Remains of Mycenae, first unearthed in 1841 by Greek archeologist Kyri

Question

Remains of Mycenae, first unearthed in 1841 by Greek archeologist Kyriakos Pittakis,  which restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveals its former glory as a royal seat of power in  the ancient Mediterranean world.

A. which restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveals its former glory as a royal seat of power in

B. which restoration of the monumental Lion's Gate, revealed its former glory as a royal seat of power in

C. who restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveal the city's former glory as a royal seat of power in

D. who restored the monumental Lion's Gate and also revealed the former glory of a powerful royal seat of

E. which restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveal the city's former glory as a royal seat

Aswin12 · Answer

Remains of Mycenae, first unearthed in 1841 by Greek archeologist Kyriakos Pittakis, which restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveals its former glory as a royal seat of power in the ancient Mediterranean world.

A.  which  restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveals its former glory as a royal seat of power in -  here which refers to Kyriakos Pittakis which is wrong

B.  which  restoration of the monumental Lion's Gate, revealed its former glory as a royal seat of power in -  Repeats the mistake in Option A

C. who restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveal the city's former glory as a royal seat of power in -  Correct answer

D. who restored the monumental Lion's Gate and also revealed the former glory of a powerful royal seat of -  Not a proper sentence. Remains has no verb

E.  which  restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveal the city's former glory as a royal seat -  Repeats the error in Option A and Option B

IanStewart · Answer

The archaeologist restored the monumental thing, so "who" is right here (I'm not even sure what "which" could mean in this sentence). But D isn't a sentence at all (its subject, the remains of Mycenae, has no verb), and even if it were, it wouldn't make any sense. Answer C is right.

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Remains of Mycenae, first unearthed in 1841 by Greek archeologist Kyriakos Pittakis,  which restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveals its former glory as a royal seat of power in  the ancient Mediterranean world.

A. which restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveals its former glory as a royal seat of power in

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The singular verb  reveals  does not agree with the plural subject  Remains of Mycenae . In addition, the relative pronoun  which  cannot begin a relative clause that modifies a human noun.

Also, this sentence is stylistically flawed, because the pronoun  its  is ambiguous. It can refer either to  Mycenae  or to  the monumental Lion's Gate .

What helps us identify this question as a Subject Verb Agreement question and as a Relative Clause question, as well as identify the mistakes are the following Stop Signs:

x of y subject

and

long distance between subject and verb

and

who, which, that, whose, whom

The correct choice of relative pronoun is influenced by several factors. In some cases, as in  who, whom  and  which , the choice depends on whether the relative clause describes humans ( who, whom ) or non humans ( which ).

B. which restoration of the monumental Lion's Gate, revealed its former glory as a royal seat of power in

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the Subject Verb Agreement mistake in the original question by changing the singular verb  reveals  in the present tense to  revealed  in the past tense (singular/plural), it repeats the relative pronoun mistake in the original sentence.

The relative pronoun  which  cannot begin a relative clause that modifies a human noun. Changing the conjugated verb  restored  to the noun  restoration  does not eliminate the grammatical error, because the relative clause requires a conjugated verb, without which, the sentence is a fragment and not a full sentence,

In addition, this sentence is stylistically flawed, because the pronoun  its  is ambiguous. It can refer either to  Mycenae  or to  the monumental Lion's Gate .

C. who restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveal the city's former glory as a royal seat of power in

This answer choice corrects the Subject Verb Agreement mistake in the original sentence, by changing the singular verb  reveals  to the plural verb  reveal . It also corrects the pronoun mistake by changing the pronoun  which , to  who , which correctly modifies a relative clause referring to a human subject, here:  Greek archeologist Kyriakos Pittakis .

Note also that this answer choice is stylistically superior to the original sentence. By changing the pronoun  its  to t he city's  it eliminates the ambiguity of the pronoun  its , which can refer either to the  Lion's Gate , or to  Mycenae .

D. who restored the monumental Lion's Gate and also revealed the former glory of a powerful royal seat of

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the pronoun mistake in the original sentence, by changing the pronoun  which  to  who , it introduces another grammatical mistake by turning the sentence into a fragment.

In the corrected sentence, the verbal phrase  and also revealed  is separated from what comes before it by a connector  and  (and not by a comma, as in the original sentence). As a result, the verb  revealed  becomes part of the relative clause that begins with the words  who restored , etc. Since  reveal  is no longer the sentence's main verb, the meaning of the corrected sentence also changes: the verb  revealed  now refers to  Greek archeologist  rather than to  Remains of Mycenae .

Also, with the verb  revealed  expanding the relative clause, the main sentence becomes a fragment as the subject  Remains  lacks a conjugated verb.

Notice how this grammatical mistake also involves a change in meaning.

E. which restored the monumental Lion's Gate, reveal the city's former glory as a royal seat

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the Subject Verb Agreement mistake in the original sentence, by changing the singular verb  reveals  to the plural verb  reveal , and corrects the stylistic flaw of ambiguity, by replacing the pronoun  its  with  the city's , it repeats the original relative pronoun mistake.

Remember that the relative pronoun  which  cannot begin a relative clause that modifies a human noun.

What helps us identify this question as a Relative Clause question, as well as identify the mistake is the following Stop Sign:

who, which, that, whose, whom

The correct choice of relative pronoun is influenced by several factors. In some cases, as in  who, whom  and  which , the choice depends on whether the relative clause describes humans ( who, whom ) or non humans ( which ).

VerbalBot · Answer

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Remains of Mycenae, first unearthed in 1841 by Greek archeologist Kyri

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Remains of Mycenae, first unearthed in 1841 by Greek archeologist Kyri

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