor of England's Earl of Kingsley" agrees with the singular verb  is .

• no "double possessives": use only OF and do not add  's 
 Corrected: 
→ . . . armor of England's Earl of Kingsley
→ . . . armor of Emperor Fernando

•  as well as  is an additive phrase. The subject—armor of England's Earl of Kingsley—is singular. The plural verb  are  does not agree with the singular subject.
ELIMINATE B

• this subject  is  compound and hence plural
→  and  joins two items of equal grammatical "weight." 
The armor of the Earl  and    of the Emperor = plural subject. The singular verb  is  does not agree with the plural subject.
ELIMINATE C
 
• same "double possessive" problem as that in option B: because OF is already used to show possession, do not also use  's  after Fernando
ELIMINATE D

• like options B and D, this option indicates possession incorrectly because it uses both OF and  's

• identical to option B
→ incorrectly uses both indicators of possession (that OF and  's  should not be used together)
 
→  as well as  is an additive phrase that does change the singular subject into a plural one, so the plural verb are does not agree with the singular subject
ELIMINATE E

The answer is A.

NOTES

In a very strict sense, additive phrases are  not  required to be parallel to the subject because additive phrases are modifiers of the subject.
An additive phrase, in other words, is not a parallelism marker.

Theoretically, this sentence would not violate parallelism rules because  along with  is not a parallelism marker:
 Hemingway's writing style, together with that of Fitzgerald and of other members of the Lost Generation, is widely analyzed among students of English literature.

ramlala  and  zhanbo  (and anyone else who posted about the issue) you are correct. Original options B and E were identical.
I have edited option E.

The sentence that I wrote in italics above contains stilted prose, but it is not ungrammatical for lack of parallelism.
Just a heads up.

COMMENTS

What a nice collection of posters!
Better yet, what an excellent collection of posts.

A few inaccuracies exist here and there. No matter. 
These posts are excellent and for the most part, helpful and easy to follow.
Kudos to all.

Ranasaymon · Answer

★ As well as vs and  
->As well as gives more emphasis on the beginning portion than on the later portion.
-> And gives equal emphasis on the both portions.

★Per the original meaning, the emphasis is given on the the armor of kingsley. I tried to keep pace with the original meaning. 
And The armor(singular sub) of kingsley, as well as...., is(verb singular) correct

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight   Correct  
 
B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights

-> The armor of...., as well as.., are( SV error)
-> that of Fernando's (incorrect).

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando is the highlight 
-> SV error
-> The armor of x and the armor of y are (correct)

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando’s are the highlights 
-> that of Fernando's (incorrect).

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights
 
-> same error as in B

Posted from my mobile device

ramlala · Answer

generis 
If I am not wrong, Choice B & E are same.

The full body armor of  England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the
highlight  of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley,  as well as  that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight
 If the subject is seperated from the verb by word  "as as well as" , ignore additional expression for S-V agreement.
Herew we have singular subject and  is  is its verb agreement.
No remarks

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s,  are  the highlights
 1. S-V agreement - Sigular subject and plural verb
2. redundancy issue -  that of  Emperor Fernando ’s

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley  and  that of Emperor Fernando  is  the highlight
 S-V agreement - Plural subject (....and....) and singular verb

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and  that of  Emperor Fernando ’s  are the highlights
 redundancy issue -  that of  Emperor Fernando ’s

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights
 Same remarks as B

IMO A

zhanbo · Answer

My answer is  (A) . It took me 44 seconds.

(A) The subject (The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley) is singular. The main verb correctly uses "is". 
(B) Two issues: the main verb should be "is"; "that of Emperor Fernando’s" should be either "that of Emperor Fernando" or Emperor Fernando’s".
(C) The subject (The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando) is plural. The main verb should be "are".
(D) "that of Emperor Fernando’s" should be either "that of Emperor Fernando" or Emperor Fernando’s".
(E) is exactly the same as (B).

DinoPen · Answer

The full body armor of  England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight  of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight
 Correct use of singular placement with the combination of ', as well as'.

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights
 Incorrect SV agreement 'are' and fully body armor.

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando is the highlight
 SV agreement error. Armors of both the king and the emperor should be joined by 'are'.

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando’s are the highlights
 A possessive of Emperor does not have something 'that'. Out.

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights
 SV disagreement. 'are' is incorrect.

TarunKumar1234 · Answer

The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the
highlight of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Use 'are' with 'and'
Use 'is' with 'as well as' and other additive phrases
Y of X's is redundant.

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight
Correct

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights
The use of are is incorrect.

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando is the highlight
The use of 'is' is incorrect.

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando’s are the highlights
The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley and the full body armor of Emperor Fernando's armor are the highlights
Redundant.

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights
The use of are is incorrect.

Choice A is the answer.

carouselambra · Answer

IMO A

The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the
highlight of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley,  as well as that of Emperor Fernando ,  is  the highlight
Correct. Subject is singular hence the usage of "is" is justified.

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s,  are  the highlights
Plural cannot be used with a singular subject.

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando  is  the highlight
And = presence of plural. Usage of "is" is incorrect.

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley  and  that of Emperor  Fernando’s  are the highlights
Subject is singular whereas "are" is used following it.

