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Aramaic Script

by karthikpandian19 » Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:48 am
The Achaemenid empire of Persia reached the Indus Valley in the fifth century B.C., bringing the Aramaic script with it, from which was derived both northern and southern India alphabets.
A. the Aramaic script with it, from which was derived both northern and
B. the Aramaic script with it, and from which deriving both the northern and the
C. with it the Aramaic script, from which derive both the northern and the
D. with it the Aramaic script, from which derives both northern and
E. with it the Aramaic script, and deriving from it both the northern and
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by sam2304 » Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:23 am
A - From which along with was seems to refer to the achaemenid empire - wrong
B - comma + and is wrong. deriving is wrong tense here.
D - derives is wrong, both X and Y we need plural verb here.
E - and deriving is wrong, it has no clear referrant

Left with C. But that too doesn't sound good to me :(
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by happymanocha » Thu Jan 05, 2012 6:32 am
IMO: C.

Intended meaning is "Both northern and southern india alphabets are derived from Aramaic script".

A -the Aramaic script with it, from which was derived both northern and
B - Verb missing.
C - Correct.
D - derives is wrong with plural.
E - Verb missing.
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:00 am
karthikpandian19 wrote:The Achaemenid empire of Persia reached the Indus Valley in the fifth century B.C., bringing the Aramaic script with it, from which was derived both northern and southern India alphabets.
A. the Aramaic script with it, from which was derived both northern and
B. the Aramaic script with it, and from which deriving both the northern and the
C. with it the Aramaic script, from which derive both the northern and the
D. with it the Aramaic script, from which derives both northern and
E. with it the Aramaic script, and deriving from it both the northern and
In A and B, which seems to refer to it. Since C, D and E position which closer to its intended antecedent (script), eliminate A and B.

In E, both THE northern and SOUTHERN is not parallel. To maintain parallelism, E needs to say both THE northern and THE southern. Eliminate E.

in D, derives (singular) does not agree with northern and southern India alphabets (plural). The subject and the verb here are inverted. Rephrased, the sentence intends the following: both the northern and the southern India alphabets DERIVE from the Aramaic script. Eliminate D.

The correct answer is C.
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by happymanocha » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:18 am
Mitch,

I am confused with the following statement.

"In A and B, which seems to refer to it. Since C, D and E position which closer to its intended antecedent (script), eliminate A and B. ".

There is no rule which states that antecedent should be closer to the pronoun for clarity/unambiguous sentence. I ruled out A because of usage of 'was' for plural alphabets. I ruled out B because i think working verb is missing. Even presence of working verb will not correct B because of wrong usage of ing.

Please let me know your thoughts.
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:32 am
happymanocha wrote:Mitch,

I am confused with the following statement.

"In A and B, which seems to refer to it. Since C, D and E position which closer to its intended antecedent (script), eliminate A and B. ".

There is no rule which states that antecedent should be closer to the pronoun for clarity/unambiguous sentence. I ruled out A because of usage of 'was' for plural alphabets. I ruled out B because i think working verb is missing. Even presence of working verb will not correct B because of wrong usage of ing.

Please let me know your thoughts.
You cite perfectly valid reasons to eliminate A and B.

Generally, which should refer to the closest preceding noun. In A and B, the closest preceding noun is IT, so the presumption is that IT is the intended antecedent. In C, D, and E, there is no doubt: which clearly refers to SCRIPT (its intended antecedent). Since C, D and E avoid any potential ambiguity, they are better answer choices.
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by karthikpandian19 » Thu Jan 05, 2012 6:54 pm
OA is C
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by ArunangsuSahu » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:10 pm
FLIP The last part of the 3rd Choice:

"from which the Northern and the Southern India Alphabets derive"
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by satishchandra » Tue Jan 10, 2012 1:39 am
karthikpandian19 wrote:The Achaemenid empire of Persia reached the Indus Valley in the fifth century B.C., bringing the Aramaic script with it, from which was derived both northern and southern India alphabets.

C. with it the Aramaic script, from which derive both the northern and the
Can somebody explain what does 'it' refer to in the correct choice?
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by darwin » Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:06 am
I also have question regarding "from which derive{s}..."

shouldn't the correct structure be "from which both the northern and the southern tablet *derive{s}*..."?

In other words, derive should come after the tablet?

The sentence structure "from which derive both the northern and the southern..." doesn't sound right to me.

Please help
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