Christopher Columbus

This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 am
Thanked: 82 times
Followed by:9 members
GMAT Score:720

Christopher Columbus

by maihuna » Sun Dec 13, 2009 7:58 am
For many revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus has come to Personify devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

A. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
B. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress by which native peoples of the Western Hemisphere have been
decimated
C. devastating and enslaving in the name of progress those native peoples of the Western Hemisphere that have been decimated
D. devastating and enslaving those native peoples of the Western hemisphere which in the name of progress are decimated.
E. the devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that have decimated the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
[spoiler]Answer:A/E[/spoiler]
Last edited by maihuna on Fri Dec 25, 2009 9:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Charged up again to beat the beast :)

Legendary Member
Posts: 527
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:14 am
Location: Atlanta
Thanked: 17 times

by pandeyvineet24 » Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:18 am
i think should be A.
In E, the article "the" before "devastation and enslavement" makes the entire clause singular and hence should have a singular verb "has".
Whats the OA ?

Legendary Member
Posts: 503
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:53 pm
Thanked: 31 times
Followed by:2 members

by mmslf75 » Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:53 am
maihuna wrote:For many revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus has come to Personify devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

A. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
B. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress by
which native peoples of the Western Hemisphere have been
decimated
C. devastating and enslaving in the name of progress those native
peoples of the Western Hemisphere that have been decimated
D. devastating and enslaving those native peoples of the Western
hemisphere which in the name of progress are decimated.
E. the devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
have decimated the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
[spoiler]Answer:A/E[/spoiler]
Maihuna,

Me too came across this sentence today, was thinking of posting ...
However, please have a look here !!


https://www.beatthegmat.com/columbus-t47759.html

Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 am
Thanked: 82 times
Followed by:9 members
GMAT Score:720

by maihuna » Sun Dec 13, 2009 10:05 am
pandeyvineet24 wrote:i think should be A.
In E, the article "the" before "devastation and enslavement" makes the entire clause singular and hence should have a singular verb "has".
Whats the OA ?
ok so is it due to the.
Last edited by maihuna on Sun Dec 13, 2009 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
Charged up again to beat the beast :)

Legendary Member
Posts: 727
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:32 pm
Thanked: 8 times
Followed by:1 members

by umaa » Sun Dec 13, 2009 10:15 am
maihuna wrote:For many revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus has come to Personify devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

A. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
B. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress by
which native peoples of the Western Hemisphere have been
decimated
C. devastating and enslaving in the name of progress those native
peoples of the Western Hemisphere that have been decimated
D. devastating and enslaving those native peoples of the Western
hemisphere which in the name of progress are decimated.
E. the devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
have decimated the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
[spoiler]Answer:A/E[/spoiler]
IMO A.

E is wrong because, HAS doesn't refer to "devastation and enslavement". It refers to PROCESS. Also, there is a parallelism error in statement E. THE devastation and THE enslavement is correct. We need THE before enslavement for making devastation and enslavement parallel.

What is OA?
What we think, we become

Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 am
Thanked: 82 times
Followed by:9 members
GMAT Score:720

by maihuna » Sun Dec 13, 2009 10:19 am
Umma, the devastation and enslavement is a compound subject and requires a PLURAL verb HAVE not HAS. The S+V/Ambiguity for referrent of that is in A
Charged up again to beat the beast :)

Legendary Member
Posts: 727
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:32 pm
Thanked: 8 times
Followed by:1 members

by umaa » Sun Dec 13, 2009 10:26 am
Isn't HAS refer to PROCESS?

Also, E is definitely wrong as it has parallelism error. THE devastation and THE enslavement is correct.
What we think, we become

Legendary Member
Posts: 1404
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pm
Thanked: 18 times
Followed by:2 members

by tanviet » Mon Dec 14, 2009 12:51 am
in A, "progress" decimate

in E, "devastation and enslavement" decimate

which is more logic.

gmat test grammar error which is minor and hard to realise and meaning logic

it is clearly that "progress decimate"is logic and E is not logic

A is correct

Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 am
Thanked: 82 times
Followed by:9 members
GMAT Score:720

by maihuna » Mon Dec 14, 2009 5:11 am
umaa wrote:Isn't HAS refer to PROCESS?

Also, E is definitely wrong as it has parallelism error. THE devastation and THE enslavement is correct.
Nope it is something called ellipsis, infinitives articles etc can be dropped from all but first one....
Charged up again to beat the beast :)

Legendary Member
Posts: 869
Joined: Wed Aug 26, 2009 3:49 pm
Location: California
Thanked: 13 times
Followed by:3 members

by heshamelaziry » Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:10 pm
IMO A.- obvious.

Legendary Member
Posts: 727
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:32 pm
Thanked: 8 times
Followed by:1 members

by umaa » Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:15 pm
Maihuna,
Does that mean it MUST be eliminated? Between A and E, E has a parallelism error. So we're sure that it can't be the correct answer.
What we think, we become

Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 am
Thanked: 82 times
Followed by:9 members
GMAT Score:720

by maihuna » Tue Dec 15, 2009 4:53 am
umaa wrote:Maihuna,
Does that mean it MUST be eliminated? Between A and E, E has a parallelism error. So we're sure that it can't be the correct answer.
§ A First of all, I don't see that "Devastation and enslavement" can be considered a single unit (but then, frankly, I don't see that "bread and butter" can be considered a single unit, either). Obviously, they do not signify the same action, either can occur in the absence of the other, and popular combined usage does not seem to be of sufficient frequency to warrant a "single unit" treatment of these two "events." Therefore, in my opinion, this construction requires the plural verb form "have decimated" rather than the singular "has decimated." But, even if you don't agree with me on that point, there is also the issue of the referent of "that." In this construction, "that" refers to "progress," with the resulting implication that "progress...decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere," when, in fact, it was "(the) devastation and enslavement (in the name of progress)" that caused this decimation. As a result, the whole construction is awkward and confusing, not to mention the subject-verb disagreement.

E Inclusion of the article "the" preceding "devastation and enslavement" draws the reference of "that" away from "progress," correcting the reference error noted in A. And, the plural verb form "have decimated" correctly treats "the devastation and enslavement" as the plural subject that it is. I think that Choice E is superior to the others.
Charged up again to beat the beast :)

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 171
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:59 pm
Thanked: 8 times

by brick2009 » Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:34 pm
I didnt go for E: because of THE devasation and..


why do u need THE?? hence i eliminated E in first round..

then C/D --for enslaving

B - for which.

A - remained.. hence true

User avatar
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:22 pm
Location: Los Angeles

by Does The GMAT beat back? » Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:01 pm
what source is this?

Did anyone else miss the liberal indoctrination by the subject matter of this sentence? Students come one and come all.

Answer A.

Legendary Member
Posts: 503
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:53 pm
Thanked: 31 times
Followed by:2 members

by mmslf75 » Fri Dec 25, 2009 8:44 am
maihuna wrote:For many revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus has come to Personify devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

A. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
B. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress by
which native peoples of the Western Hemisphere have been
decimated
C. devastating and enslaving in the name of progress those native
peoples of the Western Hemisphere that have been decimated
D. devastating and enslaving those native peoples of the Western
hemisphere which in the name of progress are decimated.
E. the devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
have decimated the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
[spoiler]Answer:A/E[/spoiler]

In contructions such as,

X of Y that

That may refer to X or X(of y) depending on context
For sure, THAT is not referring to PROGRESS ...
As PROGRESS cannot decimate
Then why Ans is A it should have been E

Is it that devastation and enslavement "are"... oops (is) ... ;-) a single unit here

?????