Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities, which

Question

Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities,  which was characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations , and wonderful natural beauties.

(A) which was characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations

(B) which was characterized by ornate gold decorations and large populations

(C) which were characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations

(D) being characterized by ornate gold decorations and large populations

(E) characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations

Please explain why C is wrong?
moreover E doesnt makes sense.

Thanks

msk0657 · Answer

Meaning :Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities and these cities were characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations and wonderful natural.

Use WHICH only to refer to the noun immediately preceding it and never to refer to an entire clause.

Here which refers to the entire clause Conquistadors began destruction and this is characterized by something is wrong meaning and here cities are characterized by decoration and with large population. Hence here characterized is modifying the cities. Hence E is correct.

Hope it clears.

msk0657 · Answer

Cities (plural) so was is wrong and. Were is correct 
A : was 
B : was 
C : no error ( correct , which refers to cities also were used correctly relates with cities)
D: being 
E: characterised can refer to destruction (meaning ambiguity)

IMO C

You are correct which is a relative clause and it must be as Non essential cases and a comma before it.

Modifier rule for VERB-ED : Verb-ed modify the closet noun

For ex : The spaceship, designed to withstand to check the radiation of the Earth.

Designed ---- modify spaceship.

In our case, characterised modify the noun South American cities.

Here destruction is a verb and VERB-ED can't modify a verb.

Hope it clears...

alpham · Answer

'populations' in the plural form is incorrect. It is always 'population'. That's how I arrived to answer E. The meaning of the sentence I am not convinced what it describes since you can describe 'cities' as 'characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations, and wonderful natural beauties.'

sleepynut · Answer

Population could be either singular or plural corresponding to the context.

IMO,the underline part modifies "cities" and the clue is "decorations".It seems as if the intended meaning is to demonstrate variety of decoration;hence,the same should be applied to "populations".

Humbly request experts to confirm :-)

sayantanc2k · Answer

E could be correct if the modifier "characterized by...." referred to singular "city" - each city could have multiple decorations, large population (singular) and multiple beauties. However in absence of singular "city", the modifier seems to be problematic.

sleepynut · Answer

Hi  sayantanc2k ,
That's my doubt too,but the OA is E.Should it be C instead?

sayantanc2k · Answer

C seems to be better than E, unless we are overlooking some trap the author of this question might have set. (I am reluctant to dismiss option E outright, since this question is from Manhattan.)

nks2611 · Answer

please explain option c ,really confused over c and e

dnalost · Answer

My take on C vs E:
Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities, which were characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations. -- Here it says Conquistadors began destructing a cities which were characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations. In fact, when the destruction started, the cities are still characterized by it.  Use of 'were' makes it feel that it used to be characterized (event in past), but it is not characterized when the destruction began. Hence, Incorrect.

Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities, characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations -- Much more apt, the destruction was done to cities that characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations .

Hope it is clear. Do I make sense?

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

This is definitely not one of ours. It's from Manhattan Review (an unrelated group), and I don't think it's valid.

The original version actually uses "populations" in both C and E, and the official explanation eliminates C solely on the grounds of concision. This is not likely to happen on the GMAT. In fact, one could easily counter-argue that "which were" adds clarity, making it easier to see immediately that we are characterizing the cities rather than the destruction.

In any case, we definitely don't want the singular "population," but it looks as if that wasn't ever the author's intent.

Kevalkhanna , can you please change the attribution to Manhattan Review and pluralize "populations" in E?

daagh · Answer

I do not think either population or populations is a critical factor here. In any case, 'populations' is a legitimate plural form available in English and has been used conspicuously when a large number of diverse settings are to be described. Similarly, since, the 'cities' in fact refers to a number of diverse cities, populations is quite appropriate IMO.

For reference, pl look at this site, <https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/sentences-with-the-word/populations.html.>

In any case, if populations were incorrect, then all the choices are incorrect.

Next point. What can 'which' refer to? It can never refer to a clause. It can only precisely refer to a noun. At the most, it may refer to a slightly distant but nevertheless logical antecedent.

In context, 'which' cannot refer to anything other than cities. Because Conquistadors referring to the Spanish generals, who conquered Latin America, could not be ascribed to ornate decorations, natural beauties( not referring to humans, but to natural landscape) or large populations in the South American cities.

On that count, of course dropping 'which were' may be grammatically precise and good enough, but still isn't a decisive GMAT factor.

Bunuel · Answer

MANHATTAN REVIEW OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

The verb ‘was’ in A and B refers to ‘cities’. Therefore you should use ‘were’ not ‘was’. Eliminate A and B. Efficiency of language leads you to eliminate the ‘which were’ present in C. Although the word ‘were’ is not present in the sentence we have merely left it out to increase the efficiency of the language. “Being” in D connotes a continuous tense and is unnecesary in this sentence. E is therefore the correct answer.

ankitamundhra28 · Answer

I understand the meaning of the sentence, but why is there a comma between cities and characterized?
without the comma, the option made perfect sense as the right answer choice.

PriyankaPalit7 · Answer

I am still not convinced as to why C is incorrect.

The clause starting with which sounds like a non-essential modifier.

vasuca10 · Answer

Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities, which was characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations, and wonderful natural beauties.

(A) which was characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations -  INCORRECT as which is a relative pronoun modifier which modifies the preceding noun entity only and not the entire clause. Here which is modifying the noun South American cities implying that the South American cities was characterized which is not the intended meaning of the sentence. It is the destruction of South American cities characterized by three things 1) ornate gold decorations 2) large populations 3) wonderful natural beauties.

(B) which was characterized by ornate gold decorations and large populations -  INCORRECT, Same as Option A
 
(C) which were characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations  INCORRECT, Same as Option A

(D) being characterized by ornate gold decorations and large populations - INCORRECT , usage of being is not required here

(E) characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations -  CORRECT, conveys the intended meaning of the sentence

sahanas · Answer

can someone help me understand how the destruction is characterized by gold decorations large populations ?

abhi2707 · Answer

C and E both seem right..

point of ambiguity- C began the destruction of cities...but whether he was able to destroy the cities..is the question that should answer the problem of tense (explicitly to justify the usage of "were"). Using this point C can be eliminated and E can be accepted.

Arro44 · Answer

This is a tricky one indeed.

I ended up describing the conquistadores as natural beauties that were characterized by large populations...

E is right, although it is very easy to fall for C

Ritik25 · Answer

Yeah I see no reason why C isn't better than E, given that the modifier in C very clearly refers back to cities, whereas that in E can be argued to be ambiguous.

Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities, which

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Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities, which

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