Subordination Kap 800

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Subordination Kap 800

by chaitanya.mehrotra » Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:59 am
In the mid-fifth century, Rome was threatened by hunnish troops who led by Atilla the Hun, demostrated his millitary superiority over the weakened, recently conquered city.

A...
B.which, led by Atilla the hun, demostrated their military superiority
C.that atilla the hun led, who demonstrated his military superiority
D.that atilla the hun led in demonstration of their military superiority
E.that were led by Atilla the Hun, who demonstrated his military superiority

OA [spoiler] B Can you please explain the options and the key take away ?
How come which refer to troops ? [/spoiler]
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by aspirant2011 » Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:56 am
chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:In the mid-fifth century, Rome was threatened by hunnish troops who led by Atilla the Hun, demostrated his millitary superiority over the weakened, recently conquered city.

A.who led by Atilla the Hun, demostrated his millitary superiority --------- usage of his is wrong because we need to show that troops showed their military superiority
B.which, led by Atilla the hun, demostrated their military superiority
C.that atilla the hun led, who demonstrated his military superiority
D.that atilla the hun led in demonstration of their military superiority
E.that were led by Atilla the Hun, who demonstrated his military superiority

OA [spoiler] B Can you please explain the options and the key take away ? How come which refer to troops ? [/spoiler]

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by mundasingh123 » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:56 am
aspirant2011 wrote:
chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:In the mid-fifth century, Rome was threatened by hunnish troops who led by Atilla the Hun, demostrated his millitary superiority over the weakened, recently conquered city.

A.who led by Atilla the Hun, demostrated his millitary superiority --------- usage of his is wrong because we need to show that troops showed their military superiority
B.which, led by Atilla the hun, demostrated their military superiority
C.that atilla the hun led, who demonstrated his military superiority
D.that atilla the hun led in demonstration of their military superiority
E.that were led by Atilla the Hun, who demonstrated his military superiority

OA [spoiler] B Can you please explain the options and the key take away ? How come which refer to troops ? [/spoiler]
That the troops demonstrated HIS military superiority doesnt exactly sound rubbish . How do you know if the troops demonstrated their superiority or his superiority .
Also the which clause has no comma before . which clause is a non - essential modifier . should i just throw this extra knowledge out of my Brain Box
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by krishnasty » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:39 am
even i agree with mundasingh..my ans was E..i guess it was Atila the hun who wanted to demonstrate HIS superiority by the use of his troops..
Kindly explain why E is incorrect..
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by mundasingh123 » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:41 am
krishnasty wrote:even i agree with mundasingh..my ans was E..i guess it was Atila the hun who wanted to demonstrate HIS superiority by the use of his troops..
Kindly explain why E is incorrect..
AFAIK the sentence doesnt us present us with enuf clues to guess the intended meaning .
If i saw the hunnish winning a battle , i would say the troops were superior .
But when Germany defeated Argentina in the recent World Cup, Television commentators reported that the tactics deployed by the german coach were superior Gosh !
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by Frankenstein » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:52 am
Hi,
E seems to be fine for me. But, if OA is B, probably some Kaplan expert could help us on this. In the original sentence also, 'his military superiority' is mentioned and not that of troops.

Off Topic: German Coach Joachim Loew is certainly a much better tactician than Maradona!
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by crick » Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:46 pm
I will go with the meaning of original Sentence. Though grammatically incorrect, it intends to imply that the troops imposed their superiority.

So B for me.

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by mundasingh123 » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:13 pm
crick wrote:I will go with the meaning of original Sentence. Though grammatically incorrect, it intends to imply that the troops imposed their superiority.

So B for me.

Crick
B is not the original meaning of the sentence
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by saketk » Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:23 pm
chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:In the mid-fifth century, Rome was threatened by hunnish troops who led by Atilla the Hun, demostrated his millitary superiority over the weakened, recently conquered city.

A...
B.which, led by Atilla the hun, demostrated their military superiority
C.that atilla the hun led, who demonstrated his military superiority
D.that atilla the hun led in demonstration of their military superiority
E.that were led by Atilla the Hun, who demonstrated his military superiority

OA [spoiler] B Can you please explain the options and the key take away ?
How come which refer to troops ? [/spoiler]

When I first read this SC I thought Option E is the right answer. But, after looking at the OA I got confused.
May be OA is B because -- 'led by Atilla the hun' is an additional information and mainly this sentence is talking about the 'hunnish troops'.

