It is currently 11 Sep 2026, 22:30

Toolkit

GMAT Club Daily Prep

Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.

Go to My Error Log Learn more

Request Expert Reply

Confirm Cancel

Sep 15
Live Online Class with Top GMAT Expert Rich Zwelling
07:00 PM EDT
-
09:00 PM EST
Elite scores are possible when you enroll in a powerful GMAT course, taught live online + 6 months access to TTP OnDemand video courses included! Class starts Tues/Thurs Sept. 15, 2026 - Nov. 15, 2027, 7:00pm-9:00pm EST
Sep 21
Live Online Bootcamp Class with Top GMAT Expert Chris Peckover
07:00 PM EDT
-
10:00 PM EDT
Boost your GMAT score in less than one month in a live online class + 6 months access to TTP OnDemand video courses included! Class starts Mon, Tues, Wed, Thur, Fri Sept. 21, 2026 - Oct. 9, 2027, 7:00pm-10:00pm EST

Back to Forum

Create Topic

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from

1 2 3

iDisappear

Joined: 27 May 2010

Last visit: 21 Jul 2011

Posts: 4

Updated on: 11 Jul 2021, 05:41

Originally posted by iDisappear on 28 Aug 2010, 13:22.
Last edited by Bunuel on 11 Jul 2021, 05:41, edited 7 times in total.

Renamed the topic and edited the question.

00:00

Start Timer

Pause Timer

Resume Timer

Show Answer

Hide

Show

History

Official Answer and Stats are available only to registered users. Register/Login.

Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

15% (low)

Question Stats:

79% (01:20) correct

21% (01:28) wrong

based on 12917 sessions

History

Date

Time

Result

Not Attempted Yet

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

(A) empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
(B) empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
(C) empire, either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
(D) empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
(E) empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

Show Answer

Official Answer

Official Answer and Stats are available only to registered users. Register/Login.

If this question felt shaky, try an adaptive mini quiz of similar problems in GMAT Club Forum Quiz →. Free plan gives 5 questions per day.

Kudos

296

Bookmarks

Most Helpful Reply

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 11 Sep 2026

Posts: 7,399

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,399

03 May 2018, 18:40

This isn’t exactly the hardest or sexiest GMAT SC question, but it covers a nice, mechanical bit of parallelism that the GMAT seems to love. Whenever you see an either/or construction, the thing that follows “either” and the thing that follows “or” need to be parallel to each other. In other words, both need to be verbs, or prepositions, or modifiers, or whatever.

With that in mind…

Quote:

(A) empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or

(A) gives us: “… fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.” That’s definitely not parallel: “from” is a preposition, and “Ganharan grey schist” is a noun. Not cool.

(A) is out.

Quote:

(B) empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

(B) just rearranges the error in (A): “… fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist.” That’s still not parallel: “the spotted sandstone” is a noun, and “from” is a preposition. Still not cool.

(B) is out, too.

Quote:

(C) gives us: “… either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.” That’s still not parallel: “fashioned” is an adjective, and “Gandharan grey schist” is a noun. And that’s not cool, either.

(And if you’re not sure that “fashioned” is an adjective, check out this article on the GMAT’s uses of “-ed” words.)

Anyway, we can eliminate (C).

Quote:

(D) empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

The hits keep coming: “… either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist.” That’s still not parallel: “fashioned” is still an adjective, and “from” is still a preposition. And that’s yet again not cool.

I’m also not sure that the parallelism works quite right around the word “and”, either. After the “and”, we have “either fashioned from…” – and I can’t find anything earlier in the sentence that's parallel to "either fashioned from".

But to be honest, you don’t really have to worry about that. The “either/or” problem gives you an easy excuse to eliminate (D).

And I hope we like (E)…

Quote:

(E) empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

The either/or thing looks OK: “either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist.” Nice.

The parallelism earlier in the sentence is fine now, too: “Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire and were fashioned from…” Hey, that works, too. The images date from the time of the Kushan empire, and they also were fashioned from sandstone and schist.

So (E) is the best answer.

