Cajuns speak a dialect brought to southern Louisiana by the 4,000

Question

Cajuns speak a dialect brought to southern Louisiana by the 4,000 Acadians who migrated there in 1755; their language is basically seventeenth-century French  to which has been added English, Spanish, and Italian words .

(A) to which has been added English, Spanish, and Italian words
(B) added to which is English, Spanish, and Italian words
(C) to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added 
(D) with English, Spanish, and Italian words having been added to it
(E) and, in addition, English, Spanish, and Italian words are added

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/25/archives/cajun-language-textbook-seen-as-helping-to-preserve-culture.html

His textbook concentrates on Cajun French as spoken in Vermilion Parish, where his own family settled. Cajun French there, as in the other parishes settled by the 4,000 Acadians who migrated to southern Louisiana in 1755, is basically 17th century French,  with a mixture of other words, English, Spanish, Italian .

souvik101990 · Accepted Answer

Concept tested : Parallelism, Pronouns, SV agreement.
 Difficulty level : High
 Illustration: The main subjects in the underlined portion are the three language words which need
a plural verb. 
 This instantly eliminates A and B which contain singular verb . 
 D uses the “having been construction” which is not applicable here (see tip below)  
 E uses redundant construction by using “added” after the phrase “in addition”.  
 C is the correct answer

Tip: The “having been” or “having verb-ed” construction is used to indicate
implications. This can be illustrated with examples.

Having failed in his final exam, John did not get promoted.
Having been ill for a couple of weeks, James could not go attend his music classes.

daagh · Answer

I am no great expert either, but still may I join the party? 
 First thing, which or to which, in essence means the same thing and has no impact on what follows. Coming to the structure part of this sentence, this just a reversed form of writing wherein the verb appears before the simple subject or the compound subject as in this case. All compound subjects are as a matter of rule are plural nouns. 
Now we can see each choice in terms of subject-verb agreement and redundancy.

(A) to which has been added English, Spanish and Italian words
(B) added to which is English, Spanish, and Italian words
(C) to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added

Is the use of which correct in all the above options? If yes then what is which referring to?

(B) added to which is English, Spanish, and Italian words ----  English, Spanish, and Italian words is added to which ( which refers to French ) S-V error 
 
(C) to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added ---  English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added to which --( which refers to French )- the right one

(D) to which English, Spanish, and Italian words having been added to it-----  English, Spanish, and Italian words having been added to it, to which; In addition having been added is no complete verb -- the expression, ‘to which and to it’ muddles the structure by redundancy 
 
(E) and, in addition, English, Spanish, and Italian words are added -----  and, in addition, English, Spanish, and Italian words are added ‘In addition are added is sheer redundancy The second doubt is whether those words are still being added. There is no idea about the same in the choice

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem: 
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that Cajun is basically seventeenth-century French to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Tenses + Redundancy/Awkwardness

• The present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.
• The simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

A:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the singular verb “has been added” to refer to the plural noun “words”.

B:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the singular verb “is” to refer to the plural noun “words”. Further, Option B incorrectly uses the past participle ("added" in this case) verb phrase “added to which” to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present. Additionally, Option B uses the passive voice construction “added to which is”, rendering it awkward and needlessly indirect.

C:   Correct.  This answer choice correctly uses the plural verb “have been added” to refer to the plural noun “words. Further, Option C correctly uses the adjective phrase “to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added” to modify the noun “seventeenth-century French”, conveying the intended meaning - that Cajun is basically seventeenth-century French to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added. Additionally, Option C correctly uses the present perfect tense verb “have been added” to refer to an event that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present. Besides, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D:  This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase “having been added to it”, leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E:  Trap. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the independent clause “English, Spanish, and Italian words are added”; the construction of this clause leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that Cajun is basically seventeenth-century French to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb “are added” to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by "has/have") is the correct tense to refer to actions that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature. Additionally, Option E redundantly uses “and” alongside “in addition”.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

Additional Note:  Some students may think that the verb phrase "have been added" is a present perfect continuous phrase, but this is not the case. Rather, this usage is simply the passive voice version of the present perfect tense verb phrase "have added". The key in differentiating between the two here is the meaning of the sentence; according to the sentence, the Cajun language that exists today is seventeenth-century French to which English, Spanish, and Italian words were added at some point in the past. The addition of these words occurred and concluded in the past, but it continues to affect the present because this addition formed a language, Cajun, spoken today.

To understand the concept of "Present Perfect Continuous Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeqkwGHWoQQ

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

rajeevrks27 · Answer

the sentence doesn't demand a present perfect tense because we are not showing the continuity of the activity of adding(that the addition of words is still on)...so i prefer C over E...however in the absence of C(d answer choice with the modification) i will choose present perfect tense....i.e have been....simply because this option is the best out of the rest...

maddyboiler · Answer

(A) to which has been added English, Spanish and Italian words
(B) added to which is English, Spanish, and Italian words
(C) to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added

Is the use of which correct in all the above options? If yes then what is which referring to?

egmat · Answer

Hi there, The relative pronoun "which" correctly refers to "seventeenth-century" French as this is the closest noun to this relative pronoun modifier. It is French to which many words from different languages have been added. Hence, there is no ambiguity in the reference of "which". Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

imhimanshu · Answer

Cajuns speak a dialect brought to southern Louisiana by the four thousand Acadians who migrated there in 1755; their language is basically seventeenth-century French  to which has been added English, Spanish and Italian words.

(A) to which has been added English, Spanish and Italian words 
(B) added to which is English, Spanish, and Italian words 
(C) to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added
(D) to which English, Spanish, and Italian words having been added to it
(D) and, in addition, English, Spanish, and Italian words are added

Hi Experts,

I would like to understand the following doubts:

1- What kind of construction is this? to which has been added English, Spanish and Italian words.
2- In choice D, what is the error. Also, having been added to it is Noun Modifier, Is it modifying Italian words or English,Spanish and Italian words combined. 
Please post your reasoning.

