Sentence Correction

Source: GMAT Prep

Though the artifacts of pre-Columbian civilization created a stir from the very first European contacts with the New World in the sixteenth century, it was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them.

A. it was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them

B. they did not inspire imitations of Western designers, artists, and crafters until it was the latter half of the nineteenth century

C. not until the latter half of the nineteenth century was it that they have inspired Western designers, artists, and crafters to imitation

D. until the latter half of the nineteenth century Western designers, artists, and crafters have not been inspired to imitate

E. they were not inspirations of Western designers, artists, and crafters imitations until the latter half of the nineteenth century

I opt for (A).
a. Best available option.
b. Parallelism in the subject. but did not inspire imitation seems wrong to me.
c. poor sentence formation.
d. It seems that something else not artifacts inspired them. Wrong use of have been.
e. poor subject formation.

I will opt for the option A.

Yep, A is the correct answer. The sentence correctly uses past tense for both past, completed time frames - 16th and 19th centuries.

I was deciding between A and B and mistakenly chose B, which is not correct. There is no referent for pronoun "it".

So what does "it" in A refer to?

+1 for {A}

Though the artifacts of pre-Columbian civilization created a stir from the very first European contacts with the New World in the sixteenth century, it was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them.

A. it was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them

Correct Answer - I think "it" is just a place holder here; "was" is in simple past and used here correctly to describe the period latter half of the 19th century and also matches with the simple past "created"

B. they did not inspire imitations of Western designers, artists, and crafters until it was the latter half of the nineteenth century

"imitations by" is the correct idiom usage.

C. not until the latter half of the nineteenth century was it that they have inspired Western designers, artists, and crafters to imitation

"to imitation" is not idiomatic.

D. until the latter half of the nineteenth century Western designers, artists, and crafters have not been inspired to imitate

"have not been" is not the correct tense and also "to imitate" is unidiomatic.

E. they were not inspirations of Western designers, artists, and crafters imitations until the latter half of the nineteenth century

imitations is unidiomatic.

Why is B wrong apart from imitations (plural--> kind of subtle for non natives)

Mitch,

I have read your post about it - https://www.beatthegmat.com/sentence-str ... tml#764472

- Here in A, "it" refers to that clause - Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them, right?

Implying - Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them not until the latter half of the nineteenth century (this doesn't distort the meaning)

- While in B: There is no that-clause, a whether-clause, or an infinitive phrase that appears later. So no clear referent for the pronoun "it"

- But in c, it can stand for "they have inspired Western designers, artists, and crafters to imitation", implying sensible meaning - they have inspired Western designers, artists, and crafters to imitation not until the latter half of the nineteenth century, while OE says there is no referent for it here.

Could you please explain?

nicktim wrote:Source: GMAT Prep

Though the artifacts of pre-Columbian civilization created a stir from the very first European contacts with the New World in the sixteenth century, it was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them.

A. it was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them

B. they did not inspire imitations of Western designers, artists, and crafters until it was the latter half of the nineteenth century

C. not until the latter half of the nineteenth century was it that they have inspired Western designers, artists, and crafters to imitation

D. until the latter half of the nineteenth century Western designers, artists, and crafters have not been inspired to imitate

E. they were not inspirations of Western designers, artists, and crafters imitations until the latter half of the nineteenth century

aji12 wrote:Mitch,

I have read your post about it - https://www.beatthegmat.com/sentence-str ... tml#764472

- Here in A, "it" refers to that clause - Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them, right?

Implying - Western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them not until the latter half of the nineteenth century (this doesn't distort the meaning)

- While in B: There is no that-clause, a whether-clause, or an infinitive phrase that appears later. So no clear referent for the pronoun "it"

- But in c, it can stand for "they have inspired Western designers, artists, and crafters to imitation", implying sensible meaning - they have inspired Western designers, artists, and crafters to imitation not until the latter half of the nineteenth century, while OE says there is no referent for it here.

Could you please explain?

In each of the following sentences, it serves to stand in for the delayed subject in blue:
IT is easy to like Mary.
IT was not until last year that John began studying.
IT is unclear who won the game.
This sort of usage requires that it appear BEFORE the main verb and that the delayed subject appear AFTER the main verb.

C: Not until the latter half of the nineteenth century was it that they have inspired Western designers.
Here, it appears AFTER the main verb (was).
As a result, the referent for it is unclear.