Indus civilization was either in decline when it was destroyed by Arya

Question

Indus civilization was either in decline when it was destroyed by Aryan invaders from the northwest speaking an Indo-European language from which most of the languages of Pakistan, Northern India, and Bangladesh descend or  that it was militarily vulnerable .

A. that it was militarily vulnerable.
B. had militarily vulnerability.
C. was militarily vulnerable.
D. militarily vulnerable.
E. was it militarily vulnerable.

kylexy · Answer

A.  that it was  militarily vulnerable.
B.  had  militarily vulnerability.  
C.  was  militarily vulnerable.
D. militarily vulnerable.
E.  was  it militarily vulnerable.

engreecs · Answer

I picked C. This is my explanation!! As you already know, the proper usage of idiom is Either X or Y, right? Well, as you can see X and Y should be parallel to each other. for instance, if X is a noun Y should be a noun, as well.
"was either in decline when it ....... or......" is our question. When I look at the answer choices, I don't see any parallel structure as I expected like "was either in decline when it ....... or in......... ". So, since you already eliminated the other choices I'll just explain why D is wrong for me. in decline.. and military vulnerable are not same structures. Therefore, D is just gone. As for C, even though it's not a perfect construction, grammatically it's correct since it shows a parallel structure as a sentence whole: "was either in decline when it ....... or was...."

So the OA is right.

mrsmarthi · Answer

D is definitely parallel.

Either X(in decline) OR Y(militarily vulnerable)

Here WAS verb is shared by both X and Y. So WAS is not needed in Y.

I will definitely vote for D.

If C were to be the ans, then the sentence should have been

Indus civilization EITHER  was in decline .........OR  was militarily vulnerable .

What is the source of the question. I doubt it is a GMAT question.

BM · Answer

It's hard to tell what the author wants to express. "Indus civilization was either in decline or militarily vulnerable when . . ." is one option. Another is "Indus civilization was either in decline when it was destroyed . . . or when it was military vulnerable."

The latter suggests that Indus civilization was in decline more than once, and this stage occured when it was destroyed or militarily weak. The first option sounds closer to what the author intended, I think.

The answer depends on how you interpret the author's intended meaning. The first interpretation leads you to D, while the seconds results in C.

BarneyStinson · Answer

I think only these two constructs are idiomatically correct to make good sense with tense as well.

was either...or was.....
either was.....or.....

Try them on any example sentences with "either or" and check for yourselves.

C should be the right answer.

parijit · Answer

Indus civilization was either in decline when it was destroyed by Aryan invaders from
the northwest speaking an Indo-European language from which most of the languages
of Pakistan, Northern India, and Bangladesh descend or that it was militarily
vulnerable.
A. that it was militarily vulnerable.
B. had militarily vulnerability.
C. was militarily vulnerable.
D. militarily vulnerable.
E. was it militarily vulnerable.

This one should be D right?

mba20202022 · Answer

Could an expert please help explain the difference between C and D?
I agree with  BM  that the right answer could be both, so what is the reasoning for the OG be C?

arjunb9 · Answer

Indus civilization was either in decline when it was destroyed by Aryan invaders from the northwest speaking an Indo-European language from which most of the languages of Pakistan, Northern India, and Bangladesh descend or that it was militarily vulnerable.

A. that it was militarily vulnerable.- Not parallel either in... or that ..
B. had militarily vulnerability. - Not parallel either in ... or had . Moreover militarily vulnerability is awkward : adverb +adverb but no adjective or verb thereafter
C. was militarily vulnerable.- Not parallel either in (prepositional modifier)... or was (verb)
D. militarily vulnerable.- was either in .. or militarily vulnerable- Best option
E. was it militarily vulnerable. Not parallel

I chose D , request expert on the forum to clarify.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  mba20202022 ,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can resolve your doubt.

Option C fails to maintain parallelism between A and B in the idiomatic construction "either A ("in decline...") or B ("was militarily vulnerable")"; please remember, “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic uses and are only used when referring to two elements; A and B must be parallel.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Indus civilization was either in decline when it was destroyed by Arya

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Indus civilization was either in decline when it was destroyed by Arya

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