The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple that mirrored t

BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

This topic has expert replies

Post new topic Locked

Previous Topic Next Topic

vishwash: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:21 am

The early Greeks designed a mud-brick temple that mirrored t

by vishwash » Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:57 am

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

Quote

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:57 am

GMAT/MBA Expert

beatthegmat: Site Admin; Posts: 6778; Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:30 am; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 1249 times; Followed by:994 members

by beatthegmat » Sat Mar 31, 2018 12:26 pm

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

Quote

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

by ErikaPrepScholar » Sat Mar 31, 2018 1:41 pm

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.