Sentence Correction

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nishith17: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Sun May 18, 2014 10:49 pm

by nishith17 » Tue Aug 26, 2014 7:36 am

The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.
A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending

I'm confused in 'extended' and 'extending'.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue Aug 26, 2014 7:36 am

David@GMATPrepNow: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 147; Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:52 pmFollowed by: 21 members; Thanked: 53 times

by David@GMATPrepNow » Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:21 am

Hi nishith17,

Good work noticing those two words, because "extending" and "extended" do suggest different meanings. Specifically, "extending" suggests that the highway itself is long enough to extend across the required 2,500 miles of South America. On the other hand, "extended" suggests that somebody stretched/built the highway to go farther than it originally did, in order to cover 2,500 miles of South America.

We want the first meaning - "extending" - because the passage is talking about the Incan highway, which is already in place and complete given the context of the sentence.

GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:35 am

I posted an explanation here:

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