In ancient Thailand ...

Question

In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them.

A. much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them
B. much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined
C. much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images as well as constructing and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined
D. creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy, and also constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them
E. the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them

OA: B

I'm not really understanding why.

wonderland130 · Answer

A is wrong. It not not parallel. Creation vs constructed and decorated is incorrect.
B is parallel since it is"on the creation" and "on construction and decoration"

On this and on that and the words creation , construction and decoration all are parallel

C is incorrect due to the missing on i believe

goelmohit2002 · Answer

IMO B is correct answer because...

In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them.

A. much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them
creation....constructed...decorated...= non parallel.

B. much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined
correct.

C. much of the local artisans’ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images as well as constructing and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined
creation...constructing....decoration...= non parallel.

D. creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy, and also constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them
says creating images accounted for energy...whereas the original sentence said energy expended.

E. the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisans’ creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them
says creating images accounted for energy...whereas the original sentence said energy expended.

yogami · Answer

guys I got B too but in all of these options don't the words "they" or "them" sound ambiguous in terms of referring to the artisans or the buddha images? I know they should refer to images but how do we resolve what it is referring to grammatically?

commit.gmat · Answer

yogami wrote:guys I got B too but in all of these options don't the words "they" or "them" sound ambiguous in terms of referring to the artisans or the buddha images? I know they should refer to images but how do we resolve what it is referring to grammatically? I do not think there is ambiguity here. artisans' is in possessive form. 'They' can not refer to a possessive noun. Only a possessive pronoun can refer to a possessive noun. That leaves us with the Buddha images.

maihuna · Answer

commit.gmat wrote:yogami wrote:guys I got B too but in all of these options don't the words "they" or "them" sound ambiguous in terms of referring to the artisans or the buddha images? I know they should refer to images but how do we resolve what it is referring to grammatically? I do not think there is ambiguity here. artisans' is in possessive form. 'They' can not refer to a possessive noun. Only a possessive pronoun can refer to a possessive noun. That leaves us with the Buddha images. but there are temples as well and they may well refer to temples

heshamelaziry · Answer

maihuna wrote:commit.gmat wrote:yogami wrote:guys I got B too but in all of these options don't the words "they" or "them" sound ambiguous in terms of referring to the artisans or the buddha images? I know they should refer to images but how do we resolve what it is referring to grammatically? I do not think there is ambiguity here. artisans' is in possessive form. 'They' can not refer to a possessive noun. Only a possessive pronoun can refer to a possessive noun. That leaves us with the Buddha images. but there are temples as well and they may well refer to temples In rare sentences, which i do not remember now, which will not refer immediatley to the noun before the comma. In most sentences, like this one, which refers directly to the noun before the comma. "In which" refers to temples, " they" must refer to statues to conform with the intended meaning of the sentence. However, "In which they were enshrined" looks like a modifier of temples becase we can write the sentence without "in which they were enshrined" and be grammatically correct , but there is no comma before "which". Could someone explain ? You can search "lunarpower" to see an examples of this. If you do and find the examples, please send me the link. Thanks in advance

moliver · Answer

hi!
Question please about this senence:

choice "b" is also correct because of the correct use the idiom expended on ... and on ....
a) can be incorrect because of this?
b) is not // extended on the creation as well as constructing not //
d) and also is redundant, isn't it?
e) here accounted for is correct, isn't it? but is not //???

Thanks!!!

Pdgmat2010 · Answer

what is the OA here?
E sounds bad as it has a complex gerund ' creating of Buddha images' along with nouns like construction and decoration.. is this technically correct??

B in B , i found 'they' a bit awkward..

other choices are out of scope as they either have a parallelism error or an incorrect modifier..

I saw someone post the question again with a different OA this time!!!!!!

Please clarify!

moliver · Answer

OA B
B. much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined

For me, "they" is referring to artisans and "in which" to temples
What do you think Pdgmat2010 ?

touchstone · Answer

IMO B is correct. Explanation is as follows.

A expended "for" is incorrect. Correct usage is expended "on". "When" indicates time , so usage of when is incorrect here.

B Correct.. Energy was spent on two things viz creation of Buddha images and construction and decoration of temples. These are parallel here

C as well as idiomatically incorrect. "and" should be used

D. Here it seems that creating images accounted for constructing and decorating temples. Doesn't make sense

E. Here it seems that creating images accounted for constructing and decorating temples. Doesn't make sense

Pdgmat2010 · Answer

moliver wrote:OA B
B. much of the local artisans' creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined

For me, "they" is referring to artisans and "in which" to temples
What do you think Pdgmat2010 ?

Hi moliver,
'in which' is correct in this context as it directly comes after the 'temples' and so is a correct modifier.

now looking at all the explanations again, i agree that B is a better choice . At first glance though , 'they' looks bad!!

LOL... thanks for all the help everyone..

moliver · Answer

thanks for the explanation!

pharmxanthan · Answer

goelmohit2002 wrote:IMO B is correct answer because...

In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them.

A. much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy was expended for the creation of Buddha images and when they constructed and decorated the temples that enshrined them
creation....constructed...decorated...= non parallel.

B. much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images and on construction and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined
correct.

C. much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy was expended on the creation of Buddha images as well as constructing and decoration of the temples in which they were enshrined
creation...constructing....decoration...= non parallel.

D. creating images of Buddha accounted for much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy, and also constructing and decorating the temples enshrining them
says creating images accounted for energy...whereas the original sentence said energy expended.

E. the creating of Buddha images accounted for much of the local artisansï¿½ creative energy as well as construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them
says creating images accounted for energy...whereas the original sentence said energy expended.

But in B, we have

was expended on the creation of Buddha images
and
on construction and decoration of the temples

Should there not be "the" before "construction" and "decoration" as in -

was expended on the creation of Buddha images
and
on the construction and the decoration of the temples

jsche229 · Answer

In the correct answer (B), how is the antecedent of "they" artisan's? Artisan's is acting as an adverbial modifier for "Creative Energy." How is this correct?

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