Spanish Armada

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Gmatasap: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 19; Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:20 am

by Gmatasap » Sat May 28, 2016 10:15 pm

**Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders. the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing** of eight war ships as -fire ships.' vessels filled with flammable materials and sent downwind toward the closely-anchored Spanish fleet.

A. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders. the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing
B. The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders, was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrifice
C. The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders. was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing
D. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders. the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing
E. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders. the defeat of the Spanish Armada was due not only to gale winds that favored the British but also to the sacrifice

Question Source Manhattan Prep Test.
OA - E

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat May 28, 2016 10:15 pm

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ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:41 am

This question is testing PARALLELISM and MODIFIERS.

Whenever you see NOT ONLY _____ BUT ALSO ______, you must make sure that the elements directly following these markers are parallel.

Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing of eight war ships as "fireships," vessels filled with pitch, brimstone, gunpowder, and tar and sent downwind toward the closely-anchored Spanish fleet.

A. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing

--> not parallel

B. The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing

--> not parallel

C. The defeat of the Spanish Armada, which stymied the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, was not only due to gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing

--> not parallel

D. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing

--> parallel

E. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, the defeat of the Spanish Armada was due not only to gale winds that favored the British but also to the sacrifice

--> parallel

So, we can eliminate A, B, and C.

Now, look at MODIFIERS. Any time a sentence begins with a PRESENT PARTICIPLE (-ING), we have an opening modifier, and it must modify the subject of the independent clause:

Using this example, the instructor is showing you how opening modifiers work.

So, because D and E begin with "stymieing," we must check to see what's being modified.

D. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders, the reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada was not only gale winds that favored the British but also the sacrificing

Is "the reason" the thing doing the "stymieing"? No, that's nonsensical.

E. Stymieing the Armada's plans to meet up with the Duke of Parma's army off the coast of Flanders, the defeat of the Spanish Armada was due not only to gale winds that favored the British but also to the sacrifice

"the defeat of the armada" is the thing that stymied the plans. This makes sense.

The answer is E.

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:46 am

The GMAT loves CLOSED PARALLEL MARKERS such as "not only_____ but also_____"

Here are some more problems to practice this idea:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/help-manhatt ... tml#713882
https://www.beatthegmat.com/sc-question- ... tml#769597
https://www.beatthegmat.com/most-expendi ... tml#716319
https://www.beatthegmat.com/think-of-x-a ... tml#575578
https://www.beatthegmat.com/og-pg-725-81 ... tml#767953

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:51 am

The OPENING MODIFIER issue of "Stymieing X..., Y..." is also a very common GMAT construction.

For more on these, see:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/found-only-i ... tml#771683
https://www.beatthegmat.com/comparison-t ... tml#774779
https://www.beatthegmat.com/to-screen-wo ... tml#739634
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... modifiers/

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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Gmatasap: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 19; Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:20 am

by Gmatasap » Thu Jun 09, 2016 4:45 pm

Dear ceilidh.erickson,
Thank you for the answering the post i thought would remain unanswered.

First, let me tell you what I think is the meaning of the sentence given,(please correct me if I am wrong)

1. Duke of Parma's army stationed off the coast of Flanders
2. the British stymied the Armada's plan to meet up with the duke.
3. There were gale winds at........, the British used their war ships as fire ships, they filled the vessels with flammable materials and sent downwind toward the closely-anchored Spanish fleet, sacrificing their ships in the process.
4. All these combined together led to a defeat of the Spanish Armada

NOw my question is,
Is defeat the subject of the sentence or the "British". By that I ask, did 'the defeat' stymie Armada's plan or the British did it? The defeat must be the final outcome of everything.

Please bear with me if I am missing something very easy.

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