@gmat_perfect
whats the OA ?
Army of terra-cotta
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mohit11
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gmat_perfect wrote:Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.
What should the bold portion refer to?
the army of terra-cotta
Qin Shi Huang
it took 700,000 artisans
it took 700,000 artisans
more than 36 years
You can clearly rule out C,D and E. Between A and B, the bold portion cannot refer to Qin Shi Huang. So A is the answer.
A.the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
B.Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terra-cotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it
C.it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
D.more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
E.more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warriors that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, in his afterlife
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fibbonnaci
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B is definitely wrong. you use past tense to depict an event that has completed. here do we know that the army is not protecting the king in his afterlife as on today? do we have tat info? NO
Hence we cannot use past tense.
If this question appears on my exam screen then among the options, i would choose A. All the others are blatantly wrong.
Hence we cannot use past tense.
If this question appears on my exam screen then among the options, i would choose A. All the others are blatantly wrong.
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harshavardhanc
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there is no harm in changing the tense until and unless we HAVE to. Take for e.g :fibbonnaci wrote:B is definitely wrong. you use past tense to depict an event that has completed. here do we know that the army is not protecting the king in his afterlife as on today? do we have tat info? NO
Hence we cannot use past tense.
-> you are 25 yrs old.
-> you were born 25 yrs ago.
the tense is different, but both the sentences convey nearly the same meaning.
Similarly, the original sentence says that the army is 2000 yrs old.
B says, the army was created 2000 yrs ago.
So, you cannot eliminate B on the basis of "tense-reasoning" .
Observe that there are so many pronouns in B which don't have clear antecedents. That can be one of the reasons to forgo B.
Regards,
Harsha
Harsha
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fibbonnaci
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I am not eliminating B coz of the statement- the army was created 2000 years ago but because of the statement " Qin Shi Huang was protected in his afterlife " i am sure we dont have information about whether the army is protecting the king even now or has left the protection. Atleast i dont!
IMO you cannot assign past tense to these situations. was protected implies the event happened in the past and does not occur anymore.
IMO you cannot assign past tense to these situations. was protected implies the event happened in the past and does not occur anymore.
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harshavardhanc
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fibbonnaci wrote:I am not eliminating B coz of the statement- the army was created 2000 years ago but because of the statement " Qin Shi Huang was protected in his afterlife " i am sure we dont have information about whether the army is protecting the king even now or has left the protection. Atleast i dont!
IMO you cannot assign past tense to these situations. was protected implies the event happened in the past and does not occur anymore.
yes, I understood that from your initial post. However, wanted you to elaborate that point. FYI, there is lot of mixing of tense in this sentence, which is grammatically correct.
->The army created to protect.
->is 2000 yrs ago.
->took 700,000 artisans to complete.
One simple way to eliminate all the incorrect options is by looking at the opening modifier.
Rivaling the Pyramids.....,
what rivals these monuments? The terra-cotta army.
So, this term should immediately follow the comma. Only A has this kind of construction.
Regards,
Harsha
Harsha
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fibbonnaci
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I accept the modifier issue but there is yet another tense mistake which is a grave one too. I wrote yet another approach to eliminate B.
The minute you see lot of tenses mixed up, that should raise a red flag in ur head coz generally authors love to mix up the tenses and make it seem all rite.
@harshavardhan i do not know what you wanted me to explain coz i elaborate my point when i post. if u read my post you will see that i have elaborated the tense error that i pointed to and gave a reason why. infact i just re iterated the same wording for your response.
The minute you see lot of tenses mixed up, that should raise a red flag in ur head coz generally authors love to mix up the tenses and make it seem all rite.
@harshavardhan i do not know what you wanted me to explain coz i elaborate my point when i post. if u read my post you will see that i have elaborated the tense error that i pointed to and gave a reason why. infact i just re iterated the same wording for your response.
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harshavardhanc
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Takshs,Takshs wrote:Are u guys kidding....The answer is A!!!
Its a simple modifier problem!!
I see that this is your first post on this forum.
For your information, there are certain rules which MUST be followed when you post click the submit button. The rules can be searched easily.
IMO, the way you have replied is certainly not the way to start.
You should participate in the discussion and add something useful to it. If you cannot, then it's better to just read the topic and move on. But.....don't discourage or make fun of anyone.
As far as the correct answer is concerned, everyone knows that is a modifier problem.
We were just discussing other points on which the rest of the options could be eliminated, which will help anyone in the longer run.
Regards,
Harsha
Harsha
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fibbonnaci
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@Takshs,
I totally second harshavardhan. BTG is a forum where we expect people to follow some norms and rules before posting.
The way u posted here is definitely not commendable.
FYI, all of us here know the answer has to be A and there is a modifier issue but we are trying to deal with other kinds of minor errors that also play a pivotal role. knowing other approaches help in the long run.
If you cant add value to discussions , I dont want you to be belittling the discussion.
I totally second harshavardhan. BTG is a forum where we expect people to follow some norms and rules before posting.
The way u posted here is definitely not commendable.
FYI, all of us here know the answer has to be A and there is a modifier issue but we are trying to deal with other kinds of minor errors that also play a pivotal role. knowing other approaches help in the long run.
If you cant add value to discussions , I dont want you to be belittling the discussion.