_________________

Signature Read More

Kudos

Bookmarks

egmat

e-GMAT Representative

Joined: 02 Nov 2011

Last visit: 11 Sep 2026

Posts: 6,327

GMAT Date: 08-19-2020

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 6,327

30 Apr 2012, 08:33

Hi All,

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

D. empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

Choice D is incorrect for two reasons.
1. The first error is a parallelism error. This sentence has two markers “either… or…”. What follows the first marker must follow the second marker also. Here “either” is followed by “fashioned from…” while “or” is followed by “from…”. So the first marker is followed by a verb-ed modifier while the second marker is followed by prepositional phrase. This leads to the parallelism error in this sentence. Note that “fashioned” cannot be taken for understood here. It has to be mentioned to maintain the parallelism.
2. This sentence has “and”. The independent clause before “and” has “Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India” as the subject and “date” as the verb. They agree in number as well as make sense with each other. However, the clause after “and” verb. The subject for the clause following “and” remains the same. We have “fashioned” here which is not a verb.
Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist.

If “fashioned” is the verb in this sentence, then the sentence will means that the “images of deity” fashioned something which is illogical. From the sentence, we know that these deities were made of either spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan schist.

Notice that this sentence should be written in passive voice to convey this meaning. So we need a helping verb before “fashioned” to make it a passive verb.

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist.

Choice E corrects this error where the first part of the sentence is in active voice while the second one is in passive.

Hope this helps.
Shraddha

_________________

Free Trial: Get 25 AI-powered videos | 400 practice questions | 8 free webinars | 1 full + 3 sectional mocks
Record Success delivered in 2025-26: 100th percentile scores | 250-pt improvements | Success in less than 60 days
MBA admits: M7 admits | T20 admits | ISB admits | $100k Scholarships
Learn why e-GMAT has 2X more verified 705+ scores than other GMAT Club partners – Read our 2800+ reviews

Signature Read More

Kudos

Bookmarks

piyatiwari

Joined: 28 Jun 2009

Last visit: 15 Jun 2021

Posts: 312

Location: United States (MA)

Posts: 312

28 Aug 2010, 22:35

Answer is E.

Given : Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the
Kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan
grey schist.

Simplifying the given sentence:
May of the deities date from the time of X empire, fashioned either from A or B.

If we understand basic meaning of the sentence, we will realize that not the kushan empire but the deities are fashioned from something.

So, the right sentence is:
May of the deities date from the time of X empire and fashioned either from A or from B.

A. empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
B. empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
C. empire, either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
D. empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
E. empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from - Correct

Kudos

Bookmarks

ExpertsGlobal5

Experts' Global Representative

Joined: 10 Jul 2017

Last visit: 11 Sep 2026

Posts: 6,486

Location: India

GMAT Date: 11-01-2019

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 6,486

18 Oct 2021, 02:59

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

iDisappear

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, and the images were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Parallelism

• In a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.
• “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.
• Any elements linked by conjunction must be parallel

A: This answer choice incorrectly modifies "the Kushan empire" with "fashioned either...grey schist", illogically implying that the Kushan empire was fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist; the intended meaning is that many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option A fails to maintain parallelism between A ("from the spotted sandstone of Mathura") and B ("Gandharan grey schist") in the idiomatic construction "either A or B"; 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.

B: This answer choice incorrectly modifies "the Kushan empire" with "fashioned from either...grey schist", illogically implying that the Kushan empire was fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist; the intended meaning is that many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option B fails to maintain parallelism between A ("the spotted sandstone of Mathura") and B ("from Gandharan grey schist") in the idiomatic construction "either A or B"; 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.

C: This answer choice incorrectly modifies "the Kushan empire" with "either fashioned..grey schist", illogically implying that the Kushan empire was fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist; the intended meaning is that many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option C fails to maintain parallelism between A ("fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura") and B ("Gandharan grey schist") in the idiomatic construction "either A or B"; 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.

D: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between the verb phrase "date from the time of the Kushan empire" and the noun modifier "either fashioned from...grey schist"; please remember, any elements linked by conjunction must be parallel. Further, Option D fails to maintain parallelism between A ("fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura") and B ("from Gandharan grey schist") in the idiomatic construction "either A or B"; 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.

E: Correct. This answer choice avoids the modifier error seen in Options A, B, and C, as it uses the active verb phrase "were fashioned", rather than a modifying phrase; this usage conveys the intended meaning - that many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist. Further, Option E maintains parallelism between the verb phrases "date from the time of the Kushan empire" and "were fashioned". Additionally, Option E correctly maintains parallelism between A ("from the spotted sandstone of Mathura") and B ("from Gandharan grey schist") in the idiomatic construction "either A or B".

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):

To understand the concept of "Either-Or" and "Neither-Nor" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

_________________

The world's most complete GMAT online prep course | Start your free trial!

MBA admission consulting with guaranteed admits and scholarships | Inquire to know your guarantee statement!

