Cancun!

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

by gmat_perfect » Fri Jul 16, 2010 3:35 am

Unlike other Mayan cities, Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

a. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

b. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

c. the commercial power of Cancun's throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

d. Cancun seemed to be using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which was a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, in becoming a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

e. Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

[spoiler]OA: E[/spoiler]

Edited by Gmat_perfect due to wrong in the correct option.

Last edited by gmat_perfect on Sat Jul 17, 2010 2:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Fri Jul 16, 2010 3:35 am

paes: Legendary Member; Posts: 995; Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:56 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 31 times

by paes » Fri Jul 16, 2010 3:44 am

IMO E:

A, B, C out : wrong comparison with cities

tough fight between D and E

D : wrong

(i) wrong tense

seemed to be using : past tense,
(ii) in becoming' in E

vs 'to become' in D

'to become' is better.

(iii) which can not refer back to Cancun in D

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sumanr84: Legendary Member; Posts: 758; Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:32 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Bangalore,India; Thanked: 67 times

by sumanr84 » Fri Jul 16, 2010 3:46 am

Is it Cancun's or Cancun in option D and E ??

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paes: Legendary Member; Posts: 995; Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:56 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 31 times

by paes » Fri Jul 16, 2010 4:04 am

sumanr84 wrote:Is it Cancun's or Cancun in option D and E ??

Actually both the choice are looking ambiguous with the sentence

If it is Cancun's (plural) , then you cannot use its .

If it is Cancun(singular), then you can't compare it with the cities(plural).

So ignoring this issue, I selected E.

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sumanr84: Legendary Member; Posts: 758; Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:32 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Bangalore,India; Thanked: 67 times

by sumanr84 » Fri Jul 16, 2010 4:06 am

Cancun's is Plural or Possessive ?? It's not Cancuns (plural) but Cancun's(possessive) - help me clarify this first..

Also, we have seems to have in E, meaning we are taking Cancun's as singular right.

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kvcpk: Legendary Member; Posts: 1893; Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 11:48 pmFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 215 times

by kvcpk » Fri Jul 16, 2010 4:27 am

Something wrong with the question. Right answer cannot have possessive Cancun's.

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reply2spg: Legendary Member; Posts: 1261; Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:46 am; Thanked: 27 times; GMAT Score:570

by reply2spg » Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:12 pm

straight away A, B and C are out. D is out because of idiom. 'Using in' is wrong. 'Used to' is correct

Please correct me if I am wrong.

gmat_perfect wrote:Unlike other Mayan cities, Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

a. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

b. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

c. the commercial power of Cancun's throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

d. Cancun seemed to be using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which was a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, in becoming a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

e. Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

[spoiler]OA: E[/spoiler]

Edited by Gmat_perfect due to wrong in the correct option.

Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)

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lavinia: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 48; Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:15 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 5 times

by lavinia » Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:34 am

In my opinion this is a wrong SC question.

First of all, we have to compare Mayan cities with Cancun cities.
(A), (B) & (C) We compare the Mayan cities with Cancun's commercial power
(D) and (E) We compare the Mayan cities with Cancun.

Am I wrong?

Thanks.

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kvcpk: Legendary Member; Posts: 1893; Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 11:48 pmFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 215 times

by kvcpk » Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:46 am

lavinia wrote:In my opinion this is a wrong SC question.

First of all, we have to compare Mayan cities with Cancun cities.
(A), (B) & (C) We compare the Mayan cities with Cancun's commercial power
(D) and (E) We compare the Mayan cities with Cancun.

Am I wrong?

Thanks.

Hi Lavinia,

Start of the sentence says "Unlike Other Mayan Cities". From this I understand that Cancun is also a Mayan City.
But, unlike others it has XYZ.

So the comparison looks fine. We are comparing cities of Mayan with Cancun(A city of Mayan)

Hope this helps!!

"Once you start working on something,
don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it.
People who work sincerely are the happiest."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275BC)

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lavinia: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 48; Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:15 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 5 times

by lavinia » Sun Jan 02, 2011 2:48 pm

I see. So, we can eliminate right away A,B, and C because of the wrong comparision.

In this situation, E is correct because "to become" expresses correctly the purpose of the " Cancun seems to have used its strategic position", instead of "in becoming", which is wordy.

Thanks kvcpk!

kvcpk wrote:
lavinia wrote:In my opinion this is a wrong SC question.

First of all, we have to compare Mayan cities with Cancun cities.
(A), (B) & (C) We compare the Mayan cities with Cancun's commercial power
(D) and (E) We compare the Mayan cities with Cancun.

Am I wrong?

Thanks.
Hi Lavinia,

Start of the sentence says "Unlike Other Mayan Cities". From this I understand that Cancun is also a Mayan City.
But, unlike others it has XYZ.

