A controversial figure throughout most of his public life, the Black

Question

A controversial figure throughout most of his public life, the Black leader Marcus Garvey advocated  that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom .

(A) that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom
(B) that some Blacks return to the African land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him
(C) that some Blacks return to Africa which was the land which symbolized the possibility of freedom to him
(D) some Black’s returning to Africa which was the land that to him symbolized the possibility of freedom
(E) some Black’s return to the land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him, Africa

daagh · Accepted Answer

Here is a classic case of how improper modification through misplaced word order or punctuation can play a disastrous role in meddling with the logical meaning of a given GMAT SC. Please note tht the passage in general means freedom to the Black tribe and not freedom to Garvey alone. Chocie, B, C and E can be thrown out for wrongly meaning to refer to freedom to Garvey by not setting off the modifier 'to him' in commas, thus essentializing the modification.

In D, the first pointer is the grammatical flaw of the absence of comma before which, a non-restrictive modifier. In addition, by singularizing Blacks to a single Black’s returning, the intended meaning is awfully distorted by implying that some individual Black’s return to Africa is going to symbolize the freedom to the entire race.

A is thus rendered the best with proper placement and treatment of the modifier and with the use of the present imperative subjunctive mood

bigoyal · Answer

IMO A.

With "advocate", "that" is required, as it represents a subjunctive construction. D and E are out for not starting with "that"

C is out, because of awkward use of "which" twice in "Africa which was the land which symbolized". I would have prefer a present participle form -ing instead of symbolized.

B is out, as the modifier is ambiguously defined. Not sure if "symbolizing the possibility..." is modifying the noun "the African land" or the whole phrase "some Blacks return to the African land"

KarishmaB · Answer

PanpaliaAnshul

What does the sentence want to tell you? That Marcus advocated something. What is 'something'? Some Blacks should return to Africa. To him, Africa symbolised the possibility of freedom

(D) and (E) are incorrect straight away because of Black's. What we want to say is plural Blacks, not possessive Black's.

When we have "to him" at the end, it could mean that Africa symbolized the possibility of freedom to him only. But actually what he wanted to say was that Africa symbolises the possibility of freedom to all Blacks. It didn't offer freedom to only Marcus. As per Marcus it offered freedom to all Blacks.

Hence (A) is much better. Also, (C) is quite convoluted with multiple uses of 'which'.

sudeep · Answer

Agree with you, B seems now incorrect. I was confused b/w A and B, and liked symbolizing better than symbolized. So, chose B. while choosing B, 'to him' also seems incorrect in B, still went for it.

Can someone explain in B, to what 'symbolizing' is referring to? I feel that it is correctly referring to the 'The African Land' but the placement of 'to him' is incorrect. Any takers?

kairoshan · Answer

A

(a) land that, to him, symbolized the possibility ' modifies Africa, and a prepositional phrase 'to him' is separated by commas to show verb 'symbolized' is modifying land.
(b) 'African land symbolizing' distorts the meaning of the sentence.
(c) 'which was the land which symbolized' is wordy and awkward. 
(d) 'advocated that' should be followed by subject and verb. no verb is presented. 'some Black’s returning to Africa' is awkward. 
(e) wrong for same reason as d.

vinzycoolfire · Answer

that does not rule out A as there is nothing wrong with return.
present tense--- he adovates the return
past tense--- he advocated the return.
the verb to be conjugated is advocate , not return.
IMO A

daagh · Answer

The key here is the phrase,  ‘to him’ ; It is used to mean ‘ according to him’  and is therefore set off within commas. Without the use of commas, the phrase modifies freedom and thus erroneously means freedom to the Black leader. That is why we have to reject B, C and E, notwithstanding other aberrations inherent in them.

In A, it may be noted that the verb ‘ return ’ is used in the imperative form of present subjunctive mood. ‘ Advocated ’ is one of the so called bossy words here, coming as they are from a leader of the status of Marcus Garvey. Hence let there be no be no doubt about the use of the word ‘return’ in choice A. In D, the use of the gerund ‘returning’ is too awkward to consider. A wins after all.

tomcal36dc · Answer

A controversial figure throughout most of his public life, the Black leader Marcus Garvey advocated that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom.

(A) that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom
 looks good --> leave it 
(B) that some Blacks return to the African land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him
 changes meaning --> the african land symbolizing doesn't really explain exactly which land, but the original sentence has an intended meaning that Africa is the land 
(C) that some Blacks return to Africa which was the land which symbolized the possibility of freedom to him
 using which twice is poor word choice 
(D) some Black’s returning to Africa which was the land that to him symbolized the possibility of freedom
(E) some Black’s return to the land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him, Africa
 D and E - advocates is a directive verb so it needs to be followed either by "that" + a verb in root form, or by an infinitive verb. neither are present here

Must be A

daagh · Answer

I wish to point out one factor of GMAT SC i.e. the importance or word order, an aspect that has been missed out in the posts.

Why are B C and E wrong? Because all of them state – f reedom to hi m as though Garvey was talking about freedom to his personal self. However, the text means freedom for all the Blacks. Clubbing of the phrase  ‘to him’  along with  freedom  is wrong word order.

Of course, this leaves out A and D, between which A is better because of using the present subjunctive verb ‘  that Blacks return’  rather than the incongruous gerund  ‘Black’s returning’.  The apostrophe plus s denotes that  Black  is used in singular rather than –“ Blacks ’” in plural.

