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Pharaoh at Giza

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by [email protected] » Wed Aug 05, 2015 8:09 am
e-GMAT wrote:GMAT's stand on the issue of pronoun ambiguity is not as clear as it is for other grammatical errors. For this reason, unless the pronoun ambiguity is absolutely clear, it is suggested to arrive at the correct answer by using more obvious errors first and then use the pronoun ambiguity error on an as-needed basis.

This is one of those questions that can be very easily solved by using other more obvious errors: Below I have listed other errors:

In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repair due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls.

(A) due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing
1: Modifier Error - which refers to tourists
2: Pronoun Number - "its" should refer to "chambers" - thus number error.
3: Meaning - Use of "due to" implies that the closure of chambers was caused by moisture. This is not correct because closure was caused by the effect of the moisture as explained in choice E.

(B) due to moisture that tourists had exhaled, thereby raising its humidity to such levels that salt from the stone would crystallize
1: Verb tense - had exhaled is incorrect verb tense.
2: Parallelism - "salt would crystallize" is not parallel to "fungus was growing".
3: Meaning - Use of "due to" implies that the closure of chambers was caused by moisture. This is not correct because closure was caused by the effect of the moisture as explained in choice E.

(C) because tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within them to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize
1: Verb Tense - " were exhaling" is incorrect verb tense; "had raised" is incorrect verb tense.
2: Parallelism - "salt would crystallize" is not parallel to "fungus was growing".

(D) because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize
1: Modifier Error - "raising humidity" appears to modify "tourists" - incorrect
2: Parallelism - "salt crystallize" is not parallel to "fungus was growing".

(E) because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing
Correct.
I would like to disagree to only this particular part of your explanation with all due respect.

"(A) due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing
1: Modifier Error - which refers to tourists"

There is an exception rule to 'which'

which -> Modifies nearest noun ->

Exception:
1. Which can jump over essential modifier of the noun which "which" is referring.
2. The usage cannot be ambiguous .
3. Which cannot jump over a clause.

All the below examples are perfectly fine:
I bought a car (advertised on the local channel), which has latest gadgets.
I bought a car and a scooter, which has latest gadgets, on ebay.
I bought a car (that was advertised on the local channel), which has latest gadgets.
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Re: In late 1997, the chambers...

by [email protected] » Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:06 am
Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, to narrow the options down to find the correct choice! First, let's take a close look at the options, and highlight any major differences in orange:

In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repair due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls.

(A) due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing
(B) due to moisture that tourists had exhaled, thereby raising its humidity to such levels that salt from the stone would crystallize
(C) because tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within them to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize
(D) because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize
(E) because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing

After a quick glance over the options, a few major differences appear:

1. due to / because
2. raised / raising / had raised
3. was crystallizing / crystallize

The easiest way to tackle this would be to focus on #3 on our list: was crystallizing vs. crystallize. This is an issue of parallelism, which is fairly easy to deal with! There are two actions we're dealing with here:

1. salt from the stones crystallizing
2. fungus growing on the walls

The correct choice will use parallel wording and structure for BOTH actions, so let's see how each option breaks down:

(A) ...salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls.
(B) ...salt from the stone would crystallize and fungus was growing on the walls.
(C) ...salt from the stone would crystallize and fungus was growing on the walls.
(D) ...salt from the stone crystallize and fungus was growing on the walls.
(E) ...salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls.

We can eliminate options B, C, and D because they don't use the parallel "was crystallizing/was growing" wording.

Now that we only have this narrowed down to 2 options, let's see if we can figure out which one is the better choice:

(A) due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing

This option is INCORRECT because it uses the wrong verb tense. It uses past tense for the phrase "raised its humidity," which actually happened BEFORE the chambers were closed. When we talk about two past tense events, the one that occurred first requires past perfect tense!

(E) because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing

This is CORRECT! It uses proper parallel structure with "was crystallizing." It also uses the correct past perfect tense to show that the humidity had risen BEFORE the chambers were shut down.

There you go - option E is the best choice!


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