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Hello elevinty. Hope I can help

A is incorrect because it's not clear that "on Columbus Day 1992" is describing when the project was initiated. The phrasing of A blurs the meaning because "on Columbus Day 1992" is attached to "Europeans arrived in the New World". We need a sentence that clearly shows the Europeans did not arrive on Columbus day 1992.

You asked what the purpose of "five centuries after they arrived" was. In fact this is not a a noun modifier (which noun did you think it modifies?). "five centuries after they arrived" describes when the project was initiated. It's an adverbial modifier of "Initiated", similar to the example below:

Discovered in Egypt a thousand years after its construction, The Pharaoh's tomb... In this sentence, "1000 yrs after construction" modifies "Discovered".

In our sentence, A is incorrect. C is the answer.

You can solve similar questions with the Drill Generator by setting topic='modifiers' and difficulty='700+'

Good luck,
-Patrick

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Call me Patrick

"5 centuries after they arrived" cannot be a modifier for SETI. It's not describing project SETI, but rather describing when the project was initiated. Since it's not describing a noun but rather an action/clause, this phrase is acting as an adverb.

The phrase is not an adverb per se, but an adverbial modifier, meaning that it plays the role of an adverb. Adverbs tell you how, when, where, under which circumstances or to what extent something happened. Examples:

I run fast.

The project was initiated three years ago.

The man took his exam under a lot of pressure.

When a phrase or clause is describing an action, it is in fact acting as an adverb. Examples:

John lost all his money, spending it on trivial things.

In the sentence you posted, "Initiated in 1992, project SETI..." Initiated is not an adverb, but an adjective describing project SETI. In the right answer (C), "Initiated...1992" is a noun modifier for Project SETI This would be similar to the example:

Sick of all his problems, the accused decided to kill himself.

"Sick...problems" is a noun modifier and "Sick" is an adjective describing "the accused"

You may wonder how C can be right given that the noun modifier "Initiated...1992" is not next to Project SETI. That's simply because what separates "Initiated" from "Project SETI' are modifiers for Initiated: "on Columbus Day" and "5 centuries after....New World". So these cannot be placed anywhere else. Consider once again the example above:

Sick of all his problems, the accused decided to kill himself.

In general, because adjectives are noun modifiers they should be placed next to their target. However in this case we need to modify Sick with "of all his problems", so its' ok to have "of all his problems" between Sick and the accused. In fact, "Sick of all his problems" works as a unit to modify "the accused". Likewise, "Initiated on Columbus day, 5 centuries after the Europeans" works as a unit to modify Project SETI

As for the Drill Generator, this is a portion of a software that allows you to plan and track your GMAT prep with functions such as: Ability to take/save/review drills of any topic/difficulty setting Ability to view detailed solutions with take-aways and video solutions Ability to get a report of your strengths/weaknesses that gets updated with each question that you practice/review. I can't say more without sounding like an ad. Look at my signature for more info.

Hope that helped,
-Patrick

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you're welcome elevinty.

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Martin,
"5 centuries..." is modifying "Initiated". Tells you when "Initiated" happened.

This is an official question, but I don't remember its source. Elevinty would you please provide the source and the OA?

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There are 2 types of modifiers: noun modifiers (which describe nouns) and adverbial modifiers (which describe everything else, most importantly actions and clauses). In this case, the modifier in green as an adverbial modifier because it doesn't describe a noun, but the entire clause. It tells you the result of the entire clause. In correct GMAT sentences, these modifiers often begin with a noun (such as "an event" above) or with an -ing, such as in OG12 SC # 47: "Five eagles left their nests in Scotland, bringing to 34 the number of birds successfully raised since 1975."


I wouldn't say that your modifier acts exactly as an adverb because it doesn't modify just a single word (adjective, adverb or verb) but it modifies an entire clause. Still, it's called an adverbial modifier. You can practice these by setting the Drill Generator to topic='modifiers' and difficulty='600-700 AND 700+'

-Patrick

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