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GPREP SC- 9

by abhasjha » Sat Aug 16, 2014 6:20 pm
The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.

A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending

B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended

C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and
extended

D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended

E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:24 am
The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.

A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending

Are B and D grammatically incorrect? and why?
In A, the which-clause (which...Chile) lacks a verb.
Eliminate A.

In C, the Incan highway (subject) lacks a verb.
Eliminate C.

With regard to B and D: extended and extending convey different meanings.
Case 1: a highway extended implies that SOMEONE STRETCHED the highway beyond its initial length.
Case 2: a highway extending implies that the HIGHWAY ITSELF was long enough to STRETCH across the indicated distance.
The intended meaning here is Case 2.
Eliminate B and D.

The correct answer is E.

Analysis of the OA:
The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.
Here, the subject of the sentence is the Incan highway.
The greatest road system is as an APPOSITIVE serving to DEFINE the Incan highway.
The COMMA + VERBing modifier (extending from Northern Ecuador through Peru) serves an as adverb modifying the preceding clause, providing context for HOW the Incan highway WAS over 2,500 miles long.
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by [email protected] » Sun Aug 17, 2014 10:43 am
Hi abhasjha,

From all the commas in the answer choices, Modification looks to be the primary grammar rule in this SC. There are also a couple of verb issues worth noting:

1) Modification: The opening descriptive phrase of this sentence refers to "the greatest road system....", so THAT road system should appear immediately following that first comma. Eliminate A and B.

2) Verbs: The road system clearly existed in the past, so we need a simple past tense verb to define what the road "WAS" (in the past). Eliminate D.

3) Redundancy: In answer C, the pronoun "which" is unnecessary, since we already know that we're talking about the Incan highway. Eliminate C.

Final Answer: E

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by abhasjha » Sun Aug 17, 2014 11:10 am
Thank You Rich and Mitch ,

It is really enlighting to see both of you using two different methods to reach the solution that too for a SC question. I am pretty sure others would be taking a note of this .

We are lucky to have people like you on the forum .
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Aug 17, 2014 11:26 am
[email protected] wrote:
1) Modification: The opening descriptive phrase of this sentence refers to "the greatest road system....", so THAT road system should appear immediately following that first comma. Eliminate A and B.
Rich, could you please clarify your reason for eliminating A and B?
In A and B, there is no opening descriptive phrase.
A and B: The greatest road system... was the Incan highway.
Here, the greatest road system serves not as a modifier but as the subject of was.
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