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Grockit SC - Medium

by hja379 » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:54 am
This castle was built on this site by the royal family over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stood was of great strategic importance.

Choices
A - This castle was built by the royal family on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stood was of great strategic importance

B - This castle had been built on this site by the royal family over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stands was of great strategic importance

C - This castle was built on this site by the royal family over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it is now standing was of great strategic importance

D - The royal family built this castle on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stood was of great strategic importance

E - The royal family built this castle on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stands was of great strategic importance

OA is E

I am confused with the OA. The action in the first clause has happened over a period of time and how is simple past correct here?
Last edited by hja379 on Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by saurabh_maths » Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:47 pm
IMO it shd be E

What is the OA?
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by aspirant2011 » Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:34 pm
I would also go with E because-

A and D wrong because of the use of past tense "stood" as it seems as if the castle is no more there but the initial part of sentence says that the castle is still there.

B wrong because of the use of "had been"

C i feel less better than E.................

Wats the OA????
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by tetura84 » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:15 pm
hja379 wrote:This castle was built on this site by the royal family over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stood was of great strategic importance.

Choices
A - This castle was built by the royal family on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stood was of great strategic importance

B - This castle had been built on this site by the royal family over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stands was of great strategic importance

C - This castle was built on this site by the royal family over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it is now standing was of great strategic importance

D - The royal family built this castle on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stood was of great strategic importance

E - The royal family built this castle on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stands was of great strategic importance

I am confused with the OA. The action in the first clause has happened over a period of time and how is simple past correct here?
It has to be simple past = an action started in past and ended in past.
We say, Shahjahan built Taj Mahal.
D & E is more preferred to A, B, and C because, A,B, and C use passive voice.
In C, I see one more stylistic problem,
"the hill on which it is now standing was of great strategic importance" - this is redundant, we can simply say,
the hill on which it stands ...
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by shweta.kalra » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:11 pm
hi, wat,s wrong wid "d"
thnks
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by AIM GMAT » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:49 am
+1 for E .

Whats the OA ?
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by tetura84 » Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:02 am
shweta.kalra wrote:hi, wat,s wrong wid "d"
thnks
D vs E
D = ... the hill on which it stood was ... = castle is still present and on the hill, should be in present tense.
But, the hill WAS of great strategic importance (not now).
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by hja379 » Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:05 am
tetura84 wrote:
hja379 wrote:This castle was built on this site by the royal family over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stood was of great strategic importance.

Choices
A - This castle was built by the royal family on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stood was of great strategic importance

B - This castle had been built on this site by the royal family over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stands was of great strategic importance

C - This castle was built on this site by the royal family over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it is now standing was of great strategic importance

D - The royal family built this castle on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stood was of great strategic importance

E - The royal family built this castle on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stands was of great strategic importance

I am confused with the OA. The action in the first clause has happened over a period of time and how is simple past correct here?
It has to be simple past = an action started in past and ended in past.
We say, Shahjahan built Taj Mahal.
D & E is more preferred to A, B, and C because, A,B, and C use passive voice.
In C, I see one more stylistic problem,
"the hill on which it is now standing was of great strategic importance" - this is redundant, we can simply say,
the hill on which it stands ...
I have updated the post with the OA.

You gave a good example, Shahjahan built Taj Mahal, but this one is similar to the construction, "Taj Mahal has been built by the Moghuls over a period of 20 years". The action started in the past and continued for a specific period of time. Why is simple past correct?
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by hja379 » Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:08 am
shweta.kalra wrote:hi, wat,s wrong wid "d"
thnks
As tetura84 pointed out, D is wrong because the hill still exists and hence simple present is more appropriate here.
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by tetura84 » Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:11 am
hja379 wrote:
You gave a good example, Shahjahan built Taj Mahal, but this one is similar to the construction, "Taj Mahal has been built by the Moghuls over a period of 20 years". The action started in the past and continued for a specific period of time. Why is simple past correct?
hja379, I don't think the sentence you mentioned is correct (at least from GMAT perspective)
You are using present perfect tense (in passive voice).
We can use present perfect when an action started in past BUT CONTINUES TO PRESENT.
But, Taj Mahal was started to build in past and it was finished in the past, does not matter it continued for a period of time.
So Simple past is better (may be past perfect continuous would be better, I am not sure though !)

Above explanation is as per my understanding and knowledge.
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by Jim@Grockit » Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:47 am
Simple past tense is used by default -- there is usually no need to convey continuous action via the verb unless you are contrasting that ongoing action with another verb that takes place during or after.

While the castle was being built over a period of 500 years, the royal family stayed in their ancestral manor.
He was working at his desk when the call came.
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by amit.saxena » Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:56 am
hi,

I have some confusion regarding the question.

As both the sentences are independent sentences, shouldn't the second sentence have a noun(that is castle) in place of "it" as the subject?
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by Jim@Grockit » Sun Sep 25, 2011 5:53 pm
amit.saxena wrote:hi,

I have some confusion regarding the question.

As both the sentences are independent sentences, shouldn't the second sentence have a noun(that is castle) in place of "it" as the subject?
They are independent clauses, not independent sentences. You can even have pronouns referring to nouns in previous sentences, but of course GMAT SC does not provide that kind of context.
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by gunjan1208 » Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:52 am
I was caught on C & D and here was my logic:-

We are talking about something in the past. That means the strategic importance of the hill did exist that time. It may not be a strategic hill at this time but previously it was.[The hill exists but not its strategic importance]

E - The royal family built this castle on this site over a period of five hundred years; the hill on which it stands was of great strategic importance : I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THE QUESTION IS RIGHT.
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