Hope this gives one more insight into this topic now.

Aj85 · Answer

the bossy verb advocate indicates that subjunctive mood may be tested.

B ) the construction of this sentence is such that it looks as if there is particular part of africa that symbolises possibility of freedom to Marcus Garvey. Not Africa in general.

c) which was the land which. The second which is definitely wrong as it is part of restrictive clause. It should have been that.

D and E are out for using 'black's' , possessive is not needed here.

A, B and C use subjunctive but B & C introduce some errors. A is wordy but still best of the lot. So A is correct.

rakp · Answer

In A, is it alright to use comma right after 'that'?

that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom

thevenus · Answer

(A) that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom-PERFECT.
(B) that some Blacks return to the African land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him-WHO IS SYMBOLIZING?BLACKS? INCORRECT
(C) that some Blacks return to Africa which was the land which symbolized the possibility of freedom to him-TWICE"WHICH"IS INCORRECT.
(D) some Black’s returning to Africa which was the land that to him symbolized the possibility of freedom-BLACK'S RETURNING IS INCORRECT.
(E) some Black’s return to the land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him, Africa-BLACK'S RETURN IS INCORRECT.

+1 for (E)

uledssul · Answer

A controversial figure throughout most of his public life, the Black leader Marcus Garvey advocated  that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom.

(A) that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom
Answer

(B) that some Blacks return to the African  land symbolizing  the possibility of freedom  to him 
Meaning distortion

(C) that some Blacks return to Africa which was the land which symbolized the possibility of freedom  to him 
Meaning distortion

(D)  some Black’s returning  to Africa which was the land that to him symbolized the possibility of freedom
Meaning distortion

(E) some Black’s return to the land symbolizing  the possibility of freedom  to him,  Africa 
a wrong modifier

myvitalsign · Answer

I got (A). Here's how I went about tackling this problem:

(A) that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom -  didn't seem like the best answer, but nothing grammatically wrong 
(B) that some Blacks return to the African land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him -  "symbolizing the possibility of freedom" is applied to Some Blacks' return to Africa, which is distorts the meaning 
(C) that some Blacks return to Africa which was the land which symbolized the possibility of freedom to him -  the usage of "which" twice is awkward 
(D) some Black’s returning to Africa which was the land that to him symbolized the possibility of freedom -  the usage of a gerund (returning) preceding the possessive noun is correct, but it's missing "that," which should follow after "advocated" 
(E) some Black’s return to the land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him, Africa -  word order is awkward and the sentence is missing "that" preceding the possessive noun

Feel free to comment if any of my explanation is questionable!

pqhai · Answer

Hi rakp

As far as I know, there is a rule that requires you   Not  to put a comma  before "that"  between essential modifiers and their nouns  .

**But there is also an exception rule: if there is a  short and non-essential  phrase intervenes ==> the comma before "that" is acceptable.
For example: I love eating fruit, such as orange, that has plenty of vitamin C. 
Because "such as orange" is short and non-essential phrase ==> you could put it between noun "fruit" and "that".

However, I do not know any rule that requires "no comma" after "that". So A is correct.

Hope it helps.

honchos · Answer

Hope this may Help everyone, I studied this from e-gmat, which is an Excellent Resource.

Demand/Request/Recommend word +THAT + Subject+ Subjunctive Verb

1. Demand
2. dictate
3. Insist
4. Mandate
5. Propose
6. Recommend
7. Request
8. Stipulate
9. Suggest

Subjunctive Exceptions (to form is used)

1. Advice
2. Allow
3. Forbid
4. Persuade
5. Want

Subjunctive or to verb both

1. Ask
2. Beg
3. Desire
4. Intend
5. Order
6. Prefer
7. Require
8. Urge

CounterSniper · Answer

(A) that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that,to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom  
Correct !!
(B)that some Blacks return to the  African land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him

(C)that some Blacks return to Africa  which was the land which symbolized the  possibility of freedom to him
Which must be preceded by a comma

(D) some B1ack's returning to Africa which  was the land that to him symbolized the possibility of freedom
change in meaning

(E) some B1ack's return to the land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him,Africa 
Awkward construction and possessive

IMO A

MBAPrepCoach · Answer

I first go to the choices and then look vertically at the differences, comparing one element at a time.
 Advocated that some blacks vs. advocated some Black’s. When in doubt about the intended meaning, lean on A. 
Definitely Blacks vs. Black’s. Eliminate D and E.  
 A/B/C. I like to work with the end of each choice. Possibility of freedom vs. possibility of freedom to him. 
Again, when in doubt about the intended meaning, lean on A. For that reason, “freedom to him” has to go. Eliminate B/C.

A is the answer

Divyadisha · Answer

Looking at the meaning of sentence, it looks as the sentence is intended to say:-

Blacks return to Africa. To the mentioned leader, this return to the land symbolized the possibility of freedom.

D and E are out because of 'Black's'

(B)that some Blacks return to the African land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him.  'Symbolizing' modifies 'land' incorrectly. Also freedom 'to him' is not desired. 
 
(C)that some Blacks return to Africa which was the land which symbolized the possibility of freedom to him.  freedom 'to him' is not desired.

A controversial figure throughout most of his public life, the Black

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A controversial figure throughout most of his public life, the Black

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