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patanjali.purpose: Legendary Member; Posts: 784; Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:51 am; Thanked: 114 times; Followed by:12 members

The Roman Empire expanded to most

by patanjali.purpose » Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:21 pm

The Roman Empire expanded to most of southern Europe and the Mediterranean region by beginning of the first centurt C.E., bringing the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance languages, including Spanish, French, and Italian.

a- the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance
b- the Latin language with it, and from which deriving Romance
c- with it the Latin language, from which derive Romance
d- with it the Latin language, from which derives Romance
e- with it the Latin language, and deriving from it the Romance

Veritas; Pls explain your pick

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:21 pm

GMAT/MBA Expert

Mike@Magoosh: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 768; Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 4:18 pm; Location: Berkeley, CA; Thanked: 387 times; Followed by:140 members

by Mike@Magoosh » Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:21 pm

patanjali.purpose wrote:The Roman Empire expanded to most of southern Europe and the Mediterranean region by beginning of the first centurt C.E., bringing the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance languages, including Spanish, French, and Italian.

a- the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance
b- the Latin language with it, and from which deriving Romance
c- with it the Latin language, from which derive Romance
d- with it the Latin language, from which derives Romance
e- with it the Latin language, and deriving from it the Romance

I'm happy to help with this.

First of all, we want to obey the Modifier Touch Rule, so the "from which" should be touching its referent, the Latin language. Therefore, (A) & (B) are out --- it's preferable to put "the Latin language" at the end of that phrase, so it can touch the modifier.

(E) is a wordy monstrosity that should be taken out back and shot. Tube it.

That leaves (C) & (D), and the only difference is whether the verb should be singular or plural. This is tricky --- the subject of the verb "derive" comes after the verb --- it's the "Romance languages", which is plural. Therefore, we need the plural verb "derive."

Answer = C

Does that make sense?

Here are a couple blog articles on some finer points about modifiers, which you may find helpful.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/that-vs-which-on-the-gmat/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... modifiers/
Let me know if have any questions.

BTW, I love your screenname, patanjali.purpose --- pursuing your success with the focus and intensity of the Sage of Yoga. I like it!

Mike

Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/

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patanjali.purpose: Legendary Member; Posts: 784; Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:51 am; Thanked: 114 times; Followed by:12 members

by patanjali.purpose » Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:34 pm

Mike@Magoosh wrote:
patanjali.purpose wrote:The Roman Empire expanded to most of southern Europe and the Mediterranean region by beginning of the first centurt C.E., bringing the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance languages, including Spanish, French, and Italian.

a- the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance
b- the Latin language with it, and from which deriving Romance
c- with it the Latin language, from which derive Romance
d- with it the Latin language, from which derives Romance
e- with it the Latin language, and deriving from it the Romance
I'm happy to help with this.

First of all, we want to obey the Modifier Touch Rule, so the "from which" should be touching its referent, the Latin language. Therefore, (A) & (B) are out --- it's preferable to put "the Latin language" at the end of that phrase, so it can touch the modifier.

(E) is a wordy monstrosity that should be taken out back and shot. Tube it.

That leaves (C) & (D), and the only difference is whether the verb should be singular or plural. This is tricky --- the subject of the verb "derive" comes after the verb --- it's the "Romance languages", which is plural. Therefore, we need the plural verb "derive."

Answer = C

Does that make sense?

Here are a couple blog articles on some finer points about modifiers, which you may find helpful.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/that-vs-which-on-the-gmat/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... modifiers/
Let me know if have any questions.

BTW, I love your screenname, patanjali.purpose --- pursuing your success with the focus and intensity of the Sage of Yoga. I like it!

Mike

Thanks Mike for your time and views.

I have couple of follow up doubts:
1) does DERIVE appropriate (one part you already addressed - to use DERIVE, not DERIVES; 2nd part is is whether we require PRESENT TENSE or PAST TENSE; 3rd part is donot we require a passive construction as Romance languages WERE DERIVED BY SOME OTHER AGENT)

2) will you share some insights into inversion of sentences esp of relative clauses?

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rajcools: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 80; Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2012 7:00 am; Thanked: 4 times

by rajcools » Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:13 pm

i have doubt about

from which derive Romance

Language didnt itself derive from latin , it was derived by someone so here passive tense should be used

from which were derived

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GmatKiss: Legendary Member; Posts: 2789; Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 am; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 206 times; Followed by:43 members; GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:21 pm

patanjali.purpose wrote:The Roman Empire expanded to most of southern Europe and the Mediterranean region by beginning of the first centurt C.E., bringing the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance languages, including Spanish, French, and Italian.

a- the Latin language with it, from which were derived Romance
b- the Latin language with it, and from which deriving Romance
c- with it the Latin language, from which derive Romance
d- with it the Latin language, from which derives Romance
e- with it the Latin language, and deriving from it the Romance

Veritas; Pls explain your pick

IMO: C

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pm; Thanked: 18 times; Followed by:2 members

by tanviet » Tue May 01, 2012 12:10 am

I agree that C is oa.
pls, help
we should learn from oa.

in C, "drive" go before the subject. Normally, only in questions, we have inverted order, verb is before subject.

pls, explain why in C, the inverted order is good. Thank you.

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GMAT/MBA Expert

Mike@Magoosh: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 768; Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 4:18 pm; Location: Berkeley, CA; Thanked: 387 times; Followed by:140 members

by Mike@Magoosh » Tue May 01, 2012 10:40 am

rajcools wrote:i have doubt about
from which derive Romance
Language didnt itself derive from latin , it was derived by someone so here passive tense should be used
from which were derived

Hello, rajcools,

Actually, this is tricky about the word "derive." If I am talking about, say, a mathematical theorem or a scientific theory, then I use [person] derives [thing] --- for example

Archimedes derived the familiar formula for the area of a circle, (pi)r^2.

Bohr derived the basic model of the hydrogen atom.

If we are talking about language or the features of a language, though, we say one language derives from another --- for example

Japanese kanji derive from Chinese characters.

All Indo-European languages ultimately derive from Sanskrit.

It's awkward and arguably incorrect to say "Indo-European languages were derived from Sanskrit" or "French was derived from Latin" --- the passive construction implies there was an actor, and in fact, there was no one person or group of people who actively worked to create the new languages. New languages arise & evolve spontaneously, they are not consciously created like a mathematical theorem or a scientific theory or a work of art.

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

Mike

Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/