The mountain valley, which in spring had appeared lush with

Question

The mountain  valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, but grew  brown as the frigid arctic weather moved south in October.

A) valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, but grew

B) valley had appeared lush with tall grass and grew

C) valley which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass grows

D) valley in the spring appeared lush with tall grass, but has grown

E) valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, grew

please explain

axl_oz · Answer

The mountain  valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, but grew  brown as the frigid arctic weather moved south in October. 

A) valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, but grew 

B) valley had appeared lush with tall grass and grew 

C) valley which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass grows 

D) valley in the spring appeared lush with tall grass, but has grown 

E) valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, grew 

I like D. Usually sentences having the word "which" (pronoun) I am quite vary of.... (according to Kaplan)!!!.D seems to be plain and simple and less wordy. "has grown" means it has already happened with the weather moving South in October. B does not have the words in Spring so I would eliminate it as the comparison of the grass color is being done in the backdrop of the climatic conditions.

haas_mba07 · Answer

E) valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, grew 

Verbs: 

a. had appeared 
b. grew
c. moved

As there are two verbs indicating actions which happened in two separate times in the past, the earliest one should be a "past perfect" tense while the later verb should be simple past.

In this case, "had appeared" is ok. "but grew" is incorrect as 

"The mountain valley but grew" is incorrect construction after skipping the intermediate part.

Therefore E.

buzzgaurav · Answer

I will also pick E.
It maintains the flow of the sentence.
The mountain valley,   which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass  , grew brown as the frigid arctic weather moved south in October.

In A, there's no need of '   but   ' in '  but grew  '
B misses out the spring part.
C is out because of '  grows   '
In D ,I don't like the construction '   but has grown   '

axl_oz · Answer

The mountain valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, but grew brown as the frigid arctic weather moved south in October. 

A) valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, but grew 

B) valley had appeared lush with tall grass and grew 

C) valley which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass grows 

D) valley in the spring appeared lush with tall grass, but has grown 

E) valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, grew 


I have read Kaplan's explanation that we should be a little vary (GMAT does not like usage of which) of the word "which" appearing in the sentence. I am not sure what the true explanation is... Is there any explanation to this....?

karlfurt · Answer

A) valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, but grew 
out : "but" not need

B) valley had appeared lush with tall grass and grew 
out : dont feel that "and" can be used w/ 2 different tenses

C) valley which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass grows 
out : grows definitely wrong

D) valley in the spring appeared lush with tall grass, but has grown 
out : "but" not need

E) valley, which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass, grew 
seems ok : correct tenses : spring<october<present.

Path · Answer

I go with E.
Disagree with D because a) has grown does not fit with moved and b)",but has grown..." is not || to rest of the sentence(?)

You need to be careful about the usage of which, If it referes to an action but here it clearly refers to valley.

GMATT73 · Answer

D incorrectly assumes that it is still fall.

(E) is a safe bet because of the past perfect + simple past verb structure. A GMAT favorite.

1:01

sharadGmat · Answer

E is good.. But ideally you need restrictive clause here.. i.e no commas..

sharadGmat · Answer

D is definitely wrong... 'in the spring' is located at wrong place..

u2lover · Answer

OA is E

OE:
Choice E eliminates the 'but' in the original wording and supplies the correct punctuation (namely, offsetting commas) for the modifying phrase 'which in spring had appeared lush with tall grass'.

Raghavender · Answer

Cud anyone please explain Y it cant be B, bcoz it also uses the same tenses...past perfect and simple past...

Yea /i agree that E is right, but jus had a small doubt lingering somewhere in the mind

sharadGmat · Answer

When there is past perfect(had) and a past tense, you need to show the continuity i.e one event happened after the other.. In case of B, there is no need of had. No 'had" as in - valley appeared lush with tall grass and grew - will be correct..

The mountain valley, which in spring had appeared lush with

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