The greatest road system built in the Americas

[rx_11]

The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.

A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and
extended
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending




Dear MGMAT stuff,

This is a prep Question and it has already been posted in the MGMAT forum. However, it locates in the "general verbal question" , where I cannot post any new topics. Thus I put it here. The original question site link is: sc-crack-gmat-test-q-t704.html

From the orginal post, Ron and dbernst have already make it clear that why E is correct. But I have another question about B, which was not asked or answered in that post.

In answer choice B, can we treat this sentense as having two main verbs? That is: "Columbus was the Incan highway, and extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile."

Is that correct? I mean if I treat the "extended" clause as the second main verb that parallel with "was", is that OK?

Moreover, Can a "be" verb ever parallel with a "working verb"??

[tim]

no, we can't use both "was" and "extending" as main verbs here. in general, i think it's safe to say that you cannot combine a being verb with an "action" verb..

[thanghnvn]

The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.

A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and
extended
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending




Dear MGMAT stuff,

This is a prep Question and it has already been posted in the MGMAT forum. However, it locates in the "general verbal question" , where I cannot post any new topics. Thus I put it here. The original question site link is: http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/sc- ... -t704.html

From the orginal post, Ron and dbernst have already make it clear that why E is correct. But I have another question about B, which was not asked or answered in that post.

In answer choice B, can we treat this sentense as having two main verbs? That is: "Columbus was the Incan highway, and extended from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile."

Is that correct? I mean if I treat the "extended" clause as the second main verb that parallel with "was", is that OK?

Moreover, Can a "be" verb ever parallel with a "working verb"??

I understand your worry over choice B. yes, B is grammatical and logic. why B is wrong?

this case puzzle me many times and I asked many time in many forums. Ron already answer this problem one time in this forum.

in choice B , "and" connect two actions "extended" and "was'. these actions should be parallel logically. there is no such logicness.

it is paradox that the use of "and" is very hard on GMAT sc. in informal English, we use "and" easily and incorrectly. here at SC section, we have to be careful to use "and"