Meaning Analysis:
This sentence states that during certain time frame (1050 -1350) significant quantity of stone were quarried in France. This was done to build the following:
"¢ 80 cathedrals
"¢ 500 large churches
"¢ some tens of thousands of parish churches
Error Analysis:
In three centuries--from 1050 to 1350--several million tons of stone were quarried in France for the building of eighty cathedrals, five hundred large churches, and some tens of thousands of parish churches.
1. Subject Verb
several million tons of stone - were quarried
2. Verbs
were quarried in simple past tense
3. Pronouns = N/A
4. Parallelism
a. A list of 3 items that were to be built with the stone. All items are nouns. List is parallel.
i. 80 cathedrals
ii. 500 large churches
iii. some tens of thousands of parish churches
5. Other
"Some tens of thousands of parish churches" may sound awkward and wordy. But this expression is grammatically correct. 'some' emphasizes on the fact that the exact number of these large number of parish churches was not known.
Thus, original sentence has no errors and could be the correct answer.
Answer Choice Analysis:
Choice B: This choice has two errors:
1: Pronoun Reference: There is no antecedent for "they" in the sentence. Logically, they should refer to the French. However, the antecedent must be present in the sentence.
2: Meaning: The original sentence implies that the large quantity of stone was quarried for the purpose of building the mentioned structures - a fact. However, this choice introduces a sense of possibility by adding the word "might". Thus the meaning changes from certainly building the structures to possibly building the structures.
Choice C: This choice has similar errors as Choice B does. In addition, it uses incorrect idiom - so as
Choice D: This choice has two errors:
1: Wordy and awkward: "so that there could be built" is unnecessarily written in passive voice. Between Choices A and D, A is a better worded sentence.
2: Meaning: The use of "could" implies that after getting the stone, France had the capability of making these structures. But this does not necessarily mean that France got this stone to actually construct these structures as mentioned in the original sentence. So this choice changes the intended meaning of the sentence. Lets see the difference between these choices using an example:
Tom did cardio training to run the marathon. = This implies that Tom will actually run the marathon, so he is preparing himself for the same.
Tom did cardio training so that he could run the marathon. = This implies that Tom is preparing himself for the marathon, but he does not really have any marathon planned for sure.
Choice E = This choice has two errors.
1: Pronoun Reference: As explained in Choice B.
2: Meaning: As explained in Choice D.
Thus, Choice A is the correct answer.
Since some of the posters have asked about "how far to go with the meaning", here are some notes about "intended meaning":
When you read the original sentence to understand the meaning, you must consider the sentence in its entirety to understand what the author is trying to communicate. Both underlined and non-underlined portions express the intention of the author. Typically the meaning of original sentence is clear, as in this case. Thus, when the original sentence communicates the meaning appropriately, we should select the answer choice that communicates that meaning.
Hence, when solving SC questions, you should consider both meaning and grammatical errors when you eliminate the answer choices. Also, if one of the answer choices is grammatically correct but changes the meaning of the original sentence, then that answer choice should be eliminated.
For example, consider Question # 84, OG-12.
The original sentence states that ozone is formed in the atmosphere when A and B react with sunlight.
Choice C - incorrect per OG - states that ozone is formed in the atmosphere and when A and B react with sunlight. This choice while grammatically correct, distorts the meaning of the original sentence because it states that ozone is formed in two ways: 1) in the atmosphere and 2) when A and B react with sunlight.
You may observe similar pattern in question 115 (Gall's hypothesis) where choices B and E are deemed incorrect because they distort the meaning expressed in the original sentence.
Now in certain cases, the underlined portion is worded such that the original sentence does not make logical sense. In those cases, we should select an answer choice that conveys the most logical meaning.
Here are some references for questions in which original sentence does not communicate logical meaning.
1: OG12#6 - The causal sequence established is not logical.
2: OG12#118 - The original sentence is worded so awkwardly that it does not make logical sense.
3: OG12#137 - The original sentence is worded such that it illogically suggests that composer goes into decline after death.
As you will notice in these 3 questions, the correct choice makes logical sense.
