It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as of virtual

Question

It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as  of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has  the judgments of the art historian.

(A) of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has

(B) of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has

(C) it is of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as have

(D) it is of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors have played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as have

(E) it is of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as has

daagh · Accepted Answer

It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as  of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has  the judgments of the art historian.

(A) of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has

(B) of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has

(C) it is of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as have

(D) it is of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors have played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as have

(E) it is of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as has

A question of S-V number agreement 
First look at the inverted clause at the end, and one will see that 'has' is wrong for the plural judgments. By this, score alone eliminate choices A, B, and E.

Between C and D: Another instance of S-V mismatch in a different place. The taste is singular, and hence we need 'has played' as the verb. Only C uses the singular 'has' while D wrongly uses the plural 'have. C is the answer.

People must have been lucky to get this question in the hall in those pre-2000 days

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Grammatical Constructions + Parallelism

• A comma cannot join two independent clauses; such usage leads to the error of comma splice; to correct this error, the comma must be replaced with semicolon or comma followed by a conjunction such as "and", "but" etc.
• Any elements linked by a conjunction ("as" in this case) must be parallel.

A:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the singular verb "has" to refer to the plural noun "judgments". Further, Option A incorrectly uses a comma to join the independent clauses "It is characteristic ...American museum" and "the taste of local collectors has...art historian"; please remember, a comma cannot join two independent clauses; such usage leads to the error of comma splice; to correct this error, the comma must be replaced with semicolon or comma followed by a conjunction such as "and", "but" etc. Additionally, Option A fails to maintain parallelism between the clause "It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art" and the phrase "of virtually every great American museum"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("as" in this case) must be parallel.

B:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the singular verb "has" to refer to the plural noun "judgments". Further, Option B fails to maintain parallelism between the clause "It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art" and the phrase "of virtually every great American museum"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("as" in this case) must be parallel.

C:   Correct.  This answer choice correctly refers to the singular noun "taste" using the singular verb "has" and correctly uses the plural verb "have" to refer to the plural noun "judgments". Further, Option C correctly uses the "comma + conjunction ("that" in this sentence)" construction to join the independent clauses "It is characteristic ...American museum" and "the taste of local collectors has...art historian". Additionally, Option C maintains parallelism between the clauses "It is characteristic ...American museum" and "it is of virtually every great American museum".

D:  This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "taste" with the plural verb "have".

E:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the singular verb "has" to refer to the plural noun "judgments". Further, Option E incorrectly uses a comma to join the independent clauses "It is characteristic ...American museum" and "the taste of local collectors has...art historian"; please remember, a comma cannot join two independent clauses; such usage leads to the error of comma splice; to correct this error, the comma must be replaced with semicolon or comma followed by a conjunction such as "and", "but" etc.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Comma Splices and Run-ons" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~6 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOXi16shp-4

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

adkikani · Answer

Meaning:
The sentence presents few facts.
It says the characteristic of Metropolitan Museum of Art is similar to the characteristic of every great American museum.
We also get to know about the characteristic:

the taste  of local collectors  has played  at least as large a part in the formation of their collections 
as  has   the judgments  of the art historian.

the subject-verb pair for the first clause is correct, 
subject: the taste of local collectors
verb:has played

note that: the local collectors can not be subject since it lies in prepositional phrase starting with  of

The verb (has) for the second object is incorrect,
since it should be  have  to agree in number with object:  the judgements.  - plural

The taste (singular) and the judgements (plural) have played part in the formation of the collection of local collectors.

We need to maintain parallelism by usage of  it is

Correct, as mentioned in error analysis above.

Incorrect subject-verb number agreement.

generis   VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja   AjiteshArun  , hope my reference of  object  is correct in explanation.

surendrasaini1 · Answer

It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as  of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has  the judgments of the art historian.

(A) of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has ( as should follow a clause)( subject judgements should follow a plural verb)
 
(B) of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has ( same as in A)

(C)  it is of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as have ( correct)
 
(D)  it is of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors have played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as have ( taste is singular so verb should also be singular)

(E)  it is of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as has

will go with choice C 
i have a doubt, i request that somebody clarify it for me
 In option E, if we change the singular verb has to plural verb have, does the sentence become correct?

Thanks

daagh · Answer

sonu. 
Nope. the subject is the singular noun 'taste.' It can't take a plural verb 'have'. E is wrong because the singular verb 'has' is unable to stand for the plural 'judgments' in the latter part of the sentence.

surendrasaini1 · Answer

Sir, I do agree. 
if we change the verb for plural subject 'judgements' from has to have, does the option E become Correct?

