In ancient Greece much of the local worshipper’s practice was premise

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In ancient Greece,  much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and when they constructed sacred precincts for worship .

A) much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and when they constructed sacred precincts for worship

B) much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts while humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and constructed sacred precincts in which to worship

C) much of the local worshipper’s religious practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks as well as they constructed sacred precincts for worship

D) the concept of exchange premised much of the local worshipper’s religious practice as the gods and goddesses bestowed gifts while humans to give offerings as an expression of thanks and to construct sacred precincts in which to worship

E) the gods and goddesses bestowed gifts as the concept of exchange, which was the premise of much of the local worshipper’s religious practice, and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and constructed sacred precincts in which to worship

generis · Answer

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zhanbo · Answer

My answer is  (B) . It took me 03:02.

(A) "they" in "when they constructed sacred precincts for worship" does not have a clear antecedent. 
Also, we need to seriously consider whether it is appropriate to use "when" here. ”when" seems to be parallel with "as" clause, but logically, it should be parallel with "humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks".

(B) "in which to worship" is a bit wordy. "for worship" is better. Keep for now.

(C) Is ”religious" in "religious practice" redundant? Hard call. One can argue either way.
But the use of "as well as" in "as well as they constructed sacred precincts for worship" is awkward to say the least. 
If "as well as" is to introduce a clause, it might be used in comparison such as "They can build the bridge as well we we do". I am not sure if "as well as" can be used in the context of this sentence. It is certainly not commonly used this way.

(D) "while humans to give offerings“ uses incorrect grammar. 
Also, "A be premised on B" is much more frequently used than "B premises A".

(E) "In ancient Greece, the gods and goddesses bestowed gifts" makes "the gods and goddesses" an actual / factual / historical actors in ancient Greece. 
The rest of the sentence also does not offer any redeeming value.

sumitkrocks · Answer

A) much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks  and  when they constructed sacred precincts for worship

"And" draws my first attention as parallelism marker but I find the parallelism is flawed here

Logically parallel in meaning are : humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and constructed sacred precincts for worship; However, not only parallelism is lawed but also "they" is ambiguous. + Use of when is not correct in sentence Eliminate

B) much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts while humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and constructed sacred precincts in which to worship

Issue in A is rectified. 
"for worship" is precise than "Precincts in which to worship". Also, IMO, not sure though, relative pronoun "which" must have it's own full fledged verb and we know infinitive resembles a verb but not a full fledged verb in its own.

I request  generis  to share his thoughts on the use of "which + infinitive". Should we always look for full fledged verb for relative noun "which"?

I believe "which + infinitive" is not commonly acceptable as infinitive is not a full fledged verb in its own.
Keep

C) much of the local worshipper’s religious practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks as well as they constructed sacred precincts for worship

"As well as" is not same as "and" by using "as well as", we emphasize on second element more than the first i.e we can rephrase above sentence as below 
 
 much of the local worshipper’s religious practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and Humans not only constructed sacred precincts for worship but also gave offerings as an expression of thanks.

Still pronoun "they" in the option looks ambiguous and unnecessary- Keep

D) the concept of exchange premised much of the local worshipper’s religious practice as the gods and goddesses bestowed gifts while humans to give offerings as an expression of thanks and to construct sacred precincts in which to worship

Parallelism is lost clause and infinitive are not parallel 
Issue "Which + infinitive " identified in B appears here

E) the gods and goddesses bestowed gifts as the concept of exchange, which was the premise of much of the local worshipper’s religious practice, and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and constructed sacred precincts in which to worship

Meaning is changed : Gods and goddesses did not bestow gifts as the concept of exchange and concept was not the premise - Eliminate

B/w B and C I will guess (C), ignoring the pronoun ambiguity in C.

winterschool · Answer

In ancient Greece, much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and when they constructed sacred precincts for worship.