15 full length tests closest to the real GMAT | Get the first mock free!

Signature Read More

Kudos

Bookmarks

General Discussion

seekmba

Joined: 17 Feb 2010

Last visit: 25 Sep 2014

Posts: 626

29 Aug 2010, 15:55

Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

A. empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or - 'fashioned either from the.....' incorrectly modifying 'Kushan empire'
B. empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from - same as A
C. empire, either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or - same as A
D. empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from - awkward. also incorrect idiom
E. empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

Kudos

Bookmarks

dimitri92

Joined: 15 Nov 2006

Last visit: 18 May 2019

Posts: 229

Affiliations: SPG

Posts: 229

25 Jan 2011, 07:11

look for these structures and you will choose the correct answer.

images of Hindu deities in India .... date from the time ... and were fashioned

either from the spotted sandstone ... or from Gandharan grey schist

Kudos

Bookmarks

daagh

Major Poster

Joined: 19 Feb 2007

Last visit: 16 Oct 2020

Posts: 5,261

Status: enjoying

Location: India

WE:Education (Education)

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 5,261

25 Jan 2011, 08:31

D. empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

There are at least two things wrong with D

1. The biggest error is the non-adherence to symmetricl parallelism in the second part of the two-part clause.

The first un-underlined part uses a clause with a verb ‘date from’ while the second part misses the verb and uses a phrase. It must be noted that fashioned from is not a verb but a past participle.

This malady is set right by using the verb ‘were’ in E.

Secondly, ‘either fashioned from’ is not parallel with ‘or from’ – It should be ‘fashioned either from or from’ in order to be parallel.

Looking at it differently, the question can be solved by the correctness of correlative parallelism alone, because E is the only one that depicts correlative parallelism.

_________________

Thank you Daagh for your time on GMAT Club and all your contributions! Thank you for everything you did!
Your work will remain a great tribute to you here on GMAT Club!
-bb

Signature Read More

Kudos

Bookmarks

saikarthikreddy

Joined: 19 Apr 2011

Last visit: 14 Feb 2022

Posts: 128

Schools: Carlson '16 (I) Kelley '16 (I) Tuck '16 (D) Darden '24 (II)

GMAT 1: 720 Q49 V38 Verified score

GRE 1: Q167 V167 Verified score

Posts: 128

27 Feb 2012, 20:54

Here the sentence demands the use of both the present and past tense .The first part of the sentence(Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the
Kushan empire) denotes a fact which hold true even in the present,hence it requires the use of present tense .The 2nd part(images where fashioned in the past and it denotes a past action )
Hope it helps !!

Kudos

Bookmarks

whamberto

Joined: 28 Sep 2011

Last visit: 16 Nov 2013

Posts: 123

10 Mar 2012, 07:44

I have chosen E for the answer:

A. The use of the verb-ed modifier "fashioned" is incorrect because it seems to modify "the Kushan Empire" or maybe the noun phrase "the time of the Kushan Empire." In either case, this is incorrect because we want to modify the word "images." Also, we have parallelism issues here - "either from...or" is incorrect. It should be "either from...or from."

B. The verb-ed modifier is wrong here again because it describes "the Kushan Empire." Parallelism issues are present in this answer choice as well - "from either...or from." Although this may appear to be correct, think of the parallel phrase starting at "from." Therefore, the correct version would actually be "from either...or."

C. Again, is "fashioned" describing Empire? I'm not sure what it is supposed to modify. Again, parallelism issues are present - "either fashioned from...or" should actually be "either fashioned from...or from."

D. There are 2 sets of parallelism in this sentence. The first set is to describe the earliest known images and the second set is to describe what the images were fashioned from. This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism of the first part.

Many of the earliest know images:

- date from...
- and fashioned:

- either from...
- or from...

E. This answer choice maintains parallelism of both parts. Notice how the verb "were" and "date" are now parallel to describe the images.

Many of the earliest know images:

- date from...
- and were fashioned:

- either from...
- or from...

Kudos

Bookmarks

daagh

Major Poster

Joined: 19 Feb 2007

Last visit: 16 Oct 2020

Posts: 5,261

Status: enjoying

Location: India

WE:Education (Education)

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 5,261

10 Mar 2012, 08:25

All else later. First, we must appreciate that D is a fragment without a verb in the second arm of the compound sentence conjoined by ‘and’. ‘Either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from’ is nothing but a phrase. ‘Fashioned’ per se is a past participle in the context,

The inclusion of the verb ‘were’ in E is the amendment to this fatal error in D

Of course A, B, C suffer from classical correlative conjunction non//ism.