Regards

aragonn · Answer

Official Explanation: 
In the corrected sentence, It is characteristic of should be paralleled by as it is of, and this parallel construction should be completed by that before the taste. . . . Choice A lacks these elements as well as noun-pronoun agreement (Museum . . . their) and noun-verb agreement (Judgments . . . has). Choice B rectifies only the missing that. Lack of agreement (taste . . . have) makes choice D wrong. Choice E needs that before the taste and as have in place of as has. C is the best answer.

daagh · Answer

Sonu, in that case, after your suggested change, the choice will be the same as C, the OA.

soapbolt · Answer

aragonn  Can you please explain why  that  is required for option C to be correct?

aragonn · Answer

soapbolt - Here is a post by GMATNinja on the usage of that. I think this will solve your query. https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... 43686.html

soapbolt · Answer

aragonn  this is what i understand after reading  GMATNinja  article (please correct me if my understanding is wrong).

It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art   that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as have the judgments of the art historian.

Bold part is main the clause and Italic part is its dependent clause. 
 That  is used at the beginning of the subordinate clause , to join the two clauses

Skywalker18 · Answer

It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as  of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has  the judgments of the art historian.

(A) of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has

(B) of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has

(B) of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of their collections as has - Subject-verb agreement issue - Since “judgments” is plural therefore, verb must also be plural ; "their collections" is incorrect

(C) it is of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as have - Correct

(D) it is of virtually every great American museum, that the taste of local collectors haveplayed at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as have

(E) it is of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as has

(E) it is of virtually every great American museum, the taste of local collectors has played at least as large a part in the formation of its collections as has - Subject-verb agreement issue - Since “judgments” is plural therefore, verb must also be plural ; that before the taste is necessary

Answer C

No, there is another difference between choices C and E- "that" before the taste. "That" is necessary here.
 Even if we change as has to as have, option E will be incorrect because we are joining 2 independent clauses "It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art" and "the taste of local collectors" without proper connectors.

ArupRS · Answer

GMATNinja ,  aragonn ,  GMATNinjaTwo ,  sudarshan22 ,  broall ,  generis ,  Vyshak ,  hazelnut ,  daagh

Dear experts.
I have another doubt. There is a split b/w option A &B and C, D & E.

of virtually every great American museum OR
it is of virtually every great American museum.

Which one is correct? Do we need "it is" or can be elided? If "it is" not required specifically then, and if the option b were ended with "have", then the option would have been correct.

Regards,
Arup

Rohit23 · Answer

Pay attention to the last part of the sentence. “…the judgments of…” Since “judgments” is plural therefore, verb must also be plural. “have” must be used.
A, B, and E: Use of “has” is incorrect.
D: “the taste”(singular) is followed by “have”(plural). Subject-verb agreement violated.
C: Subject-verb agreement maintained. Hence, C is the answer.

anbknaga · Answer

but 'comma that' can not be used right? Only comma which is correct usage? I am sorry if this is a silly question, I just started my SC prep.

sharathnair14 · Answer

Moderators/Experts! This is an important question, many people just like myself will likely have this doubt too. 
 GMATNinja ,  aragonn ,  GMATNinjaTwo ,  sudarshan22 ,  broall ,  generis ,  MikeScarn ,  hazelnut ,  daagh

daagh · Answer

Yes, one can certainly elide the first two words; after all, reducing an IC to an adverbial phrase is legal and even preferred in general. However, in the given context, ellipsis or no ellipsis, A and E are incorrect because both are comma-splice run-ons. 
 Perhaps B could be even better than C if the second 'has' is changed to the plural 'have' because it is two words fewer.

Rickooreo · Answer

Can you please shed some light on how to understand inverted verb. I though has will refer to part and hence should be singular. It will be great if you emphasize on two things:

1. Why wont it refer to part
2. How to understand there is inverted verb, especially if one is expected to solve SC in 1.5 minutes in exam, because the natural inclination is to look for subject before

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

The type of inverted verb structure that you see here involves a verb that...
... appears in the  second half of a parallel structure  along with its subject; (i.e., the two parallel parts are clauses that each contain a subject + verb)
... is a compound that contains a  helping verb .

Here are the basic ideas that govern these structures.

• If the subject of that latter verb is just a plain noun, or a noun followed only by a short modifier, then typical stylistic conventions   discourage   inverting the helping verb and root verb.

e.g.,
 My grandmother tends to collect far fewer souvenirs on trips abroad than  my grandfather does  .
You CAN write "...than does my grandfather"—but there's no actual reason to perform this inversion here, so good writers typically won't invert the verb.

BUT
• If the subject of that latter verb is  followed by a long modifier  (or long series of modifiers), then it's more common to  invert the helping verb and subject . (Only the helping verb appears in this second part; the core verb is the same as in the first part and thus needn't be repeated. If there are two different core verbs, there's no possible inverted structure of this type.)

e.g.,
 My grandmother tends to collect far fewer souvenirs on trips abroad than  does my grandfather, who will usually return home with musical instruments, clothing, and gifts for the whole family in extra luggage that he had to purchase to get everything home  .
If you don't see the rationale for inverting this verb, try NOT inverting it—which will mean placing "does" all the way over to the right, after that whole gigantic modifier—and you'll see how hard it is to understand that sentence on one read-through. That's the justification for verb inversion.

It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as of virtual

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It is characteristic of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as of virtual

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