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

Redeem
TTP OnDemand GMAT Video Course
Featured Course

Target Test Prep GMAT OnDemand

Scott Woodbury-Stewart’s private virtual classroom — 400 hours of master-class video lessons for the GMAT Focus Edition.

  • 715+ score guarantee — highest in the industry (99th percentile)
  • 52 chapters · 1,500+ lessons · 4,000+ practice questions
  • 400 hours of video · 1,500+ instructor-led HD smartboard lessons
  • 300,000+ students accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth & Sloan & more
  • 24/7 live support + weekly Zoom office hours with GMAT instructors
  • TTP AI Assist — 24/7 AI-powered virtual tutor for instant help
  • 1,200+ flashcards + AI-powered study assistant & daily calendar
  • OnDemand, LiveTeach & GMAT Bootcamp formats available
  • Also: GRE, SAT Math & Executive Assessment courses
  • MBA Admissions Consulting now available
  • 🏆 2025 EdTech Breakthrough Award: Test Prep Solution Provider of the Year
  • 200,000+ students served
  • 5-day free trial — $0 to start, no auto-billing, cancel anytime
★★★★★ 5.0 (559 reviews)
130-pt guarantee
$0 to start then $127/mo
Start Free 5-Day Trial Read 559 Reviews →

Swiss government

Expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 115
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2008 2:18 amFollowed by: 1 member
Location: india
Thanked: 3 times
by geet » Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:58 am
In an attempt to attract more tourists, the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, having them decorated by local artists, and set them up on the streets of Zurich.

A. the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, having them decorated by local artists, and
B. the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, they were decorated by local artists, and then
C. the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, had them decorated by local artists, and
D. several life-size fiberglass cow statues were commissioned by the Swiss government, decorated by local artists, and then
E. several life-size fiberglass cow statues, commissioned by the Swiss government, were decorated by local artists, and they
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 166
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 10:41 pm
Thanked: 9 times
GMAT Score:770

by raghavsarathy » Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:18 am
IMO - C

"In an attempt to attract more tourists" should modify the "swiss government".

Hence D and E are out.

In B "they were decorated by local artists" is wrong. Hence B is out.

Between A and C , "had them decorated " is better than "having them decorated"

Hence C
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
MBA Student
Posts: 1194
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pmFollowed by: 17 members
Location: Paris, France
Thanked: 71 times
GMAT Score:710

by gmat740 » Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:41 am
Well I understand that C is better among all the answers out here. But please look at the tenses of the sentence
C.the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, had them decorated by local artists, and
So Technically speaking, this means the Government Decorated(first event with past participle) and then commissioned(2nd event-simple past)
This is completely wrong.

I doubt the source of the question.No answer fits in.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 224
Joined: Mon May 04, 2009 2:44 pm
Location: Russia, Moscow
Thanked: 10 times
GMAT Score:730

by ranell » Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:33 am
C, undoubtedly.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Legendary Member
Posts: 1035
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:56 pmFollowed by: 1 member
Thanked: 104 times

by scoobydooby » Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:43 am
gmat740 wrote:Well I understand that C is better among all the answers out here. But please look at the tenses of the sentence
C.the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, had them decorated by local artists, and
So Technically speaking, this means the Government Decorated(first event with past participle) and then commissioned(2nd event-simple past)
This is completely wrong.

I doubt the source of the question.No answer fits in.
C seems fine. the "had them decorated" is no past perfect to imply that the decoration was before commissioning. it is only to show that the government did not decorate by itself, it got the decoration work done by someone else. "had decorated" would have been past perfect.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 115
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2008 2:18 amFollowed by: 1 member
Location: india
Thanked: 3 times

by geet » Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:55 pm
gud...OA is C
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:52 pm
GMAT Score:640

by anitakonst » Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:13 pm
It is definetely "C"; lika was mentined "had decorated' is passive voice and is consistent with tense used
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 171
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:59 pm
Thanked: 8 times

by brick2009 » Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:45 am
C:

Its a past tense question.

Govt commissioned....statues, HAD them....decorated by local artists..