So the comparison looks fine. We are comparing cities of Mayan with Cancun(A city of Mayan)

Hope this helps!!

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RACHVIK: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 95; Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2010 8:26 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 1 times

by RACHVIK » Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:37 am

gmat_perfect wrote:Unlike other Mayan cities, Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

a. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

b. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

c. the commercial power of Cancun's throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

d. Cancun seemed to be using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which was a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, in becoming a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

e. Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

[spoiler]OA: E[/spoiler]

Edited by Gmat_perfect due to wrong in the correct option.

In above sentence, the marker 'Unlike' signals a comparison to follow. Something is being compared with Mayan cities. It definitely cannot be commercial power, so Option A, B, C are incorrect. Between Option D & E, the modifier starting with relative pronoun 'which' uses verb 'was' to refer to 'highlands. i.e. a SV error. Moreover it states a continuous event whereas the context of sentence implies an event that happened in past.

I hope that should clarify your doubts.

Rachvik

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atulmangal: Legendary Member; Posts: 1112; Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 11:16 amFollowed by: 49 members; Thanked: 77 times

by atulmangal » Tue May 17, 2011 11:15 pm

RACHVIK wrote:
gmat_perfect wrote:Unlike other Mayan cities, Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

a. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

b. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

c. the commercial power of Cancun's throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

d. Cancun seemed to be using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which was a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, in becoming a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

e. Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

[spoiler]OA: E[/spoiler]

Edited by Gmat_perfect due to wrong in the correct option.
In above sentence, the marker 'Unlike' signals a comparison to follow. Something is being compared with Mayan cities. It definitely cannot be commercial power, so Option A, B, C are incorrect. Between Option D & E, the modifier starting with relative pronoun 'which' uses verb 'was' to refer to 'highlands. i.e. a SV error. Moreover it states a continuous event whereas the context of sentence implies an event that happened in past.

I hope that should clarify your doubts.

Which can refer to preceding NOUN or NOUN PHRASE...here in Op D, i think WHICH is referring to "foot of the highlands" which is singular so saying this that Op D is incorrect because there is a sub-verb agreement error in this op is wrong....what's exactly wrong with Op D????

Secondly, how these parts "seemed to be using" and "seems to have used" is creating a difference in the intended meaning. I understand that in Op E use of infinitive is better as it showing intention. but, what actually Op D means??? is there any other error apart from meaning in Op D

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aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Wed May 18, 2011 7:31 am

atulmangal wrote:
RACHVIK wrote:
gmat_perfect wrote:Unlike other Mayan cities, Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

a. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to be from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which were a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities

b. Cancun's commercial power throughout the lowlands seems to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

c. the commercial power of Cancun's throughout the lowlands seemed to have come from using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities.

d. Cancun seemed to be using its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, which was a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, in becoming a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

e. Cancun seems to have used its strategic position at the foot of the highlands, a source of jade, obsidian, and other valuable commodities, to become a commercial power throughout the lowlands.

[spoiler]OA: E[/spoiler]

Edited by Gmat_perfect due to wrong in the correct option.
In above sentence, the marker 'Unlike' signals a comparison to follow. Something is being compared with Mayan cities. It definitely cannot be commercial power, so Option A, B, C are incorrect. Between Option D & E, the modifier starting with relative pronoun 'which' uses verb 'was' to refer to 'highlands. i.e. a SV error. Moreover it states a continuous event whereas the context of sentence implies an event that happened in past.

I hope that should clarify your doubts.
Which can refer to preceding NOUN or NOUN PHRASE...here in Op D, i think WHICH is referring to "foot of the highlands" which is singular so saying this that Op D is incorrect because there is a sub-verb agreement error in this op is wrong....what's exactly wrong with Op D????

Secondly, how these parts "seemed to be using" and "seems to have used" is creating a difference in the intended meaning. I understand that in Op E use of infinitive is better as it showing intention. but, what actually Op D means??? is there any other error apart from meaning in Op D

Hi Atul,

If you see D option carefully then in the latter part it says "in becoming xxxxx" and this seems to wrongly point to foot of highlands rather to Cancun therefore D is wrong

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saketk: Legendary Member; Posts: 608; Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:16 amFollowed by: 8 members; Thanked: 37 times

by saketk » Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:01 am

We have to compare cities with cities. Therefore we can directly eliminate options A to C
Option D has tense issue. We are talking about something which occurred in past.
Option E is the best choice
IMO E

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parul9: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 197; Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2011 10:22 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 6 times

by parul9 » Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:14 am

Imo E. comparison has to be between the two cities.
A, B and C compare Mayan cities with Concun's commercial power, so they are wrong.

D tense has a problem/ also, using... in becoming, is not a good construct.

E is the best choice.

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