The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple that mirrored those of the Mesopotamians and therefore may
have studied the works of other cultures, an advantage that might explain why they eventually adopted more
advanced masonry techniques.
A The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple that mirrored those of the Mesopotamians
B The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple mirroring a Mesopotamian one
C The mud-brick temples of the early Greeks mirrored a Mesopotamian design
D The early Greeks' mud-brick temples mirrored the Mesopotamians'
E The mud-brick temples of the early Greeks mirrored those of the Mesopotamians
The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple that mirrored t
This topic has expert replies
GMAT/MBA Expert
- beatthegmat
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6773
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:30 am
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
- Thanked: 1249 times
- Followed by:994 members
Please provide OA and source.
Beat The GMAT | The MBA Social Network
Community Management Team
Research Top GMAT Prep Courses:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-prep-courses
Research The World's Top MBA Programs:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/school
Community Management Team
Research Top GMAT Prep Courses:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-prep-courses
Research The World's Top MBA Programs:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/school
GMAT/MBA Expert
- ErikaPrepScholar
- Legendary Member
- Posts: 503
- Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:03 am
- Thanked: 86 times
- Followed by:15 members
- GMAT Score:770
I can answer this one for you: this is a PrepScholar question, and the OA is B.
First off, we can eliminate C, D, and E. "and therefore may have studied the works of other cultures" must refer to "the early Greeks". However, in the last three answers, the subject of the sentence is "temples".
Deciding between A and B is trickier. When we have a pronoun in a sentence, it must refer to another noun in the sentence. In A, we have the plural pronoun "those". Reading the sentence, it would make the most sense for "those" to represent "temples": (e.g. The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple that mirrored [the temples] of the Mesopotamians...). However, "temples" is not a word in our sentence. The only nouns that "those" can refer to are "Greeks" (which doesn't make sense) and "temple" (which is singular).
In B, on the other hand, "one" stands in for "temple", which does occur in the sentence (e.g. The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple mirroring a Mesopotamian temple). So we eliminate A and choose B.
Be careful to ensure that all pronouns in your sentence refer to a word that is actually in the sentence - unless you're diligent, your brain will fill in a word that makes sense. This is a particularly nasty example (most pronoun issues will be easier to identify), but it's based on a real answer trap from a real GMAC problem.
First off, we can eliminate C, D, and E. "and therefore may have studied the works of other cultures" must refer to "the early Greeks". However, in the last three answers, the subject of the sentence is "temples".
Deciding between A and B is trickier. When we have a pronoun in a sentence, it must refer to another noun in the sentence. In A, we have the plural pronoun "those". Reading the sentence, it would make the most sense for "those" to represent "temples": (e.g. The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple that mirrored [the temples] of the Mesopotamians...). However, "temples" is not a word in our sentence. The only nouns that "those" can refer to are "Greeks" (which doesn't make sense) and "temple" (which is singular).
In B, on the other hand, "one" stands in for "temple", which does occur in the sentence (e.g. The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple mirroring a Mesopotamian temple). So we eliminate A and choose B.
Be careful to ensure that all pronouns in your sentence refer to a word that is actually in the sentence - unless you're diligent, your brain will fill in a word that makes sense. This is a particularly nasty example (most pronoun issues will be easier to identify), but it's based on a real answer trap from a real GMAC problem.
Erika John - Content Manager/Lead Instructor
https://gmat.prepscholar.com/gmat/s/
Get tutoring from me or another PrepScholar GMAT expert: https://gmat.prepscholar.com/gmat/s/tutoring/
Learn about our exclusive savings for BTG members (up to 25% off) and our 5 day free trial
Check out our PrepScholar GMAT YouTube channel, and read our expert guides on the PrepScholar GMAT blog