Gmat prep: five nation iroquois league

[Hano]

Greatly influenced by the protestant missionary Samuel Kirkland, the Oneida [u]was the only one of the five nation Iroquois league who sided[/u] with the colonist during the American revolution.

A) was the only one of the five nation Iroquois league who sided
B) was alone of the five nation Iroquois league when they sided
C) alone among the five nations of the Iroquois league sided
D) were the only out of the five nations of the Iroquois league in siding
E) only of the five nation Iroquois league had sided

[sujaysolanki]

A is best all others have errors

[Danielle]

Sujay is right -- A is the correct answer.

B-- 'was alone' is incorrect
C-- 'alone among....nation" is also incorrect
D-- 'in siding' is wrong verb tense, and it's wordy
E-- 'had sided' is the wrong verb tense also

[Hano]

That was what I thought as well, but the ans is C.

Any taker for explanation?

Is it because of parallelism, "greatly influenced and ... "sided"??

[Danielle]

Okay, looking at it again, the problem with A is "who sided". I looked at it as the Oneida, a group of Indians, but it is the Onieda, an Iriquois nation, which means that is should be "that sided" because a nation does not merit "who", but "that".

Also in retrospect, C is not grammatically incorrect. When you trim the "among the five nations of the Iroquois league" then you get "the Oneida alone sided", which is grammatically correct. I got hosed by that prepositional phrase. Whoops!