Regards,
H

P.S
Since I couldn't find satisfactory explanation of this question, I thought of posting it as a new post. Moreover, the question posted earlier has some tweaks involved and that wasn't serving purpose.

pqhai · Answer

Hi imhimanshu. I'm not an expert, but just want to share my understanding.

There are two types of "which" modifier. 
(1) Noun + which + Verb; 
(2) Noun + Preposition (on/in/by) + which + Clause.

Examples: 
Type (1): The table  which  is near the door is broken. ==>  After Which is Verb 
Type (2): The table  on which  the cat lies ==>  After Which is Noun
 
In your question,  "their language is basically seventeenth-century French  to which has been added  English, Spanish and Italian words" . You can see the grammar is wrong because "To + Which + Verb" is incorrect grammar. 
The correct one should be: 
"their language is basically seventeenth-century French  to which English, Spanish and Italian words have been added ."
OR 
"their language is basically seventeenth-century French  which has been added English, Spanish and Italian words to ."

D is wrong because:
- "have been added" is wrong modifier because  English, Spanish and Italian words cannot add to French by themselves, they must be added  ==> The use of "V+ing" modifier is wrong.
- The use of "it" at the end is redundant. It should be eliminated.

Hope my post helps.

suyash23n · Answer

For the question posted, i would go for C. I can't understand why present perfect is used. However, i see in the OG, we do not have same options as they are in the original post ( already mentioned by the author), and hence want to know, if we use "were" instead of "are", would you still prefer option E.
It would be great if you can explain.

egmat · Answer

Hi Suyash, I’m not sure if you are still looking for a response on this question. But here it is anyway.

You have correctly identified that the correct answer for the posted question is option C i.e. “to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added.” Now, to find out why the present perfect tense is used here, let’s try to understand the meaning of the sentence: • Cajuns speak a dialect brought to southern Louisiana by the 4,000 Acadians o who migrated there in 1755; • their language is basically seventeenth-century French o to which has been added English, Spanish, and Italian words . MEANING So, the sentence tells us about a dialect that Cajuns speak. This dialect was brought to southern Louisiana by 4,000 Arcadians in 1755. It also tells us that the language of the Arcadians is basically seventeenth-century French. English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added to this language. Now, the reason for using the present perfect tense is that these words have been added over a long time. The action of adding words to a language happens with the evolution of the language. We use the present perfect tense to refer to an action that started in the past and has continued into the present. So, the use of this tense is correct in the context of this sentence. The intended meaning here is that these words have been added to the language over the course of time. Option E If we use ‘are/were added’ as the verb in this sentence, that means the action of adding these words happened at a certain point of time. Now, since there is no point of time mentioned in the sentence, we cannot use ‘were added’. Also, this option has two more errors: Meaning Error: It’s not clear what the words are added to. Logically we know that these words are added to the seventeenth-century French, but it’s not mentioned in this option. Redundancy Error: The phrase ‘in addition’ and the word ‘and’ both are used in the sentence to provide some additional information. So, one of them is redundant here. Hope this helps!

Regards, Deepak

09173140521 · Answer

why french is not subject ? and I do not know why "has been" is incorrect !!! french can be singular and has been added to that .
... I am confusing

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  09173140521 , to identify the verb, the easiest way to to ask  question  to the verb. So, here you would ask:

What  has/have been added?

The most logical answer is:  English, Spanish, and Italian words .

Hence,  words  is the subject and is  plural .

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses rules for  identifying subject , their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

saby1410 · Answer

AjiteshArun 
Why subject "which" isn't there which is referring to french should act as singular
Why option A incorrect

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  saby1410 ,

Yes, the  to which  is referring to  seventeenth-century  French  , but that is not the subject of the verb in option C. The actual subject of   have  been added  is  English, Spanish, and Italian  words  .

1.  ... seventeenth-century French to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added.

It may be easier to see this if we look at (1) as:

2.   English, Spanish, and Italian  words     have  been added  to seventeenth-century French.  ← Ask yourself "what has been added?" (a)  English, Spanish, and Italian  words   or (b)  seventeenth-century  French  ?

The structure has changed, but we can see that the subject ( words ) of the verb is plural. This is why option A is incorrect. It uses a singular verb ( has been added ) for a plural subject ( words ).

Tanchat · Answer

Why is (D) incorrect?
Can anyone please explain in detail?

Posted from my mobile device

Tanchat · Answer

In (D) “having been added” is passive why it can not be used ?

Posted from my mobile device

BLTN · Answer

Dear  Tanchat 
Passive voice structure is following
Have/Has + been + V3

Can you spot the difference from “having been added” ? Were is working verb ?

"Having been" construction illustrates cause & result.
As alluded souvik101990: Having failed in his final exam, John did not get promoted.

In your case it will be fragment.

Sneha2021 · Answer

KarishmaB GMATNinja

Can you please help me understand the sentence structure?
I am confused with the usage of "to which". Can you share few example to explain usage of "to which", "on/by/in which".

Is it "to which" similar to "which" or other pronoun?

Cajuns speak a dialect brought to southern Louisiana by the 4,000 Acadians who migrated there in 1755; their language is basically seventeenth-century French to which has been added English, Spanish, and Italian words.

Thank you

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

The degree to which... https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-degree-t ... 65196.html May also be worth a quick read: https://gmatclub.com/forum/usage-of-of- ... 36336.html -gmatknight

Cajuns speak a dialect brought to southern Louisiana by the 4,000

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

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Cajuns speak a dialect brought to southern Louisiana by the 4,000

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