Hey guys,
Really good thread here, and this is an example of how, when you know the GMAT and its tendencies, you can be pretty quick at these questions. Similar to what gmat740 mentioned (but not quite exactly), when I saw the title of this thread I knew exactly where it was going.
Starting the sentence with the modifier "Based on..." means that the noun that follows the comma must be something that can logically be "based on" the subject of the modifier. For example, you could say:
Based on a book by Michael Lewis, The Blind Side earned several Academy Award nominations.
Why? The movie The Blind Side was based on a book by Michael Lewis, so it's an appropriate modifier. So to gmat740's point, it's not true that "based on" to start a sentence is ALWAYS wrong...but there are only few subjects-of-sentences that can truly be "based on" something, so it's a tough standard to live up to.
Here, "Based on accounts..." cannot modify the noun "scholars". Scholars aren't based on anything...they just exist as human beings. Scholars' theories may be based on the principles first discovered by Newton or something like that, but the scholars themselves aren't based on anything.
As an even larger point of strategy, if you ever see a descriptive phrase to start a sentence, separated by a comma, there's an overwhelming likelihood that you're going to have to consider whether the modifier is logical. There are really three ways that they can do this:
________________________, fixed subject is... (you have to pick the modifier that can logically modify the fixed subject of the sentence)
Fixed modifier, _________________________ (you have to pick the subject of the sentence that can logically be modified by the fixed modifier)
___________________________,________________ (you have to select the right combination of modifier and subject)
this sentence above fits the first type - the modifier is underlined, but you're stuck with "scholars have painted...". Choice E uses a logical modifier - it's quite logical that students would use accounts of ancient writers - and it doesn't use unreferenced pronouns (like B), etc. So E is a perfect answer choice here.
Strategically, I'd get really used to looking for modifiers that begin a sentence, because often you can hit the correct answer without reading the whole sentence. I've seen this question multiple times, but I don't think I've ever gotten much pat the word "activities" or so...
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep
Looking for GMAT practice questions? Try out the Veritas Prep Question Bank.
Learn More.