_________________

Thank you Daagh for your time on GMAT Club and all your contributions! Thank you for everything you did!
Your work will remain a great tribute to you here on GMAT Club!
-bb

Signature Read More

Kudos

Bookmarks

shikhar

Joined: 14 Feb 2012

Last visit: 26 May 2013

Posts: 81

20 Mar 2012, 08:50

Many of the earliest known images of hindu dieties in india date from the time of the kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of mathura or gandharan grey schist.

Does the participial phrase "fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of mathura or gandharan grey schist"
modify kushan empire ???

Because what i understand about ending participial phrases is that if the antecedent is not next to the modifier we can just put a comma.

Please correct me if i am wrong....

Kudos

Bookmarks

mikemcgarry

Magoosh GMAT Instructor

Joined: 28 Dec 2011

Last visit: 06 Aug 2018

Posts: 4,475

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 4,475

20 Mar 2012, 11:25

Hi, there. I'm happy to help with this.

You're right --- as the sentence currently is written, the participial phrase "fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of mathura or gandharan grey schist" modifies "Kushan Empire," which is incorrect. This is a misplaced modifier.

Adding a comma does not eliminate the glaring mistake of a misplaced modifier. The only way to get rid of a misplaced modifier problem is to reconstruct the sentence. Commas do not work magic. Commas do not make bad grammar go away.

You will notice, with this particular question (SC #56 in the OG 12e), the OA of E transforms this participial phrase into a full-fledged verb that is parallel to the first verb ---- the structure of the sentence has been entirely altered, to eliminate the misplaced modifier problem.

Does all this make sense?

Here's another SC question drawing on the modifier touch rule.
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/1174
When you submit your answer, the next page will have a full video explanation.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Mike

_________________

Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test Prep

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)

Signature Read More

Kudos

Bookmarks

egmat

e-GMAT Representative

Joined: 02 Nov 2011

Last visit: 11 Sep 2026

Posts: 6,327

GMAT Date: 08-19-2020

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 6,327

12 Oct 2012, 09:48

sachindia

isnt E also technically wrong

. empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

date and were fashioned are not parallel.

E gmat pls help.

Hi Sachindia,

I have seen this question many a times. And really speaking, this is one of those misconceptions - If we have active voice and and passive voice in a list, then that list cannot be parallel. But as I said, this is a misconception.

The cricket match started in the morning and was aired live across the country.
As you can see in this sentence - the two verbs - are in different voices. But this sentence is absolutely correct. The context of the verbs is such that they need to be in the specific voice to communicate the intended meaning.

Now if I were to change this sentence so as to force the verbs to have same voice, then I will end up making the sentence too long and imprecise.
The cricket match started in the morning and many leading TV networks aired it live across the country.
As you can see in this sentence, I have made the two verbs in same voice but to do that I had to add additional information - many leading TV networks. The focus on my original sentence was not on who aired the match live. The focus was only on the FACT that it WAS AIRED LIVE.

So both sentences are correct. The noteworthy thing is that - Your can have active voice parallel to passive voice - if the context allows.
In fact check out OG12#36. Analyze that sentence and see it in the light of this discussion here.

Do let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

Payal

_________________

Signature Read More

Kudos

Bookmarks

daagh

Major Poster

Joined: 19 Feb 2007

Last visit: 16 Oct 2020

Posts: 5,261

Status: enjoying

Location: India

WE:Education (Education)

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 5,261

04 May 2013, 04:53

This stony example isn’t that stony . Just follow the simple rule of correlative parallelism of ‘ either --- or’ conjunction and you will get the right choice popping up like Mount Everest in front of you The tenet of correlative //is that whatever is on the right of ‘either’ should be there on the right of ‘or’ also

A. empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or --- either from (preposition) or Gandharan stone ( noun )– wrong
B. empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from -- either the spotted sandstone or from --- either ( noun ) or (preposition) wrong
C. empire, either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or – either fashioned (past participle) or Gandharan (noun) –wrong
D. empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from ---either fashioned(past participle ) or from ( preposition) wrong
E. empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from --- either from(preposition ) or from (preposition) – correct structure. E is eventually:

_________________

Thank you Daagh for your time on GMAT Club and all your contributions! Thank you for everything you did!
Your work will remain a great tribute to you here on GMAT Club!
-bb

Signature Read More

Kudos

Bookmarks

russ9

Joined: 15 Aug 2013

Last visit: 20 Apr 2015

Posts: 168

05 May 2014, 17:58

Hi Shraddha,

Can you please explain a nagging issue:

1) If there is a comma separating two clauses, don't the two clauses need some sort of coordinating conjunction such as "and or but" and don't the two clauses need to be independent?

