Sentence Correction

Sculpted boulders found at Lepenski Vir, an example of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, includes 15 figures with human features similar to Upper Paleolithic forms and to Middle Eastern Nantufian stone figurines.

A) Vir, an example of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, includes
B) Vir, examples of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, include
C)Vir, earliest of monumental art known from central and western Europe, include
D)Vir are examples of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe and includes
E)Vir are examples of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, including

my doubt : can i eliminate option C because literal reading in C tends to say that " Lepenski Vir" is an "earliest of monumental art known from central and western Europe"
when in fact option B removes this ambiguity by using "examples", which clearly refer to "Sculpted boulders"

Thanks

Spot on. Good work. Clearly you eliminated the rest because of 'includes' and 'including'

aditya8062 wrote:Sculpted boulders found at Lepenski Vir, an example of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, includes 15 figures with human features similar to Upper Paleolithic forms and to Middle Eastern Nantufian stone figurines.

A) Vir, an example of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, includes
B) Vir, examples of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, include
C)Vir, earliest of monumental art known from central and western Europe, include
D)Vir are examples of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe and includes
E)Vir are examples of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, including[/i]

my doubt : can i eliminate option C because literal reading in C tends to say that " Lepenski Vir" is an "earliest of monumental art known from central and western Europe"
when in fact option B removes this ambiguity by using "examples", which clearly refer to "Sculpted boulders"

Thanks

Focus on the intended MEANING:
Sculpted boulders found at Lepenski Vir include 15 figures with human features.
Since only B and C offer this core structure, eliminate A, D and E.

C: Sculpted boulders found at Lepenski Vir, earliest...
Here, earliest seems to modify Lepenski VIr, implying that Lepenski Vir -- a PLACE -- is a type of ART that is EARLIEST.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate C.

The correct answer is B.

B: Sculpted boulders found at Lepenski Vir, examples of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe...
Here, boulders and examples are APPOSITIVES.
Appositives are nouns or noun phrases that appear side-by-side, with the second serving to explain or define the first.
In B, the BOULDERS are defined as EXAMPLES of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe.
Since EXAMPLES is plural, its intended referent is clearly not Lepenski Vir but BOULDERS, the nearest preceding plural noun.

thanks GURU

u said :C: Sculpted boulders found at Lepenski Vir, earliest...
Here, earliest seems to modify Lepenski VIr, implying that Lepenski Vir -- a PLACE -- is a type of ART that is EARLIEST.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate C.

i get a feeling that you are implying that "literal reading" takes precedence over "common sense" reading .
in the question above the "literal reading" sense tell us that in option B "examples" can only refer to "Sculpted boulders" and i am oki with that; however, sometimes i get stumped when certain options are credited as correct based on "common sense" reading ,for instance the following question (NOT FROM PREP) stumped me :

All across Detroit, whitewashed fences, new roofs, and freshly painted porches are signs of a brisk urban renewal led by new immigrants, one clapboard house at a time.

A. renewal led by new immigrants, one clapboard house at a time
B. renewal led by new immigrants, with one clapboard house at a time
C. renewal that has been led by new immigrants, with one clapboard house at a time
D. renewal, which had been led by new immigrants, one clapboard house at a time
E. renewal, which has been led by new immigrants and one clapboard house at a time

in the proclaimed answer A "one clapboard house" (an apposition) seems to refer to "new immigrants" . how do i reconcile this?

thanks JIM for your confirmation

one house at a time is a not an appositive but an ADVERB.
For example:
Residents are REBUILDING the neighborhood ONE HOUSE AT A TIME.
Here, one house at a time serves to indicate HOW residents are REBUILDING.
HOW are residents REBUILDING the neighborhood?
They are rebuilding it ONE HOUSE AT A TIME.
Conveyed meaning:
First ONE HOUSE is rebuilt, then ANOTHER HOUSE is rebuilt -- and so on -- until the ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD has been rebuilt.

aditya8062 wrote:the following question (NOT FROM PREP) stumped me :

All across Detroit, whitewashed fences, new roofs, and freshly painted porches are signs of a brisk urban renewal led by new immigrants, one clapboard house at a time.

As I noted above, one house at a time is an adverb.
Here, one clapboard house at a time seems to be modifying led (the nearest preceding action).
Conveyed meaning:
Urban renewal is being led ONE HOUSE AT TIME.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Ignore this SC.

Good suggestion, Mitch!

I also came across the example with "one clapboard house at a time" and totally got confused.

GMATGuruNY wrote:one house at a time is a not an appositive but an ADVERB.
For example:
Residents are REBUILDING the neighborhood ONE HOUSE AT A TIME.
Here, one house at a time serves to indicate HOW residents are REBUILDING.
HOW are residents REBUILDING the neighborhood?
They are rebuilding it ONE HOUSE AT A TIME.
Conveyed meaning:
First ONE HOUSE is rebuilt, then ANOTHER HOUSE is rebuilt -- and so on -- until the ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD has been rebuilt.

aditya8062 wrote:the following question (NOT FROM PREP) stumped me :

All across Detroit, whitewashed fences, new roofs, and freshly painted porches are signs of a brisk urban renewal led by new immigrants, one clapboard house at a time.

As I noted above, one house at a time is an adverb.
Here, one clapboard house at a time seems to be modifying led (the nearest preceding action).
Conveyed meaning:
Urban renewal is being led ONE HOUSE AT TIME.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Ignore this SC.

How about with one house at a time?[/b]

renetan wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:As I noted above, one house at a time is an adverb.
Here, one clapboard house at a time seems to be modifying led (the nearest preceding action).
Conveyed meaning:
Urban renewal is being led ONE HOUSE AT TIME.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Ignore this SC.

How about with one house at a time?

A preposition such as with must be followed by a NOUN or a noun phrase.
This noun or noun phrase is called the OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION.
One house at a time is not a noun-phrase but an ADVERB.
An adverb cannot serve as the object of a preposition.
Thus, with one house at a time (with + ADVERB) is not a viable construction.