Some of the tenth-century stave churches of Norway are still

Question

Some of the tenth-century stave churches of Norway are still  standing, demonstrating that with sound design and maintenance, wooden buildings can last indefinitely .

(A) standing, demonstrating that with sound design and maintenance, wooden buildings can last indefinitely
(B) standing, demonstrating how wooden buildings, when they have sound design and maintenance, can last indefinitely
(C) standing; they demonstrate if a wooden building has sound design and maintenance it can last indefinitely
(D) standing, and they demonstrate wooden buildings can last indefinitely when there is sound design and maintenance
(E) standing, and they demonstrate how a wooden building can last indefinitely when it has sound design a

RaviChandra · Answer

standing, demonstrating that with sound design and maintenance, wooden buildings can last indefinitely

the OA is A
but if we consider A
demonstrating that with sound design and maintenance
is a modifier which is in double commas so it only gives an extra information in other words it can be removed and the rest of the sentence should stand.

Some of the tenth-century stave churches of Norway are still standing,[strike]demonstrating that with sound design and maintenance[/strike], wooden buildings can last indefinitely.

i dont think it makes sense.

so if we think its not a an extra info it should have a verb. there is no verb in
demonstrating that with sound design and maintenance

Please Explain Guys

TommyWallach · Answer

Hey Guys,

I see there was another thread on this, but there are threads on just about everything. It's still worth discussing!

Some of the tenth-century stave churches of Norway are still standing, demonstrating that with sound design and maintenance, wooden buildings can last indefinitely.

(A) standing, demonstrating that with sound design and maintenance, wooden buildings can last indefinitely
Answer

(B) standing, demonstrating how wooden buildings, when they have sound design and maintenance, can last indefinitely
PROBLEM: "how wooden buildings can last" would imply that the fact that the churches are standing actually shows IN WHAT WAY the buildings can last. But it's merely demonstrating the fact THAT the buildings are still standing. It's also very ugly to interrupt the "wooden buildings can last.." phrase with a relative modifier on buildings (though I wouldn't argue it's necessarily wrong).

(C) standing; they demonstrate if a wooden building has sound design and maintenance it can last indefinitely
PROBLEM: You can't "demonstrate if" something. The semicolon is fine.

(D) standing, and they demonstrate wooden buildings can last indefinitely when there is sound design and maintenance
PROBLEM: No need for the comma before "and". You can't "demonstrate  ". You need some weird inbetween. Also unclear to say "there is sound design and maintenance". We'd prefer to describe how the buildings have sound design and maintenance.

(E) standing, and they demonstrate how a wooden building can last indefinitely when it has sound design and maintenance
PROBLEM: Comma before "and" again. "How" issue again.

Hope that helps!

-tommy

seekmba · Answer

Hi Tommy, if we remove the portion between commas in (A), the sentence does not make sense. Would you mind commenting on the same.

TommyWallach · Answer

Hey Seekmba,

Aha. Be careful here. Often times when there are two commas in a sentence, it signifies a modifier, in which case the sentence should make sense without it. But that's not what's going on here:

Some of the tenth-century stave churches of Norway are still standing,

--> The bracket phrase is a participial phrase modifying the entire preceding clause (it's a result of the fact that the churches are still standing).

() --> This last phrase is just a result of the ordering of the sentence. The prepositional phrase "with sound design and maintenance" is modifying "wooden buildings", and that modifier wants a comma in-between the two.

Someone else said they weren't convinced by this one. Any particular thing that doesn't have you convinced? Is it the explanation of why B is wrong? I promise, it's as I described. "Demonstrate that..." means that whatever comes after the "that" is what you're proving. For example "I demonstrated that the sun was made of fire." On the other hand, "Demonstrate how..." can only explain the exact way in which something happened. For example, "I demonstrated how to make water from ice." B doesn't make sense with "how", because it's not describing a method, only a fact.

Hope that helps!

-t

MBAhereIcome · Answer

actually it is not the "double comma" that you are referring to. this is a case of superficial parallelism, as mgmt calls it. have a look at only the below part and you'll understand the structure.

.. demonstrating that with sound design, wooden buildings can last indefinitely.

onedayill · Answer

my 2 cents:

B - incorrect - use of when is wrong

C - incorrect - wrong use of semicolon

D, E - incorrect - changing the meaning, illogically suggesting that churches demonstrate

Akshay. · Answer

I agree (A) makes perfect sense from a meaning perspective. However, I was just confused with the structure. 2 ICs combined with a comma.

Some  of the tenth-century stave churches of Norway  are still  standing, demonstrating that with sound design and maintenance,  wooden buildings can  last indefinitely.

Please correct me.

with x, y can be written as X with Y.

daagh   VeritasKarishma

daagh · Answer

Akshay

To think that the two commas decide the essentiality of a modifier is reflex reaction. You must decide such deeply meaning- based things, only after removing them and validating with the intended meaning. In the context, if one removes the parenthesis, one will get only some meaningless jumble of words, disparate of each other clause. Therefore, the participle modifier starting with demonstrating is an essential one.

Together with the verb+ing word, the second part is an adverbial modifier modifying the previous clause. It may be noted that the relative pronoun 'that' makes the whole clause a subordinate clause and therefore it is not an IC.

We should also appreciate that without ''sound design and maintenance', the intended core meaning is lost.

KarishmaB · Answer

The sentence is not connecting two independent clauses. 
"demonstrating that ..." is a present participle modifier modifying the entire preceding sentence.

Yes, you can reword it like this for clarity:

Some  of the tenth-century stave churches of Norway  are still  standing, demonstrating that  wooden buildings can  last indefinitely with sound design and maintenance.
Though, it is not very clear here that "with sound design and maintenance" is the reason wooden buildings last indefinitely.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

Some of the tenth-century stave churches of Norway are still

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Some of the tenth-century stave churches of Norway are still

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards