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I doubt whether it is a GMAT question. In the sentence above, the correct statement uses "which had reached", wherein which was placed right next to "Roman empire", we need to note that the land area had reached but the Roman Empire reaching an extent of about 2510000 sq. miles seems just absurd.
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Jahnavi2021
I doubt whether it is a GMAT question. In the sentence above, the correct statement uses "which had reached", wherein which was placed right next to "Roman empire", we need to note that the land area had reached but the Roman Empire reaching an extent of about 2510000 sq. miles seems just absurd.

Hello Jahnavi2021,

We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit of clarity, here the phrase "which had reached..." refers to the phrase "the land area of the Roman Empire" rather than to just "the Roman Empire".

To understand this better, consider the following example - "The Prince of Persia, who turned 30 today, will soon be king."

Here, "who" refers to "Prince", rather than "Persia".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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I have a doubt here regarding the verb ing modifier lessening.

Is it modifying, 'who', which would refer to King Hadrian(which makes sense) or 'frontiers'(which doesn't make sense)

I understand the modifier with choice D wrt the Roman empire which had reached....However, for the doubt above i chose E
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dushyantkanal
I have a doubt here regarding the verb ing modifier lessening.

Is it modifying, 'who', which would refer to King Hadrian(which makes sense) or 'frontiers'(which doesn't make sense)

I understand the modifier with choice D wrt the Roman empire which had reached....However, for the doubt above i chose E
Such present participial phrases modify the subject of the preceding clause. So, in option D, "lessening..." will modify "who".

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses present participial phrases, their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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What's incorrect in Option E? I get that "Land area of the Roman Empire" is preferred over "the area of the land of the Roman empire", but is there a better reason to eliminate this? The preference bit scares me as its something that can't be learnt (I guess!).
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Hadrian's Wall in England is one of the various border defences built by the Roman legions following the orders of King Hadrian, who decided to pull back behind defensible frontiers lessening the area of the land of the Roman Empire, which had reached an extent of about 2510000 sq. miles when his predecessor, Emperor Trojan, died in 117 AD.

a) frontiers lessening the area of the land of the Roman Empire, which had reached- comma is expected after frontiers
b) frontiers lessening the land area of the Roman Empire, which reached- comma is expected after frontiers, had is missing here
c) frontiers, lessening the land area of the Roman Empire, reaching- reaching is incorrect here
d) frontiers, lessening the land area of the Roman Empire, which had reached- Correct
e) frontiers to lessen the area of the land of the Roman Empire, which had reached- the area of the land alters the meaning
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