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Achaemenid empire

by gmatmachoman » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:33 pm
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 itsratul » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:40 pm
My ans is D.

Pls post ans.
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by papgust » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:37 pm
IMO D

You have a modifier in the end which must modify "Aramaic script". So, eliminate A and B.

"and deriving" is illogical in this context. So, eliminate E.

".. Aramaic script, from which derives ...". Aramaic script is singular, so it must be followed by singular verb "derives" and not "derive". So, eliminate C.
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by gmatmachoman » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:41 pm
itsratul wrote:My ans is D.

Pls post ans.
take one more attempt!!
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by papgust » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:45 pm
I would want to correct myself here.

It must be C. "derive" modifies "both northern and southern India alphabets" and NOT "Aramaic script". So, it must be "derive" and not "derives". At first quick glance, it looked like modifying "Aramaic script".
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by Testluv » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:47 pm
The correct answer should be choice C here.

@papgust: the thing(s) deriving are the Northern and Southern Indian alphabets, which are plural. Thus, we would need the plural "derive", and choice D is wrong.

The "ing" form for derive is certainly wrong here; eliminate B and E. And choice A is wrong for a lot of reasons. For one, it says "the Aramaic script with it" when it should have said "with it the Aramaic script", just as we should say "He brought to me the mail" instead of "He brought the mail to me."

Choose C.
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by gmatmachoman » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:20 am
papgust wrote:I would want to correct myself here.

It must be C. "derive" modifies "both northern and southern India alphabets" and NOT "Aramaic script". So, it must be "derive" and not "derives". At first quick glance, it looked like modifying "Aramaic script".

@papi...

C is correct!!

This one is from GMAT Prep

Thanks TestLuv
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by chendawg » Thu Jan 21, 2010 8:15 am
Testluv wrote:The correct answer should be choice C here.

@papgust: the thing(s) deriving are the Northern and Southern Indian alphabets, which are plural. Thus, we would need the plural "derive", and choice D is wrong.

The "ing" form for derive is certainly wrong here; eliminate B and E. And choice A is wrong for a lot of reasons. For one, it says "the Aramaic script with it" when it should have said "with it the Aramaic script", just as we should say "He brought to me the mail" instead of "He brought the mail to me."

Choose C.
Could you please explain why the word derive should not be in the past tense? Thanks!
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by Testluv » Fri Jan 22, 2010 1:09 pm
Could you please explain why the word derive should not be in the past tense? Thanks!
It's like the word "native". You would say that the caribou ARE native to Canada, not that they WERE native to Canada. Saying that they WERE native to Canada might imply that they are no longer native to Canada, and that's absurd--once native, forever native. Similarly, here, once we know what these alphabets derived from, that will never change.
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by tanviet » Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:32 pm
in C, "drive" come before subject. this is wrong

it should be

from which, subject drive

pls help
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by Onell » Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:33 pm
duongthang wrote:in C, "drive" come before subject. this is wrong

it should be

from which, subject drive

pls help

Hi ,
I was just wondering whether the correct answer choice should be in passive rather than active voice...
Can northern and southern India alphabets (subject) in C act on something (object) to derive sth. Please clarify ?
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Nov 17, 2010 4:01 am
gmatmachoman 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
I was asked by PM to comment. One approach:

In A and B, the pronoun which incorrectly refers to the preceding pronoun it. Eliminate A and B.

In D, the singular verb derives does not agree with its plural subject both northern and southern India alphabets. Eliminate D.

In E, the pronoun it in the phrase deriving from it lacks a clear antecedent: does it refer to the empire or to the script? Eliminate E.

The correct answer is C.

A verb can precede its subject:

Happy is the test-taker who aces the GMAT.

In the sentence above, the verb is precedes its subject the test-taker. This sort of construction is uncommon, but it is not incorrect.

One definition of the verb derive is to come from a source or origin. In C, from which derive the northern and the southern India alphabets means that the alphabets come from the script.
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by Onell » Wed Nov 17, 2010 7:43 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
gmatmachoman 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
I was asked by PM to comment. One approach:

In A and B, the pronoun which incorrectly refers to the preceding pronoun it. Eliminate A and B.

In D, the singular verb derives does not agree with its plural subject both northern and southern India alphabets. Eliminate D.

In E, the pronoun it in the phrase deriving from it lacks a clear antecedent: does it refer to the empire or to the script? Eliminate E.

The correct answer is C.

A verb can precede its subject:

Happy is the test-taker who aces the GMAT.

In the sentence above, the verb is precedes its subject the test-taker. This sort of construction is uncommon, but it is not incorrect.

One definition of the verb derive is to come from a source or origin. In C, from which derive the northern and the southern India alphabets means that the alphabets come from the script.

Hi ,
Thanks for your reply. However My question was whether this sentence is logical.Can northern and southern India alphabets (subject) in option C act on something (object) to derive sth?
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Nov 18, 2010 4:14 am
Onell wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
gmatmachoman 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
I was asked by PM to comment. One approach:

In A and B, the pronoun which incorrectly refers to the preceding pronoun it. Eliminate A and B.

In D, the singular verb derives does not agree with its plural subject both northern and southern India alphabets. Eliminate D.

In E, the pronoun it in the phrase deriving from it lacks a clear antecedent: does it refer to the empire or to the script? Eliminate E.

The correct answer is C.

A verb can precede its subject:

Happy is the test-taker who aces the GMAT.

In the sentence above, the verb is precedes its subject the test-taker. This sort of construction is uncommon, but it is not incorrect.

One definition of the verb derive is to come from a source or origin. In C, from which derive the northern and the southern India alphabets means that the alphabets come from the script.

Hi ,
Thanks for your reply. However My question was whether this sentence is logical.Can northern and southern India alphabets (subject) in option C act on something (object) to derive sth?
It is perfectly logical to say that the alphabets derive from (meaning that they come from) the Aramaic script.

In the clause from which derive both the northern and southern India alphabets, the verb derive does not have a direct object. Here is the structure of this clause:

from = preposition
which = pronoun referring to the script and object of the preposition from
derive = verb
both the northern and the southern India alphabets = subject of the verb derive

Hope this helps!
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As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
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