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555-605 (Medium)|   Parallelism|   Subject Verb Agreement|                     
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TheUltimateWinner
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 16 Nov 2022, 16:25
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 900–400 b.c., waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest to the fact that the Mesoamerican ballgame was well established by the mid-thirteenth century b.c.

(A) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest
(B) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests
(C) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and ceramics painted with representations of ballplayers found at San Lorenzo attests
(D) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests
(E) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest
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Hi Expert, is there anything i am missing here?
A) painted modifies representations of ballplayers
C) painted modifies ceramics
E) painted modifies both the finding waterlogged latex balls and the finding of representations
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 17 Nov 2022, 00:38
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Quote:
While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 900–400 b.c., waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest to the fact that the Mesoamerican ballgame was well established by the mid-thirteenth century b.c.

(A) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest
(B) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests
(C) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and ceramics painted with representations of ballplayers found at San Lorenzo attests
(D) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests
(E) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest
Hi Expert, is there anything i am missing here?
A) painted modifies representations of ballplayers
C) painted modifies ceramics
E) painted modifies both the finding waterlogged latex balls and the finding of representations
Show more


Hey TheUltimateWinner

Happy to help.

You're right about A and C, but not about E.


In E, 'painted' modifies 'representations', just as it does in choice A. The structure of E is:

    The finding of A and of B attest to...

    Where B = representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo.


The salient errors in choice E are:

    1. SVA Error: Finding -> attests
    2. Meaning Error: The finding does not attest. The latex balls and the representations attest...
    3. Meaning Distortion: The ceramics were found at San Lorenzo, the representations were not painted (on ceramics) at San Lorenzo.


I hope this answers your query.


Happy Learning!

Abhishek :)
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 21 Nov 2022, 11:15
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Quote:
While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 900–400 b.c., waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest to the fact that the Mesoamerican ballgame was well established by the mid-thirteenth century b.c.

(A) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest
(B) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests
(C) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and ceramics painted with representations of ballplayers found at San Lorenzo attests
(D) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests
(E) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest
Hi Expert, is there anything i am missing here?
A) painted modifies representations of ballplayers
C) painted modifies ceramics
E) painted modifies both the finding waterlogged latex balls and the finding of representations


Hey TheUltimateWinner

Happy to help.

You're right about A and C, but not about E.


In E, 'painted' modifies 'representations', just as it does in choice A. The structure of E is:

    The finding of A and of B attest to...

    Where B = representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo.


The salient errors in choice E are:

    1. SVA Error: Finding -> attests
    2. Meaning Error: The finding does not attest. The latex balls and the representations attest...
    3. Meaning Distortion: The ceramics were found at San Lorenzo, the representations were not painted (on ceramics) at San Lorenzo.


I hope this answers your query.


Happy Learning!

Abhishek :)
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Hello egmat
Thanks for the reply, but I think that the choice E says like below..
(E) the finding [of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers] painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest
It seems that the the finding and painted need to be applied to both waterlogged latex balls and representations of ballplayers

AjiteshArun, GMATNinja, MartyTargetTestPrep, RonPurewal
Can you join the discussion, please? Actually, these types of modifier hurt me a lot!
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 21 Nov 2022, 11:37
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Just looking at the answer choices, attest and attests forms of verb tell us about subject verb disagreement in option B C & D- so eliminate.

Option E - parallelism error - finding and painted can not co.e together - eliminate E.

A is the correct which use accurate Parallelism.

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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 23 Nov 2022, 04:39
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 900–400 b.c., waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest to the fact that the Mesoamerican ballgame was well established by the mid-thirteenth century b.c.

(A) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest
(B) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests
(C) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and ceramics painted with representations of ballplayers found at San Lorenzo attests
(D) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests
(E) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest

Thanks for the reply, but I think that the choice E says like below..
(E) the finding [of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers] painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest
It seems that the the finding and painted need to be applied to both waterlogged latex balls and representations of ballplayers
Show more



Hey TheUltimateWinner

You're analysis is incorrect, unfortunately. You've placed the parentheses in the wrong place:

Choice E: The finding [of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati] and [of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo] attest ...

This is why "painted" modifies the noun "representations", the closest and most logical modified entity.


Hope this helps.

