Initiated five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New

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missionGMAT007: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 135; Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:59 am; Thanked: 4 times

by missionGMAT007 » Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:34 am

I really enjoy this kind of questions... here we go....

Initiated five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992. Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

(A) Initiated five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992, Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
(B) Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, a $100 million investment in the search for -extraterrestrial intelligence was pledged by Project SETI.
(C) Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
(D) Pledging a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the . initiation of Project SETI five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992.
(E) Pledging a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, on Columbus Day 1992, the initiation of Project SETI took place.

OA C

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:34 am

gmat_perfect: Legendary Member; Posts: 1083; Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:38 pmFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 127 times

by gmat_perfect » Sat Dec 11, 2010 6:47 am

missionGMAT007 wrote:I really enjoy this kind of questions... here we go....

Initiated five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992. Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

(A) Initiated five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992, Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
(B) Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, a $100 million investment in the search for -extraterrestrial intelligence was pledged by Project SETI.
(C) Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
(D) Pledging a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the initiation of Project SETI five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992.
(E) Pledging a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, on Columbus Day 1992, the initiation of Project SETI took place.

OA C

The splits:

VERBING+ COMMA + NOUN
--> Verbing modifies the NOUN after comma.

On the basis of this rule, options D and E can be eliminated.

Verb-ed + COMMA + NOUN

Verb-ed modifies the NOUN after COMMA.

--> This rule eliminates B.

We are between A and C.

A=>Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992--This portion changes the meaning of the sentence.

Actually "Columbus Day 1992" was five centuries after the Europeans arrived in the New World. The Europeans did not arrive on Columbus Day.

So, the option A is out.

Answer is C.

pinchharmonic: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 51; Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:51 pm; Thanked: 2 times

understanding a series of prepositional phrases

by pinchharmonic » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:45 am

Hi,

I underlined every prepositional phrase below.

(E) Pledging a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, on Columbus Day 1992, the initiation of Project SETI took place.

"in the search" must modify pledging, or in other words, the "why" of pledging.
"for extraterrestrial intelligence" is modifying "search" ,
"five centuries after Europeans arrived", should modify either when the "search" occurred or when the "pledge" occurred?
"in the New World", should modify "arrived"

(1). Is "five centuries after europeans arrived" a prepositional phrase? then what is "five centuries"?

(2) New World "on Columbus Day 1992" ... here on columbus day appears to modify "arrived", which is why the answer choice is incorrect. However, how are we to know that it modifies "arrived" and not the previous noun "new world"? What if it was "on planet earth", then "on planet earth" would be a adjectival prepositional phrase modifying "new world". Both prepositional modifiers would look identical and there would be nothing other than meaning or a plain judgement call on what it modifies

Last edited by pinchharmonic on Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ArunangsuSahu: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 382; Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:47 pm; Thanked: 15 times

by ArunangsuSahu » Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:05 pm

Two things to note:
a) What was initiated---Modifier
b) Active voice. Passive voice is the trap

(C) is the answer

luiscarlos59: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 61; Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:34 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by luiscarlos59 » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:52 pm

C) Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Isn't Initiated on Columbus Day 1992..modifying. five centuries?

Thats why I discarded C.

ArunangsuSahu: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 382; Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:47 pm; Thanked: 15 times

by ArunangsuSahu » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:02 pm

No ,The following is the sequence

i) "five centuries...." is modifying "initiated"
ii) "initiated" is modifying "Project"

msrdon: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 8; Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:43 pm

by msrdon » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:07 pm

Ans C

imskpwr: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 377; Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:45 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 10 times

by imskpwr » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:26 pm

msrdon wrote:Ans C

OA A. anyone with better explanation for "c"

msrdon: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 8; Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:43 pm

by msrdon » Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:02 am

Between A, B and C,

A) It implies that Europeans arrived in the New World in 1992.
B) Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, ----, Project SETI pledged-- is correct. The project was initiated, not the $100 million investment.

So C is the answer.

[email protected]: Legendary Member; Posts: 934; Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:16 amFollowed by: 14 members; Location: AAMCHI MUMBAI LOCAL; Thanked: 63 times

by [email protected] » Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:07 am

Got lost between A and C and chose A by mistake which is the wrong answer
anyways really good question...

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