Scandinavian assault

[kobel51]

The Scandinavian assault on western Europe culminated in the early eleventh century with the Danish conquest of the English kingdom, which other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat, unsuccessfully, later in the same century.

(A) which other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat, unsuccessfully, later in the same century

(B) which other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later that same century, but not successfully

(C) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted later in the century to repeat, but were not successful at it

(D) an achievement attempted later in the century by other Scandinavian kings that was not successful

(E) an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century, but without success

[Patrick_GMATFix]

The sentence tests the proper construction of a modifier. Modifiers beginning with a relative pronoun (such as "which") or target the noun or noun phrase just before the comma whereas modifiers beginning with -ing or a noun can be broader. In addition, the issue of passive/active construct is tested. The full solution below is taken from the GMATFix App.



-Patrick

[Bill@VeritasPrep]

You can knock out A and B for misusing a relative clause. It is clearly referring to the conquest, which is too far away. The appositive phrases in C, D, and E are more flexible and can correctly modify conquest.

Choice C needs an independent clause after ", but", yet does not have a subject.

D awkwardly says that the achievement itself was not successful.

E is good. By saying "without success" instead of "that was not successful", it uses a prepositional phrase to modify the kings' attempt to repeat the achievement and not the achievement itself.