Best,

Abhishek
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 23 Nov 2022, 13:20
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Hello egmat
Thanks for the reply, but I think that the choice E says like below..
(E) the finding [of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers] painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest
It seems that the the finding and painted need to be applied to both waterlogged latex balls and representations of ballplayers

AjiteshArun, GMATNinja, MartyTargetTestPrep, RonPurewal
Can you join the discussion, please? Actually, these types of modifier hurt me a lot!
Show more
If that were the case, we'd have "the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo." So they found a thing at one place... painted on ceramics at another place? So what was painted on the ceramics? Scenes from El Manati with some little waterlogged latex balls scattered about? And the balls were painted in such a way that researchers thousands of years later were able to discern that those balls -- painted on ceramics -- were waterlogged? That's a HUGE stretch.

It makes a lot more sense that they found one thing at one place and another thing at another place: "the finding of [X] at [Place 1] and of [Y] at [Place 2] attest..."

More importantly, (E) has a subject-verb agreement error, so it really doesn't deserve any further analysis. ;)

I hope that helps!
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 01 Dec 2022, 12:53
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Hello egmat
Thanks for the reply, but I think that the choice E says like below..
(E) the finding [of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers] painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest
It seems that the the finding and painted need to be applied to both waterlogged latex balls and representations of ballplayers

AjiteshArun, GMATNinja, MartyTargetTestPrep, RonPurewal
Can you join the discussion, please? Actually, these types of modifier hurt me a lot!
If that were the case, we'd have "the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo." So they found a thing at one place... painted on ceramics at another place? So what was painted on the ceramics? Scenes from El Manati with some little waterlogged latex balls scattered about? And the balls were painted in such a way that researchers thousands of years later were able to discern that those balls -- painted on ceramics -- were waterlogged? That's a HUGE stretch.

It makes a lot more sense that they found one thing at one place and another thing at another place: "the finding of [X] at [Place 1] and of [Y] at [Place 2] attest..."

More importantly, (E) has a subject-verb agreement error, so it really doesn't deserve any further analysis. ;)

I hope that helps!
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GMATNinja
So, are you meaning that
the finding of [X] at [Place 1] and the finding of [Y] at [Place 2]--> just 2 findings? if this is the case then we got a subjects, consists of 2 things. That means subject-verb agreement is ok-we don't need an 's' after 'attest'. Maybe I am missing something that you want to mean? Sorry for that..
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 02 Dec 2022, 10:56
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So, are you meaning that
the finding of [X] at [Place 1] and the finding of [Y] at [Place 2]--> just 2 findings? if this is the case then we got a subjects, consists of 2 things. That means subject-verb agreement is ok-we don't need an 's' after 'attest'. Maybe I am missing something that you want to mean? Sorry for that..
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You would need to actually repeat "finding" if you wanted to make the subject plural:

  • the finding of X and the finding of Y = plural (compound subject)
  • the finding of X and of Y = singular, even though you found two things -- the modifiers don't change the simple, singular subject

So (E) is definitely out!
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 02 Dec 2022, 11:35
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So, are you meaning that
the finding of [X] at [Place 1] and the finding of [Y] at [Place 2]--> just 2 findings? if this is the case then we got a subjects, consists of 2 things. That means subject-verb agreement is ok-we don't need an 's' after 'attest'. Maybe I am missing something that you want to mean? Sorry for that..
You would need to actually repeat "finding" if you wanted to make the subject plural:

  • the finding of X and the finding of Y = plural (compound subject)
  • the finding of X and of Y = singular, even though you found two things -- the modifiers don't change the simple, singular subject

So (E) is definitely out!
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GMATNinja
The highlighted part issue was my pain, now it is resolved. Thanks and kudos to you for your nice explanation as usual.
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 21 Jan 2023, 12:08
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In option E, can't one interpret "the finding of waterlogged balls AND the find of representations" as two elements joined by AND, thereby requiring a plural attest?

While I understand the meaning error in this sentence, wanted to clarify the SVA. Thanks
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 23 Jan 2023, 06:26
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In option E, can't one interpret "the finding of waterlogged balls AND the find of representations" as two elements joined by AND, thereby requiring a plural attest?

While I understand the meaning error in this sentence, wanted to clarify the SVA. Thanks
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Hello bullishdutta,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, although you are correct that "the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers" and "the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and the finding of representations of ballplayers" convey the same meaning, we cannot simply expand the original phrase in this way, at will. In such a case, it is not that the second instance of "finding" has been omitted, rather two prepositional phrases modify the same noun "finding". Conceptually, what the original phrase refers to is the collective, singular, finding of the balls and the representations

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 23 Jan 2023, 13:55
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In option E, can't one interpret "the finding of waterlogged balls AND the find of representations" as two elements joined by AND, thereby requiring a plural attest?

