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The thirteen original British colonies in North America

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The thirteen original British colonies in North America

by aspirant2011 » Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:34 pm
The thirteen original British colonies in North America, some formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, each had a written charter that set forth its form of government and the rights of the colonists.

(A) some formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, each had a written charter
(B) some being formed as a commercial venture, others as religious havens, all of which had written charters
(C) some that formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, all had written charters
(D) with some being formed as a commercial venture, others as religious havens, all had a written charter
(E) with some formed as commercial ventures, while others as religious havens, each had a written charter

[spoiler]OA: A vs E. Which one is better and why??Plz explain your justification.[/spoiler]
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by goalevan » Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:14 pm
IMO A

(A) some formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, each had a written charter
concise, parallel, and uses "each"

(B) some being formed as a commercial venture, others as religious havens, all of which had written charters
Insertion of "being" unnecessary. Number of parallel elements "a commercial venture" and "religious havens" not consistent. Also, no main verb exists because a relative clause is introduced with "all of which.."

(C) some that formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, all had written charters
"Some that" should be in form 1) "Some of which..." 2) "Some of them..." 3) "Some..".
"each" is preferred to maintain that every colony had its own charter

(D) with some being formed as a commercial venture, others as religious havens, all had a written charter
Insertion of "being" unnecessary. "All" changes meaning, implying that the colonies had a single, collective charter. "With" introducing the second phrase as object of a preposition clouds the meaning

(E) with some formed as commercial ventures, while others as religious havens, each had a written charter
"while" does not introduce a clause, as subordinating conjunctions such as "although" or "while" should. "With" makes the link between the noun "British colonies.." and its modifying phrases less clear.
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by sl750 » Wed Jul 20, 2011 6:35 am
In E, the subordinating clause while does not have a subject-verb. the word 'with' is not a coordinating conjunction, which should link describe an independent thought when preceded by a comma

In A, the statement is parallel -- some [colonies] formed as commercial ventures, other [colonies] [formed] as religious havens
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by aspirant2011 » Wed Jul 20, 2011 6:58 am
goalevan wrote: (E) with some formed as commercial ventures, while others as religious havens, each had a written charter
"while" does not introduce a clause, as subordinating conjunctions such as "although" or "while" should. "With" makes the link between the noun "British colonies.." and its modifying phrases less clear.
Hi Goalevan,

If I am able to decipher you correctly then you mean to say that with while construction a subject-verb should be there??????

Also, can u please put more light on comma + with construction???????
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by eastcoastrocks » Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:33 am
IMO A. But I am not too sure...
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by nonameee » Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:49 pm
I don't quite understand how the correct answer can be (A).

(A) says:

The thirteen original British colonies ... each had ...

Shouldn't it be:

Of the thirteen original British colonies ... each had ...

???
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by Mike@Magoosh » Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:30 pm
I'm happy to add my 2¢ to this discussion.

Question:
The thirteen original British colonies in North America, some formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, each had a written charter that set forth its form of government and the rights of the colonists.
(A) some formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, each had a written charter
(B) some being formed as a commercial venture, others as religious havens, all of which had written charters
(C) some that formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, all had written charters
(D) with some being formed as a commercial venture, others as religious havens, all had a written charter
(E) with some formed as commercial ventures, while others as religious havens, each had a written charter

Problem #1 is between "each" and "all"

"The colonies each had a charter." That correctly implies: 13 colonies, 13 charters.

"The colonies all had a charter." That incorrectly implies: 13 colonies, 1 grand charter for everyone.

That's why (B) & (C) & (D) are incorrect.

That leaves (A) & (E), and the only difference is the word "with" in (E). (BTW, on the real GMAT, there will typically be more than sniggling single-word differences between answer choices as we have have here.) The word "with" is unnecessary, and adds nothing, so we don't need it. That leaves the answer of A.

In response to nonameee, I would say

"Each of the children took a cookie." ---- that is one grammatically correct construction, but . . .

"The children each took a cookie." ---- that is another grammatically correct construction.

Both are valid, and if anything, the second is somewhat more concise, which is a virtue on GMAT SC.

Does all this make sense? Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mike :)
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by nonameee » Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:42 am
Mike, thanks a lot for your reply. So if I understood you correctly, you could say both:
Of the 13 colonies ... each had a written charter.
and
The 13 colonies ... each had a written charter.
Am I right? The second option still doesn't sound quite right to me. Is it common usage?
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by GmatKiss » Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:23 am
That was bang on!!, Simple and effective.

Thanks Mike@Magoosh :)
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by Mike@Magoosh » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:02 am
Dear nonameee

Yes, both

1) Of the 13 colonies ... each had a written charter.

and

2) The 13 colonies ... each had a written charter.

are both grammatically correct. Both are common usage.

Mike :)
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by nonameee » Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:22 am
Mike, thanks a lot.
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by patanjali.purpose » Sat Feb 18, 2012 5:46 am
Mike@Magoosh wrote:I'm happy to add my 2¢ to this discussion.

Question:
The thirteen original British colonies in North America, some formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, each had a written charter that set forth its form of government and the rights of the colonists.
(B) some being formed as a commercial venture, others as religious havens, all of which had written charters
(C) some that formed as commercial ventures, others as religious havens, all had written charters
(D) with some being formed as a commercial venture, others as religious havens, all had a written charter

Problem #1 is between "each" and "all"

"The colonies each had a charter." That correctly implies: 13 colonies, 13 charters.

"The colonies all had a charter." That incorrectly implies: 13 colonies, 1 grand charter for everyone.

That's why (B) & (C) & (D) are incorrect. Mike :)
Hi Mike, IMO we can drop only D on the basis of all...charter, but NOT B/C. The answer choices are using 'CHARTERS.

However, we can drop B/C on the basis of pronoun ambiguity (that is, COLONIES...ALL....ITS). Is my understanding right?
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by Mike@Magoosh » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:08 pm
patanjali.purpose wrote: However, we can drop B/C on the basis of pronoun ambiguity (that is, COLONIES...ALL....ITS). Is my understanding right?
Yes. Also, that horrible "being formed" phrase that appears in B & D is a reason to eighty-six both of those answer choices.

Mike :-)
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by tapdoanhp » Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:21 pm
What about "that set forth..."? How do you know that modifies colonies but not charter? Is it because of meaning?
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by Mike@Magoosh » Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:38 pm
Dear tapdoanhp

The clause "that set forth its form of government and the rights of the colonists" modifies "charters", not "colonies." We know that both because of meaning (charters are documents that set forth things like this), and because of the modifier "touch rule".

Within the clause, the "its" refers back to "colonies." The clause as a whole refers to "charters", but the pronoun within the clause refers to "colonies." That's a little tricky, but that's what to expect from GMAT SC.

Does that make sense? Let me know if you have questions on this.

Mike :)
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