The single-family house constructed by the Yana, a Native

Question

The single-family house constructed by the Yana, a Native American people who lived in what is now northern California, was conical in shape, its framework of poles overlaid with slabs of bark, either cedar or pine, and  banked with dirt to a height of  three to four feet.

A. banked with dirt to a height of 
B. banked with dirt as high as that of
C. banked them with dirt to a height of
D. was banked with dirt as high as
E. was banked with dirt as high as that of

Damager · Answer

The single-family house constructed by the Yana, a Native American people who lived in what is now northern California,  was conical in shape , its framework of poles overlaid with slabs of bark, either cedar or pine, and  banked with dirt to a height of three to four feet . 

A. banked with dirt to a height of 
B. banked with dirt as high as that of 
C. banked them with dirt to a height of 
D.  was banked with dirt as high as  
E. was banked with dirt as high as that of

tennis1ball · Answer

A for me. it modifies poles, so there should not be any "was".

Priyah · Answer

I was sure it was D till I scrolled below and read your post and now I am all confused!

Swagatalakshmi · Answer

"It" is either an expletive or a relative pronoun and never modifies anything. Reading too much of Kaplan's explanation can really screw your grammar funda

Very few "official explanations" actually use grammatical references to explain the correct usage. GMAT800 book has the worst possible explanations of official answers.

dwivedys · Answer

It as used above is not an expletive.

"Its" properly modifies the single-family house.

overlaid with slabs and banked with dirt are parallel and correct. A is alright.

dwivedys · Answer

Yes, case is one of the properties that pronouns have. Definitely sounds familiar.

You probably misunderstood what I wanted to say (or may be I did too).

tennis1ball · Answer

lol. sorry. my 'it' in my last post means the underlined part. i am sorry you hate Kaplan, but I love it. :roll:

saurabhmalpani · Answer

D is wrong because it's misleading "Dirt as high as "
A stands firm.

Saurabh Malpani

tennis1ball · Answer

"was" is wrong. it should be parallel to "overlaid", so 'was' can't be there.

and "as high as" is wrong too.

3 or 4 feet is already a height. u don't say 3 or 4 feet is high, because it is just a number, and it itself is already a height!

Do you say $4 is expensive? you don't. you say this piece of clothing is expensive. that stock is cheap. but u don't say $4 is cheap or $5 is expensive. A number is not expensive or cheap. Same applies here: a number is not high or low.

The single-family house constructed by the Yana, a Native

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