While I understand the meaning error in this sentence, wanted to clarify the SVA. Thanks
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A plural in the modifier doesn't make the noun plural.

"The discovery of the Titanic and of all the treasures it held" is still one discovery. So "The finding of waterlogged balls and of representations..." is still one finding. If I want it to be plural, I would say "The findings of the balls and of the representations."
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 23 Apr 2023, 05:39
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Option (A) is the correct choice:

"Waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest to the fact that the Mesoamerican ballgame was well established by the mid-thirteenth century b.c."

The subject of the sentence is "waterlogged latex balls" and "representations of ballplayers," which are two separate items that both attest to the well-established nature of the Mesoamerican ballgame. Therefore, the verb "attest" should be in the plural form "attest" rather than the singular "attests."

Option (B) and (C) both use the singular verb form "attests," which is incorrect. Option (C) also changes the phrasing of the sentence by removing the word "painted" after "ceramics," which alters the meaning.

Option (D) and (E) both use the phrase "the finding of waterlogged latex balls" instead of "waterlogged latex balls found," which makes the sentence unnecessarily wordy. Option (E) also changes the phrasing by placing "of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo" after "the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati," which makes the sentence more difficult to read and understand.
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 05 Jun 2023, 00:04
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 900–400 b.c., waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest to the fact that the Mesoamerican ballgame was well established by the mid-thirteenth century b.c.


(A) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest

(B) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests

(C) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and ceramics painted with representations of ballplayers found at San Lorenzo attests

(D) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests

(E) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest
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I have a question regarding option E and option A:

What if option E read as "the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attests "? Would our answer choice change from A to E?

IMO: It should not because there is still nothing wrong with A which demands a correction and active form is simpler than passive a form, but please do correct me if i'm wrong.
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 05 Jun 2023, 13:32
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AbdurRakib
While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 900–400 b.c., waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest to the fact that the Mesoamerican ballgame was well established by the mid-thirteenth century b.c.


(A) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest

(B) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests

(C) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and ceramics painted with representations of ballplayers found at San Lorenzo attests

(D) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests

(E) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest

I have a question regarding option E and option A:

What if option E read as "the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attests "? Would our answer choice change from A to E?

IMO: It should not because there is still nothing wrong with A which demands a correction and active form is simpler than passive a form, but please do correct me if i'm wrong.
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If option E were to read as "the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attests," it would still be incorrect.

The subject in this sentence is plural (the finding of two things), so the verb should also be plural, which is "attest." Option A remains the best choice because it maintains subject-verb agreement and uses active voice, making it simpler and clearer.
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 10 Nov 2023, 14:02
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Hm, they found waterlogged latex balls in Mesoamerica from 900-400 b.c.?!? Wow, the 2018 OG is more interesting than I expected. (My copy of it is looking at me right now. I've barely had time to open it. :( )

TheMechanic
Eliminating option D took a while. Besides D being wordier than A, is there any thing else in D which renders it incorrect?
I think we could also argue that (D) doesn't really convey the meaning of the sentence as clearly as (A). In each answer choice, what is it that "attests to the fact that the Mesoamerican ballgame was well established..."? In (A), it's the waterlogged balls themselves and the representations of the ballplayers that give us information about the ballgame -- and that makes a lot of sense. In (D), it's "the finding" (of the balls) and "the painting" (of the representations) that tells us about the history of the ballgame -- and that makes much less sense to me.

I'm not 100% sure that (D) would be absolutely wrong in isolation, but it conveys the meaning much less clearly than (A).

I hope this helps!
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Hello Sir,
(D) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests
In choice D, it seems that ballplayers on ceramics don't make any sense, do it? One more thing: should it be ''painting of representations'' or ''painting of ballplayers''?
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rudrimehta
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While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 90 14 Jan 2024, 04:41
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AbdurRakib
While most of the earliest known ball courts in Mesoamerica date to 900–400 b.c., waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest to the fact that the Mesoamerican ballgame was well established by the mid-thirteenth century b.c.


(A) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attest

(B) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests

(C) waterlogged latex balls found at El Manati and ceramics painted with representations of ballplayers found at San Lorenzo attests

(D) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and the painting of representations of ballplayers on ceramics found at San Lorenzo attests

(E) the finding of waterlogged latex balls at El Manati and of representations of ballplayers painted on ceramics at San Lorenzo attest
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Easiest way I could think of to eliminate options -
1) B, C, and D use singular 'attests' for 2 findings so these are out
2) E uses singular 'the finding' but plural 'attest'

And thus A is our answer
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