They agree- both in intense and in number!
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 amFollowed by: 9 members
Thanked: 82 times
GMAT Score:720

by maihuna » Mon Dec 14, 2009 10:13 am
gmat740 wrote:Well I understand that C is better among all the answers out here. But please look at the tenses of the sentence
C.the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, had them decorated by local artists, and
So Technically speaking, this means the Government Decorated(first event with past participle) and then commissioned(2nd event-simple past)
This is completely wrong.

I doubt the source of the question.No answer fits in.
hehheee...every XYZ questioning the src of the Q's..huh...
Charged up again to beat the beast :)
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 278
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 1:17 pm
Location: Bangalore,India
Thanked: 17 times

by loveusonu » Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:59 am
I think this is from Manhattan Tests. C is Absolutely CORRECT.

A. the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, having them decorated by local artists, and
'Having' should be parallel with 'setting' but here next verb is set hence correct.

B. the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, they were decorated by local artists, and then
'They' is ambigous.

C. the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, had them decorated by local artists, and
CORRECT:'had' and set completely parallel. HAD here is not a auxillary verb, its like: " i had had breakfast, i wouldn't face this hunger" what does one had stands for??. Same way had functions here.

D. several life-size fiberglass cow statues were commissioned by the Swiss government, decorated by local artists, and then
Modifier Error

E. several life-size fiberglass cow statues, commissioned by the Swiss government, were decorated by local artists, and they
Modifier Error
Sonu
--------
When you want something desperately, the whole Universe conspires in helping to give it to you - The Alchemist
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 171
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:59 pm
Thanked: 8 times

by brick2009 » Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:38 pm
To attract tourists...
Swiss govt did 3 things...

Swiss govt
- commissioned ...cows
- had them decorated...Y
and (finally)
- set them up

i think the non-underlined part of the sentencce will help u get the tenses right and get a parallel construction
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
Community Manager
Posts: 1048
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:26 amFollowed by: 27 members
Location: India
Thanked: 51 times
GMAT Score:670

by arora007 » Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:32 am
Don't know what I was thinking when I marked it A, I should have marked C.
https://www.skiponemeal.org/
https://twitter.com/skiponemeal
Few things are impossible to diligence & skill.Great works are performed not by strength,but by perseverance

pm me if you find junk/spam/abusive language, Lets keep our community clean!!
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Legendary Member
Posts: 544
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:14 amFollowed by: 2 members
Location: Pune, India
Thanked: 31 times

by adi_800 » Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:58 am
arora007 wrote:Don't know what I was thinking when I marked it A, I should have marked C.
Arora Bhai,

Itana mat padho..
its 11 30...
Have some sleep!!
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
Community Manager
Posts: 1048
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:26 amFollowed by: 27 members
Location: India
Thanked: 51 times
GMAT Score:670

by arora007 » Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:59 am
Miles to go...before I sleep.... don't want to change the dates from 6th to some later day....
https://www.skiponemeal.org/
https://twitter.com/skiponemeal
Few things are impossible to diligence & skill.Great works are performed not by strength,but by perseverance

pm me if you find junk/spam/abusive language, Lets keep our community clean!!
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1261
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:46 am
Thanked: 27 times
GMAT Score:570

by reply2spg » Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:45 am
This is undoubtedly C

This is clearly ||ism question.

what three things are ||el here?

commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, had them decorated by local artists, and set them up on the streets of Zurich

Is had correct in C? definitely. After seeing 'had' in SC sentence we always think that it is past perfect and we need some action first and then other action.

Though this is correct, we can use 'had' as the simple past tense of verb 'to have'. Here 'had' is nothing but the past tense of 'to have'
geet wrote:In an attempt to attract more tourists, the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, having them decorated by local artists, and set them up on the streets of Zurich.

A. the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, having them decorated by local artists, and
B. the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, they were decorated by local artists, and then
C. the Swiss government commissioned several life-size fiberglass cow statues, had them decorated by local artists, and
D. several life-size fiberglass cow statues were commissioned by the Swiss government, decorated by local artists, and then
E. several life-size fiberglass cow statues, commissioned by the Swiss government, were decorated by local artists, and they
Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Post new topic Locked