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s,  are  the highlights
Subject is singular whereas "are" is used following it.

jhavyom · Answer

The full body armor of  England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the
highlight  of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Use 'are' with 'and'
Use 'is' with 'as well as' and other additive phrases
Y of X's is redundant.

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight
Correct

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley,  as well as  that of Emperor Fernando’s,  are  the highlights
The use of are is incorrect.

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley  and  that of Emperor Fernando  is  the highlight
The use of 'is' is incorrect.

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and  that of Emperor Fernando’s  are the highlights
The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley and  the full body armor of Emperor Fernando's armor  are the highlights
Redundant.
 
E) England’s Earl of Kingsley,  as well as  that of Emperor Fernando’s,  are  the highlights 
The use of are is incorrect.

Choice A is the answer.

winterschool · Answer

The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the
highlight of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A)  England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight   Correct

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as  that of Emperor Fernando’s , are the highlights  Incorrect

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando  is  the highlight  Incorrect

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of  Emperor Fernando’s  are the highlights  Incorrect

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as  that of Emperor Fernando’s , are the highlights  Incorrect

no difference between B & E
eliminate B & E - that of Emperor Fernando and Emperor Fernando’s both are same in meaning
 C - is singular, subject plural
D - that of Emperor Fernando and Emperor Fernando’s both are same in meaning

Answer - A

penco · Answer

This question deals with highlight of Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The error is with considering one -armor of Earl of Kingsley... or both-armor of Earl of Kingsley and of Emperor Fernando.
It is not certain as if the original intent is to refer to only one or both.
Let's hunt for errors in each one. By that, we can ease some load.

This seems right. The main focus is on full armor of England's Earl of Kingsley and 'is' is correctly used to refer that.
the expression "as well as that of Emperor Fernando" is set off by comma's and renders itself as non-essential and we can ignore that to see if that makes sense.
 The full body armor of  England’s Earl of Kingsley is the highlight  of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 
Seems plausible.
Let's keep this.

This option can be eliminated on two fronts:
1- as well as is setting of the clause, so the highlight should be singular because the subject is "The full body armor"
The full body armor of  England’s Earl of Kingsley , as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s,   are  the highlights  of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Subject-verb agreement usage is not right here.
2- Even if we ignore the S-V error," as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s " doesn't correctly refers to comparison stated. As stated in this option, if we try to plugin all the referrers, the possessive Emperor Fernando's doesn't make sense here. Only that would be sufficient in here.
 as well as the body armor of Emperor Fernando, as stated in option A.
Enough reasons to let it go.

This option sure gets rid of possessive problem, but it sure introduces another one. Contrary to the usage of as well as to set off a non-essential clause, it uses and too make it essential.
But, when and is used, the sentence tries to refer to both entities on either side of "and".
In this case, Full body armor of both Kinglsley and Fernando are the highlights of museum. 
But if it needs to state in that sense, the verb used should be 'are' instead of 'is' because now it is a compound subject .
Let's ditch this one and go ahead.

This option corrects the S-V agreement error from option C but introduces the issue of possessive noun again. It is trying to make absurd sense when using possessive Fernando's along with 'that'.
Let's move ahead.

This last option, mixes everything up. Here the subject is singular  , but 'are' is used to refer to a singular subject.
Moreover, it introduces the issue of Possessive again.

More reasons to go ahead and mark  A  as answer.

ravigupta2912 · Answer

- “as well as” is an additive phrase and does not change the SV agreement.

- When gauging parallelism, better to carry forward the repeating elements in order to assess whether the parallelism is correct or not.

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight — no errors. Keep.

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights — SV error. Ignore the additive phrase.

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando is the highlight — SV error. “A and B” are.

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando’s are the highlights — parallelism error. “The full body armour of England’s earl of Kingsley” and “the full body armour of that of..” clearly the 2nd element doesn’t make sense. Eliminate.

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights — SV error. And error as mentioned in D. Eliminate.

Posted from my mobile device

warrior1991 · Answer

The full body armor of  England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the
highlight  of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight
 Using 'as well as' is actually putting emphasis on main subject full armour body of England's Earl of Kingsley. Usage of -is is correct therefore.

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s,  are  the highlights
 S-V Agreement error. Usage of are is incorrect.

C) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando  is  the highlight
 usage of  is  is incorrect. Now we have two entities joined by  and  : 
The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley
The full body armor of Emperor Fernando

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando’s are the highlights
 Emperor Fernando’s should be Emperor Fernando because that is already used to refer to the fully body armor

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s,  are  the highlights
  are  should be  is

Therefore A

petrichor · Answer

The full body armor  of England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as  that  of Emperor Fernando, is the
highlight of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

B) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights

D) England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando’s are the highlights

E) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando’s, are the highlights

that points to 'The full body armor', so possessive form "Fernando's" is wrong.   B D E

C)    England’s Earl of Kingsley and that of Emperor Fernando is the highlight -  X and Y are - plural not singular.

A) England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of Emperor Fernando, is the highlight - Looks good.  A is correct.

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

VerbalBot · Answer

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The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The full body armor of England’s Earl of Kingsley, as well as that of

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