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gmatissimple · 2009 January 14th, 06:42 PM

Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them.

took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete
to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years

Guys, would you please discuss how we can delete D?
Thanks.

Gmater-1 · 2009 January 14th, 07:18 PM

For prallelism and sentence structure.

Author is describing about terra-cotta warriors "2,000 years old" and "took 700,000 artisians". It would awkward to compare desctiption "2,000 years old" with numbers.

HTH

mitzi · 2009 January 14th, 07:30 PM

gmatissimple,(i love to write it. because it makes me feel that GMAT is simple for real)

Let me analyze it.
1. the army(singular subject) agrees with is(singular verb)---> correct!
2. I noticed that there is and in the middle of the sentence.
It seems that we need to know the usage of this and.

I'd like to rule out b, c, and e because

took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them --> pronoun error(the army --> it)
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete
to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years --> no sense to use to complete after and

between b and d, I would like to pick b. because D there is no specific object. 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete what?
what is OA please?

reply2spg · 2009 January 15th, 01:32 AM

I Agree to write Gmat is simple....hehehehehe....however when I see SC questions reality is something different....ok back to business....IMO B....D doesn't have specific subject in it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitzi

gmatissimple,(i love to write it. because it makes me feel that GMAT is simple for real)

Let me analyze it.
1. the army(singular subject) agrees with is(singular verb)---> correct!
2. I noticed that there is and in the middle of the sentence.
It seems that we need to know the usage of this and.

I'd like to rule out b, c, and e because

took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them --> pronoun error(the army --> it)
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete
to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years --> no sense to use to complete after and

between b and d, I would like to pick b. because D there is no specific object. 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete what?
what is OA please?

gmatissimple · 2009 January 15th, 08:34 AM

Thanks mitzi for reply.OA: CAnymore thought on it?

rookie409 · 2009 January 15th, 10:14 AM

IMO C

Explanation for A,D,and E have already given.

In B there 'it' is redundant as it is changing the meaning of the sentence.
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
the army dint took 700,000 artisans to complete itself.
If we would have been talking about someone else say aritsan completed the army the use of it would be better

But here author is talking about the army, army itself took 700,000 artisans to get completed by the artisans. So it is redundant, Hence C is correct.

sh_vivek · 2009 January 15th, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmatissimple

Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them.

took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it
took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete
700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete
to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years

Guys, would you please discuss how we can delete D?
Thanks.

OA should be C only and nothing else.This is definately parallelism question.
"The army is more than 2000 years old" and "took 700,000 artisans ... to complete"

12rk34 · 2009 January 15th, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmatissimple

Thanks mitzi for reply.OA: CAnymore thought on it?

It is simple issue of parallelism as pointed out by GMATER-1 and Vivek.

mitzi · 2009 January 15th, 04:45 PM

rookie409

Thank you for the explanation of the subtle difference.

gmatissimple · 2009 January 15th, 06:21 PM

Thanks guys.
The confusions disappeared.

2009 January 14th, 06:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
gmatissimple Have 760+ in GMAT Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 660	Terra-Cotta Army!! How can we delete D? Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years Guys, would you please discuss how we can delete D? Thanks.

2009 January 14th, 07:30 PM	#3 (permalink)
mitzi Push it to the limit! Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Tampa, FL USA Posts: 2,600	gmatissimple,(i love to write it. because it makes me feel that GMAT is simple for real) Let me analyze it. 1. the army(singular subject) agrees with is(singular verb)---> correct! 2. I noticed that there is and in the middle of the sentence. It seems that we need to know the usage of this and. I'd like to rule out b, c, and e because took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete them --> pronoun error(the army --> it) took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete to complete them took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years --> no sense to use to complete after and between b and d, I would like to pick b. because D there is no specific object. 700,000 artisans took more than 36 years to complete what? what is OA please?

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2009 January 14th, 07:18 PM	#2 (permalink)
Gmater-1 TestMagic Guru-in-Training Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 746	For prallelism and sentence structure. Author is describing about terra-cotta warriors "2,000 years old" and "took 700,000 artisians". It would awkward to compare desctiption "2,000 years old" with numbers. HTH

2009 January 15th, 08:34 AM	#5 (permalink)
gmatissimple Have 760+ in GMAT Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 660	Thanks mitzi for reply.OA: CAnymore thought on it?

2009 January 15th, 10:14 AM	#6 (permalink)
rookie409 Eager! Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 88	IMO C Explanation for A,D,and E have already given. In B there 'it' is redundant as it is changing the meaning of the sentence. took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete it the army dint took 700,000 artisans to complete itself. If we would have been talking about someone else say aritsan completed the army the use of it would be better But here author is talking about the army, army itself took 700,000 artisans to get completed by the artisans. So it is redundant, Hence C is correct.

2009 January 15th, 04:45 PM	#9 (permalink)
mitzi Push it to the limit! Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Tampa, FL USA Posts: 2,600	rookie409 Thank you for the explanation of the subtle difference.

2009 January 15th, 06:21 PM	#10 (permalink)
gmatissimple Have 760+ in GMAT Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 660	Thanks guys. The confusions disappeared.

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