Need to know from Experts what they think about this.

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by e-GMAT » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:01 am
saketk wrote:
chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:In the mid-fifth century, Rome was threatened by hunnish troops who led by Atilla the Hun, demostrated his millitary superiority over the weakened, recently conquered city.

A...
B.which, led by Atilla the hun, demostrated their military superiority
C.that atilla the hun led, who demonstrated his military superiority
D.that atilla the hun led in demonstration of their military superiority
E.that were led by Atilla the Hun, who demonstrated his military superiority

OA [spoiler] B Can you please explain the options and the key take away ?
How come which refer to troops ? [/spoiler]

When I first read this SC I thought Option E is the right answer. But, after looking at the OA I got confused.
May be OA is B because -- 'led by Atilla the hun' is an additional information and mainly this sentence is talking about the 'hunnish troops'.

Need to know from Experts what they think about this.
What does the sentence mean?
In the mid-fifth century, Rome was threatened by hunnish troops who led by Atilla the Hun, demonstrated his military superiority over the weakened, recently conquered city.

Clause 1 - In the mid-fifth century, Rome was threatened by hunnish troops
Clause 2 - who led by Atilla the Hun, demonstrated his military superiority over the weakened, recently conquered city.

Rome was threatened by Hunnish troops
These troops were led by Atilla the Hun
These troops demonstrated the military superiority over the weakened city

Notice from the sentence construction that "led by abc" is a verb-ed modifier describing the hunnish troops. The SV of clause 2 are as highlighted above.
So the troops actually demonstrated their military superiority.

Choice B and E
Both these choices are grammatically correct. But now that we have analyzed the meaning of original sentence, we know that B is the choice that communicates this intended meaning. Choice E distorts the meaning and in fact illogically states that Atilla the Hun demonstrated his military superiority. Its not likely for an individual to show his military superiority over an entire city.

Hope this helps.

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by mundasingh123 » Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:48 pm
The contenders are A and B . Could you tell why A cannot be the OA.
Also you stated
Its not likely for an individual to show his military superiority over an entire city.
Its not the individual who is demonstrating his superiority
Its the troops that are demonstrating his superiority
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by 786 » Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:18 am
@ e-gmat :
Choice B and E
Both these choices are grammatically correct.
Two questions :
1)
I have seen very few occassions where there is no comma before Which [ except for preposition ] as is the case here in choice B. Also is which appropriate here for the Hunnish Troops ? I felt That would hav been better .

2) Is the comma needed in E before who ?
Why is it not likely for an individual to show his military superiority over an entire city.
He led the military , so can he not show his military superiority ?

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by e-GMAT » Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:45 am
mundasingh123 wrote:The contenders are A and B . Could you tell why A cannot be the OA.
Notice the pronoun "his" in choice A. Singular "his" has been used for plural "troops". This is why choice A is wrong.

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by e-GMAT » Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:47 am
mundasingh123 wrote:
Its not likely for an individual to show his military superiority over an entire city.
Its not the individual who is demonstrating his superiority
Its the troops that are demonstrating his superiority
What you are saying is correct. In fact that is what I have stated in my post as well. My statement above that you have quoted is my explanation for why choice E is not correct. Choice E implies that Atilla showed his military superiority...

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by e-GMAT » Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:55 am
786 wrote:@ e-gmat :

Two questions :
1)
I have seen very few occassions where there is no comma before Which [ except for preposition ] as is the case here in choice B. Also is which appropriate here for the Hunnish Troops ? I felt That would have been better .
Here is choice B:

In the mid-fifth century, Rome was threatened by hunnish troops which, led by Atilla the hun, demonstrated their military superiority over the weakened, recently conquered city.

You are correct that in this sentence which should be preceded by comma. This may be a typographical error. Also, the other choices are blatantly wrong.

Also, using that vs which is contextual. It depends on the context of the sentence whether the author wants the descriptive information to be required information or additional optional information. We cannot make that determination just by reading the sentence. And GMAT does not require you to make that determination. Thus, you will not be asked to choose between ,which & that (all other things being same).

786 wrote:2) Is the comma needed in E before who ?
Again, whether or not comma is needed depends on whether this descriptive information is essential or not essential. As I stated above, GMAT does not expect you to make that determination.
786 wrote:Why is it not likely for an individual to show his military superiority over an entire city.
He led the military , so can he not show his military superiority ?
He led the military, so he showed his "leadership skills". The military prowess or superiority was shown by the entire military...