2) I eliminated A and B because the second part of the clause because it's not independent. Was that wrong?

3) What is the general rule when we have a comma with a coordinating conjunction. Conversely, what is the general rule when we have a comma without a coordinating conjunction?

Thanks!

Kudos

Bookmarks

vad3tha

Joined: 22 Feb 2009

Last visit: 15 Dec 2023

Posts: 106

17 Jul 2014, 23:45

OG's explanation

"Th e sentence makes two claims about the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India: They date from the Kushan Empire, and they are made from sandstone or schist. Th e clearest, most eff ective way to incorporate these two claims into a single sentence is to provide two parallel predicates for the single subject, the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India. Th e two options of media, presented as either/or choices, must also be given in parallel structure: either from … or from … or from either … or. …

A Placement of the modifi er fashioned … suggests that the Empire (the closest noun), not the images of the deities, was fashioned out of these materials; to parallel either from, the preposition from should also follow or.

B Parallelism requires that either precede the first appearance of from or that the second appearance of from be eliminated.

C As in A and B, the placement of the modifier after Empire is misleading; parallelism requires that the phrase fashioned from, or another comparable verb and preposition, follow or.

D Parallelism requires that a verb follow or, since a verb follows either.

E Correct. Two verbs, date and were fashioned, introduce parallel predicates for the subject, earliest known images; the choices of media are correctly presented with the structure either from … or from.

Kudos

Bookmarks

egmat

e-GMAT Representative

Joined: 02 Nov 2011

Last visit: 11 Sep 2026

Posts: 6,327

GMAT Date: 08-19-2020

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 6,327

18 Jul 2014, 07:32

russ9

Hi russ9,

I apologize for reverting so late. But then better late than never. :-)

Let's clarify all your doubts now.

1) Yes, your understanding is correct. Only a Comma CANNOT join two Independent Clause (IC). We need Comma + FANBOYS to join two ICs. These FANBOYS are called coordinating conjunctions.

2) I am afraid you did not eliminate Choices A and B for the right reasons. We CANNOT have ICs after comma. That will lead to incorrect sentence structure as only Comma will be joining two ICS. This is not possible. In Choices A, B, and C, modification of "fashioned" is not correct. The Verb-ed Modifiers in GMAT modifies the preceding Noun Entity. Here the preceding Noun Entity is "the Kushan Empire". Now this modification does not make sense because according to the intended meaning, the Empire was not made up of the mentioned material. The earliest known images were made of these materials.

3) Again, to reiterate, Comm + FANBOYS join only two ICs. Just a Comma can join an Independent Clause and a Dependent Clause.

Hope this helps. :-)

Thanks.
SJ

_________________

Signature Read More

Kudos

Bookmarks

ZoeHu

Joined: 27 Jul 2014

Last visit: 18 Sep 2014

Posts: 2

27 Jul 2014, 07:59

egmat

Good explanation

I am confused,
why can't we just regard the "fashioned either from the ...." as an adverbial modifier which modifies "known imagines " ?
Is the sentence make a sense If we reorganize it into "fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist, many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan Empire. "

Thx verrrrrry much

Kudos

Bookmarks

egmat

e-GMAT Representative

Joined: 02 Nov 2011

Last visit: 11 Sep 2026

Posts: 6,327

GMAT Date: 08-19-2020

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 6,327

28 Jul 2014, 11:14

ZoeHu

Hi ZoeHu,

Thanks very much for your appreciation. :-)

Any Verb-ed Modifier such as "fashioned" in this case is ALWAYS a Noun Modifier that modifies the preceding Noun Entity. If there is Verb between the Noun Entity intended to be modified and the Verb-ed Modifier, then this Verb-ed Modifier CANNOT jump over the Verb to modify that Noun Entity.

Hence, it is NOT possible for the Verb-ed Modifier "fashioned" to jump over the Verb "date" to modify "images".

However, we can certainly place this modifier, as you have suggested, in the beginning of the sentence. In that case, this Verb-ed Modifier will correctly modifiy the SUbject of the main clause "Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities". The sentence can be rewritten as:

Fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist, many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the
Kushan empire.

Hope this helps. :-)