A) much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as  gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and when they  constructed sacred precincts for worship  Incorrect

parallelism problem - ............as gods and goddesses........ and humans................ and when they .......

they refers to who - gods and goddesses or humans

B)  much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts while humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and constructed sacred precincts in which to worship   Correct

clear meaning

C) much of the local worshipper’s religious practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks  as well as they  constructed sacred precincts for worship  Incorrect

they refers to who - gods and goddesses or humans ; as well as uses is not correct

D) the concept of exchange  premised much of the local worshipper’s religious practice  as the gods and goddesses bestowed gifts while humans to give offerings as an expression of thanks and to construct sacred precincts in which to worship  Incorrect

premised on - correct idioms

E)  the gods and goddesses bestowed gifts as the concept of exchange, which was  the premise of much of the local worshipper’s religious practice, and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and constructed sacred precincts in which to worship  Incorrect

changes meaning and awkward

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

A) much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and when they constructed sacred precincts for worship
 they is creating a lot of trouble however considering the fact that for worship is better providing the meaning however will not address the issue

B) much of the local worshipper’s practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts while humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and constructed sacred precincts in which to worship
i eleminated this solely on the basis that in which to worship was uncomfortable to the ear

C) much of the local worshipper’s religious practice was premised on the concept of exchange as gods and goddesses bestowed gifts and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks as well as they constructed sacred precincts for worship
they here is ambigious since it might refer back to humans or goddesses therefore out

D) the concept of exchange premised much of the local worshipper’s religious practice as the gods and goddesses bestowed gifts while humans to give offerings as an expression of thanks and to construct sacred precincts in which to worship
while in the middle makes it a hot mess

E) the gods and goddesses bestowed gifts as the concept of exchange, which was the premise of much of the local worshipper’s religious practice, and humans gave offerings as an expression of thanks and constructed sacred precincts in which to worship
in which to worship doesn't make much sense therefore out

However considering all the bad guys B feels better

Therefore iMO B

aarkay87 · Answer

Ideal Split:

Option-A: 
1) I will be wary of the use of WHEN and THEY as pronoun THEY is ambiguous and WHEN will indicate ONLY a specific instant 
2) Humans did two things – gave offerings AND constructed precincts – both constructions are not parallel

Option-B: Correct

OPtion-C: 
1) Pronoun THEY after additive ‘as well as’ is non-essential, and anyway, it will add ambiguity
2) ‘To worship’ is more idiomatic than ‘for worship’ – we could’ve written ‘for worshipping’

Option-D: 
1) Notice the prepositional phrase, in the beginning, this structure will illogically mean that the concept of worship premised in ancient Greece 
2) Preposition ON is missing after verb premise
3) WHILE (subordinating conjunction) should be followed a clause

Option-E: This structure suggests both actions ‘to bestow’ AND ‘to give’ are independent, and they both do not come under the purview of “the concept of exchange”

generis · Answer

sumitkrocks  , an excellent question!

You wrote:

Short answer: no, but only in special cases such as the situation we find in this instance.

This relative pronoun,  which,  is the object (complement) of a preposition ( in ).
In 99.9% of cases, the object of a preposition cannot be the subject of a clause and thus is not connected to a working verb.

When a relative pronoun is the object of a preposition ("IN which"), that relative pronoun is  not  the  subject  of a clause, so the  which  in the construction  in which  does not need a verb.

In assessing sentences that contain a relative pronoun that is  not  the object (complement) of a preposition, I have said that when readers see a relative pronoun, they should start looking for two full-fledged verbs: one for the subject, and one for the relative pronoun.

This page contains a short list of examples in which   the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition and thus is not connected to a working verb: Click here to see the list.

What I've written sounds abstract.
Let's use some examples.

In these examples, the   relative pronoun   needs   its own working verb  , and that verb is different from the   main verb   for the   main subject  :

1) The  dog ,  which stole  and  ate  the pizza,  skulked  around looking guilty.

2) The  dog   that stole  and  ate  the pizza  hid  under the bed.

3) The  man   who owned  the pizza-thieving dog  laughed  when the dog crawled under the bed.

In these examples, the  relative pronoun does NOT need its own working verb  because the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition. Notice that you cannot find a verb that matches the relative pronoun.
(And please, see the short grammar page I've linked to above - it lists this kind of example):

1)  The Florida retiree owns a club  to which  I hope never to belong.

2)  The poise  with which  she carries herself intimidates insecure people.

3)  The temple  in which  members worshipped loomed large in the midst of the city.

This phrasing may sound strange to most people, native speakers included, but the phrasing is part of sophisticated writing.
Look carefully as you read an article in a high end newspaper or journal.
You will see such phrasing.
 
I hope that answer helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

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In ancient Greece much of the local worshipper’s practice was premise

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In ancient Greece much of the local worshipper’s practice was premise

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