Mexican

theCodeToGMAT wrote:At the time of the Mexican agrarian revolution, the most radical faction, that of Zapata and his followers, proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards.

A. land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards
B. land, a form of ownership of the pre-Columbians and respected by the Spaniards
C. land, respected by the Spaniards and a pre-Columbian form of ownership
D. land in which a pre-Columbian form of ownership was respected by the Spaniards
E. land that had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards
[spoiler]
{A}[/spoiler]

the radical group proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards.
Here the past perfect tense "had" is required to correctly express two past actions and their order, so the valid answer options are A/E.

E has a modifier issue. That is modifying the land but in fact it should be modifying communal ownership
the radical group proposed a return to communal ownership of land that had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards
Also "the radical group proposed a return to communal ownership of land that was of a particular type" does not make any sense.

[spoiler]Answer: A[/spoiler]

Original source ?

I wonder if this form of parallelism is correct as per the GMAT standards:

... proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards

mevicks wrote:I wonder if this form of parallelism is correct as per the GMAT standards:

... proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards

"to what had been a ...." is an Infinitive phrase as appositive... so neither you can be with {A} based on Tense issue .. on parallelism..

Source: Random PDFs

First off, this is one of those sentences that have extremely awkward "correct" answers.

I agree with the answer, but I think it's a subpar question.

* In B), "a form of ownership...and" doesn't really go. If you removed "and" and then used "pre-Columbian" before "form," then B) would be the best answer.

* C) has a similar problem--you could call it lack of parallelism.

* D) doesn't really make sense, and also fails to use a comma to set off the incidental information.

* In E), the antecedent of "that" would be considered "land" by the prisses who write the GMAT. :mrgreen: However, if you added a comma after "land" and used "which" instead of "that," then the choice would be fine.

Guess that makes everything about as clear as mud now, huh?

mevicks wrote:I wonder if this form of parallelism is correct as per the GMAT standards:

... proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards

Yes, it should be. The first "to" is followed by a noun phrase, and the second by a clause functioning as a noun. Nevertheless, the sentence is stylistically poor, something the GMAT writers don't seem to give a hoot about.

theCodeToGMAT wrote:At the time of the Mexican agrarian revolution, the most radical faction, that of Zapata and his followers, proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards.

A. land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards
B. land, a form of ownership of the pre-Columbians and respected by the Spaniards
C. land, respected by the Spaniards and a pre-Columbian form of ownership
D. land in which a pre-Columbian form of ownership was respected by the Spaniards
E. land that had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards
[spoiler]
{A}[/spoiler]

In B, ownership of the pre-Columbians seems to imply that the PRE-COLUMBIANS themselves were being owned.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate B.

In C, respected (adjective) and a pre-Columbian form (noun) are not parallel.
Eliminate C.

in D, which lacks a clear referent.
In WHAT exactly was a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected?
Eliminate D.

In E, that had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership seems to be modifying land, implying that the LAND itself was a pre-Columbian form of ownership.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate E.

A is better than the rest, but be wary.
In the OA, to what had been a pre-communal form of ownership seems to be in apposition to to communal ownership of land.
Offhand, I can't think of an official SC in which two prepositional MODIFIERS serve as appositives.
Generally, appositives are NOUNS -- not modifiers -- that appear side-by-side, with the second noun serving to explain or define the first.
Be skeptical of this source.

GMATGuruNY wrote: A is better than the rest, but be wary.
In the OA, to what had been a pre-communal form of ownership seems to be in apposition to to communal ownership of land.
Offhand, I can't think of an official SC in which two infinitive MODIFIERS serve as appositives.

Infinitives? These are not infinitives--they are two prepositional phrases beginning with "to," the second one having an entire clause as the object.

Be skeptical of this source.

Actually, I believe this question comes from an older official GMAT source--not that that means much, of course. I agree with you that it's not a real winner.

neptune28 wrote: Infinitives? These are not infinitives--they are two prepositional phrases beginning with "to," the second one having an entire clause as the object.

Correct: I intended to say prepositional modifiers.
I've edited my post above.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

neptune28 wrote: Infinitives? These are not infinitives--they are two prepositional phrases beginning with "to," the second one having an entire clause as the object.

Correct: I intended to say prepositional modifiers.
I've edited my post above.

No problem, GMATGuruNY--I figured it wasn't intentional.