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Anasazi settlements

by fengjig » Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:38 am
The Anasazi settlements at Chaco Canyon were built on a spectacular scale with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each, were connected by a complex regional system of roads.

(A) with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each, were
(B) with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each,
(C) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms, each that had been
(D) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms and with each
(E) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms each had been

Can anyone tells me which is modifying which, and what grammatical point does this sentense mean to test? Thx
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by tohellandback » Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:50 am
IMO B
connected by a complex regional system of roads. is modifying the structures, so "were" is not necessary
The powers of two are bloody impolite!!
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by rah_pandey » Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:04 am
The main subject is the settlements and the phrase set off between the two commas is modifying the structures and not the settlements. The answer should be B. I usually test the correctness by removing the non essential modifiers and see if the sentence makes sense. If what tohellandback is saying about the modifier and the modified are correct than D would have been a correct choice.

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by goelmohit2002 » Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:23 am
IMO B....My reasons for kicking out each choice is as below:

The Anasazi settlements at Chaco Canyon were built on a spectacular scale with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each, were connected by a complex regional system of roads.

(A) with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each, were
we need "and" before were to make the sentence grammatically correct...

settlements were built...and were connected.

(B) with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each,
Correct.

(C) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms, each that had been
had is past perfect.....we do not need past perfect.

(D) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms and with each
and signifies parallelism....there is nothing to parallel "with each"

(E) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms each had been
had is past perfect.....we do not need past perfect.
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by Domnu » Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:41 am
Actually, I think the past perfect is fine here. However, choices C and E could be eliminated because 'each' seems to be modifying the rooms here.
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by goelmohit2002 » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:35 am
Can you please tell why past perfect is correct ?
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by Domnu » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:36 am
It seems that 'had been' may be okay here since everything wasn't connected at once, but were connected over some unspecified period of time, which the past perfect usually refers to.
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by goelmohit2002 » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:39 am
Domnu wrote:It seems that 'had been' may be okay here since everything wasn't connected at once, but were connected over some unspecified period of time, which the past perfect usually refers to.
IMO...had is used when we are sure that one activity got completed before another one...

here the other activity is built....which in my opinion was going on in parallel with connection.....

Connection with roads in my opinion cannot precede....building...
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by Domnu » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:42 am
Ah, okay. Thanks! :)
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by abhinav85 » Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:48 am
IMO B

What is the OA???
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oa??

by mooreliberty » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:33 pm
What's the OA?
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. - Barry Goldwater

(Inspired by Thomas Paine in The Rights of Man).
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by thetrystero » Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:06 pm
The Anasazi settlements at Chaco Canyon were built on a spectacular scale with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each, were connected by a complex regional system of roads.

(A) with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each, were
(B) with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each,
(C) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms, each that had been
(D) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms and with each
(E) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms each had been

B.
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by thetrystero » Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:10 pm
any comments on whether "of more than" usage is right here? sounds wrong to me, which would immediately eliminate CDE.

What's the OE?
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by goelmohit2002 » Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:45 pm
thetrystero wrote:any comments on whether "of more than" usage is right here? sounds wrong to me, which would immediately eliminate CDE.

What's the OE?
Can you please elaborate it a bit...why "of more than" is wrong and "with more than" right ?
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by [email protected] » Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:44 pm
Final solution at one place:

Important: The purpose of this post (and all the other posts by me) is to give a complete solution to all GMAT-Prep Verbal questions at one place. Sometimes students have to wade through dozens of posts to get to the final answer. My posts will give one complete and crisp solution required to arrive at the correct answer by eliminating the wrong ones. Some of the content in these posts may have been taken from various other sources (discussion forums).

The Anasazi settlements at Chaco Canyon were built on a spectacular scale with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each, were connected by a complex regional system of roads.
(A) with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each, were
(B) with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, of up to 600 rooms each,
(C) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms, each that had been
(D) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms and with each
(E) of more than 75 carefully engineered structures of up to 600 rooms, each had been

In this construction, 'scale of' is the wrong idiom. 'Scale of' is correctly used in constructions such as: 'on a scale of 0-10'. This eliminates C, D, and E.

In A, if we remove the nonessential part between the commas, we are left with:

The Anasazi settlements at Chaco Canyon were built on a spectacular scale with more than 75 carefully engineered structures were connected by a complex regional system of roads.

In A, we can't use 'were' ... 'were' without a connecting word (such as 'and / or / but / that etc. depending upon the meaning'). In this sentence, the 'structures' were 'connected', so we surely need some connector (preferably 'that') between 'structures' and 'were'. Or else, A becomes a run-on sentence. It tries to have two main verbs without using any sort of subordinating element. If you take out modifiers, adjectives, etc., you're left with the following: the settlements were built with structures were connected. UGH!

Similarly, E is a run-on sentence.

In B, if we remove the nonessential part between the commas, we are left with:

The Anasazi settlements at Chaco Canyon were built on a spectacular scale with more than 75 carefully engineered structures, connected by a complex regional system of roads.

In the sentence above, the last part is a non-essential modifier. Perfect.

In C, D, and E, 'scale of' is the wrong idiom.
Also, in C, we can't use the past perfect ('had been') as the events don't have a time lag.
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