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Modifier & Alexandria

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Modifier & Alexandria

by crackgmat007 » Thu May 14, 2009 9:27 am
In A.D. 391, resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria, later generations lost all but the lliad and Odyssey among Greek epics, most of the poetry of Pindar and Sappho,
and dozens of plays by Aeschylus and Euripides.
(A) resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria,
(B) the destroying of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria resulted and
(C) because of the result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world,
(D) as a result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world,
(E) Alexandria's largest library of the ancient world was destroyed, and the result was

Can anyone explain why the noun modifier 'the largest of the ancient world', in answer choice c, is not understood as modifying Alexandria. The answer seems to be C, but I ruled out C coz the modifier modifies Alexandria instead of library. Am I missing something?
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by Jose Ferreira » Thu May 14, 2009 4:06 pm
Your instincts were good, in wanting to eliminate a modifier that seems to be too far away from the noun it is modifying. However, it is perfectly acceptable for the thing being modified to be a multiple word noun.

In answer C, it is perfectly plausible that "the library at Alexandria" is one unit, just as saying "the big library" or "the library that Bill Clinton founded" would be one unit.

Think about the concept while reading this grammatically correct sentence:

"I was eager to visit a library of such prominence, the largest and most prestigious in the country."
Last edited by Jose Ferreira on Mon May 18, 2009 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by thetrystero » Thu May 14, 2009 7:36 pm
In A.D. 391, resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria, later generations lost all but the lliad and Odyssey among Greek epics, most of the poetry of Pindar and Sappho,
and dozens of plays by Aeschylus and Euripides.
(A) resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria,
(B) the destroying of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria resulted and
(C) because of the result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world,
(D) as a result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world,
(E) Alexandria's largest library of the ancient world was destroyed, and the result was
D sound good.
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by agoyal2 » Thu May 14, 2009 8:38 pm
Even I would like to understand why not D?
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by thetrystero » Thu May 14, 2009 10:17 pm
agoyal2 wrote:Even I would like to understand why not D?
if you search other threads for this question, they put the OA as D.

maybe poster of this thread has been mistaken regarding the OA?
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by Mayur Sand » Sun May 17, 2009 8:24 pm
My 2 cents on (D)
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by sharkin » Thu Aug 12, 2010 1:37 am
If In the option C, we replace - "because of the result of" with just "because of" -
How about C being a correct answer now and can we still mark D as the better answer??
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by GMATMadeEasy » Thu Aug 12, 2010 4:28 am
OA is D. This is from Offificial guide..

And C is incorect just because "because of the result of" is redundant . May be some expert can explain the correct usage of because in cases where preceded by a clause .
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by sharkin » Thu Aug 12, 2010 4:42 am
Dear GMATMadeEasy,

Thanks for an attempt.. I am new to this forum and would really appreciate if someone can advise as to how I can address this doubt to BTG experts>?
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