Sentence Correction

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which stood near a grand palace known as "The Marvel of Mankind" were reputedly constructed by using a combination of baked bricks and lead coverings, are believed to have been destroyed during an earthquake in the first century A.D.

A: were reputedly constructed by using a combination of baked bricks and lead coverings, are
B: was reputedly constructed by using a combination of baked bricks and lead coverings and is
C: reputedly constructed by using a combination of baked bricks and lead coverings and are
D: reputedly constructed by using a combination of baked bricks and lead coverings and were
E: were reputedly constructed by using a combination of baked bricks and lead coverings and are

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon: singular / plural?

I'll appreciate a response here.

gmatdriller wrote:The Hanging Gardens of Babylon: singular / plural?

SC1 in the OG12:
The Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia, WERE sighted.
Here, were sighted (plural) agrees with The Glass House Mountains (also plural).

SC above:
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which stood near a grand palace known as "The Marvel of Mankind", WERE reputedly constructed.
Here, the verb (were constructed) must be plural to agree with the The Hanging Gardens (also plural).

KarenVH wrote:This one is pretty straightforward -- "gardens" is plural so Hanging Gardens of Babylon is plural. If this were the title of a book, it would be singular as it would be the title of a single work, but as it is, it's referring to plural gardens, so it's still plural.



Karen v.H.
GMAT Verbal Tutor
Test Prep New York

Thanks Karen.
The non-underlined part did not indicate whether "Hanging Gardens of Babylon" is a title or otherwise. So, how do we conclude since the name could serve either singular / plural?

In the example cited by GmatGuru, the non-underlined part already used WERE sighted- plural.

Thanks to respond

whats the OA btw.is it E.

sandipgumtya wrote:whats the OA btw.is it E.

Yes, it is.