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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Aug 03, 2014 3:56 am
For many revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus has come to personify devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

a) devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
b) devastation and enslavement in the name of progress by which native peoples of the Western Hemisphere have been decimated
c) devastating and enslaving in the name of progress those native peoples of the Western Hemisphere that have been decimated
d) devastating and enslaving those native peoples of the Western Hemisphere which in the name of progress are decimated
e) the devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that have decimated the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
A: progress that has decimated native peoples
B: progress by which native peoples...have been decimated
A and B imply that PROGRESS has decimated the native peoples, a distortion of the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that DEVASTATION AND ENSLAVEMENT have decimated the native peoples.
Eliminate A and B.

C: native peoples...that have been decimated
D: native peoples...which...are decimated
On the GMAT, that and which cannot serve to refer to people.
Eliminate C and D.

The correct answer is E.
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by abhasjha » Sun Aug 03, 2014 5:27 am
Hi Mitch ,

if option A is eliminated on the ground - ("progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere") where that - refers to progess in A - then in option E too that should refer back to progress and in that case option E should also be ruled out like you ruled out option A and B.


I thought option A has error beacuse -" that has decimated....

that here referd to devastation and ensalvement - joining two things by and requires a plural verb have .

I wanted to check this with you so that i can be sure .
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Aug 03, 2014 6:29 am
abhasjha wrote:Hi Mitch ,

if option A is eliminated on the ground - ("progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere") where that - refers to progess in A - then in option E too that should refer back to progress and in that case option E should also be ruled out like you ruled out option A and B.
Generally:
that + SINGULAR VERB should refer to the nearest eligible SINGULAR antecedent.
that + PLURAL VERB should refer to the nearest eligible PLURAL antecedent.

E: THE DEVASTATION AND ENSLAVEMENT in the name of progress that HAVE DECIMATED the native peoples.
Here, the verb attributed to that -- HAVE decimated -- is PLURAL.
Thus, the referent for that must be THE DEVASTATION AND ENSLAVEMENT, the nearest eligible PLURAL antecedent.
Conveyed meaning:
The devastation and enslavement that have decimated the native peoples.

Because the verb attributed to that is plural, the referent for that CANNOT be progress, which is singular.
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