Elite official SC 35 Building on civilizations that preceded

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Building on civilizations that preceded them in coastal Peru, the Mochica developed their own elaborate society, based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting other wild and domestic resources.

A) based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting
B) based on the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and seafood, and the exploitation of
C) and basing it on the cultivation of crops like corn and beans, harvesting fish and seafood, and the exploiting of
D) and they based it on their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans, the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting
E) and they based it on their cultivating such crops like corn and beans, their harvest of fish and shellfish, and they exploited
R I C H A,
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sss

by richachampion » Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:05 am
Question #1
based is used as a Verb-ed modifier here.

I will request experts to analyze all the options here.
R I C H A,
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by ErikaPrepScholar » Mon Dec 11, 2017 8:31 am
Hey Rich,

We should notice that we're dealing with a three-part list in this sentence, so we should immediately start thinking about parallelism. We'll go through each answer choice to evaluate for parallelism.

A. Based on
  • cultivating such crops like corn and beans
  • the harvesting of fish and shellfish
  • exploiting other wild and domestic resources
Here, "harvesting" is being used as a noun with "the" and "of", which is not parallel with A and C. We also have "such ... like", which is unidiomatic - it should be "such ... as". Eliminate.

B. Based on
  • the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans
  • the harvesting of fish and shellfish
  • the exploitation of other wild and domestic resources
Parallel! Keep

C. Basing it on
  • the cultivation of crops like corn and beans
  • the harvest of fish and shellfish
  • exploiting other wild and domestic resources
C is not parallel with A and B. Eliminate.

D. They based it on
  • their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans
  • the harvest of fish and shellfish
  • exploiting other wild and domestic resources
Again, C isn't parallel, and the use of "their" in A doesn't match the use of "the" in B. Eliminate.

E. The based it on
  • their cultivating such crops like corn and beans
  • their harvest of fish and shellfish
  • theyexploited other wild and domestic resources
None of these match. Eliminate.

This leaves us with B.
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