The rise of the Incan empire rested not only

[cesar.rodriguez.blanco]

Can any instructor explain the mistakes in this SC?

The rise of the Incan empire rested not only on the Incas' military might
and the ability of their rulers but also they imposed a highly organized economic
and political system on many different ethnic groups and permitting them to
retain many of their customs and often their own leaders.

A. they imposed a highly organized economic and political system on many different
ethnic groups and permitting them
B. on their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups, who were permitted
C. because of their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on
many different ethnic groups, who they permitted
D. on their imposing of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups and they permitted them
E. imposing a highly organized economic and political system on many different ethnic
groups, permitting them

[sunny.jain]

IMO : B

IDIOM:

The rise of the Incan empire rested
not only on the Incas' military might and the ability of their rulers
but also.......
to retain many of their customs and often their own leaders.


To maintain parallelism, we need a sentence after 'but also' to be start from 'on' or a preposition.

out of B and D.
D has other two mistakes:

on their imposing of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups and they permitted them

[RonPurewal]

Can any instructor explain the mistakes in this SC?

The rise of the Incan empire rested not only on the Incas' military might
and the ability of their rulers but also they imposed a highly organized economic
and political system on many different ethnic groups and permitting them to
retain many of their customs and often their own leaders.

A. they imposed a highly organized economic and political system on many different
ethnic groups and permitting them
B. on their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups, who were permitted
C. because of their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on
many different ethnic groups, who they permitted
D. on their imposing of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups and they permitted them
E. imposing a highly organized economic and political system on many different ethnic
groups, permitting them

this problem is all about parallelism. (it doesn't involve idiom in any significant way.)

when you see a two-part parallel signal, such as "not only ... but also", just MATCH UP THE FORM of the words following each part of the signal.

in other words, the words following "not only" should be as similar as possible to the words following "but also".

after "not only" you have ON...
so after "but also" you should also have ON...

this INSTANTLY eliminates everything except (b) and (d).

--

(d)
AND creates a parallel structure, but the past-tense construction "they permitted..." isn't parallel to anything.

also, "they permitted them" will ALWAYS be wrong. you can't use a "they" and a "them", consecutively, to refer to different antecedents (they would default to the same antecedent).

[rohit21384]

Can any instructor explain the mistakes in this SC?

The rise of the Incan empire rested not only on the Incas' military might
and the ability of their rulers but also they imposed a highly organized economic
and political system on many different ethnic groups and permitting them to
retain many of their customs and often their own leaders.

A. they imposed a highly organized economic and political system on many different
ethnic groups and permitting them
B. on their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups, who were permitted
C. because of their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on
many different ethnic groups, who they permitted
D. on their imposing of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups and they permitted them
E. imposing a highly organized economic and political system on many different ethnic
groups, permitting them

Is" their" refers to Incas ? It cannot refer to Empire ?

[mikrodj]

I'd say that "their" refers to Incas' rather than Incan. I think that in Incan empire,"Incan" is an adjective;thus you cannot refer to it using "their"

[RonPurewal]

Can any instructor explain the mistakes in this SC?

The rise of the Incan empire rested not only on the Incas' military might
and the ability of their rulers but also they imposed a highly organized economic
and political system on many different ethnic groups and permitting them to
retain many of their customs and often their own leaders.

A. they imposed a highly organized economic and political system on many different
ethnic groups and permitting them
B. on their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups, who were permitted
C. because of their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on
many different ethnic groups, who they permitted
D. on their imposing of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups and they permitted them
E. imposing a highly organized economic and political system on many different ethnic
groups, permitting them

Is" their" refers to Incas ? It cannot refer to Empire ?

"empire" is singular, so it can't be the antecedent of "their".

[facadeof_reality]

Hi moderators I just want to know one thing.
I thought B is wrong because it uses who after comma.

I mean ,who makes it a non-essential modifier and we need the information.

Thanks in Advance

[RonPurewal]

Hi moderators I just want to know one thing.
I thought B is wrong because it uses who after comma.

I mean ,who makes it a non-essential modifier and we need the information.

actually, no, it's more appropriate to have the nonessential modifier here; the meaning of the sentence implies that the modifier describes all of the ethnic groups in question.

analogy:
manhattan gmat takes pride in its instructors, who have achieved 99th percentile scores on the gmat.
--> this means that all of our instructors have achieved such scores, and so this modifier becomes superfluous.

manhattan gmat takes pride in its instructors, who have achieved 99th percentile scores on the gmat.
--> if this is an essential modifier, it implies that only some of our instructors have achieved such scores, and that the company only takes pride in those instructors.

in this case, the first of the two sentences clearly makes more sense. for exactly the same reasons, the nonessential modifier is better in the sentence above.

[divineacclivity]

Hi moderators I just want to know one thing.
I thought B is wrong because it uses who after comma.

I mean ,who makes it a non-essential modifier and we need the information.

actually, no, it's more appropriate to have the nonessential modifier here; the meaning of the sentence implies that the modifier describes all of the ethnic groups in question.

analogy:
manhattan gmat takes pride in its instructors, who have achieved 99th percentile scores on the gmat.
--> this means that all of our instructors have achieved such scores, and so this modifier becomes superfluous.

manhattan gmat takes pride in its instructors, who have achieved 99th percentile scores on the gmat.
--> if this is an essential modifier, it implies that only some of our instructors have achieved such scores, and that the company only takes pride in those instructors.

in this case, the first of the two sentences clearly makes more sense. for exactly the same reasons, the nonessential modifier is better in the sentence above.

Did you mean to remove the comma in your second sentence?
"pride in its instructors who have..."

[divineacclivity]

Can any instructor explain the mistakes in this SC?

The rise of the Incan empire rested not only on the Incas' military might
and the ability of their rulers but also they imposed a highly organized economic
and political system on many different ethnic groups and permitting them to
retain many of their customs and often their own leaders.

A. they imposed a highly organized economic and political system on many different
ethnic groups and permitting them
B. on their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups, who were permitted
C. because of their imposition of a highly organized economic and political system on
many different ethnic groups, who they permitted
D. on their imposing of a highly organized economic and political system on many
different ethnic groups and they permitted them
E. imposing a highly organized economic and political system on many different ethnic
groups, permitting them

this problem is all about parallelism. (it doesn't involve idiom in any significant way.)

when you see a two-part parallel signal, such as "not only ... but also", just MATCH UP THE FORM of the words following each part of the signal.

in other words, the words following "not only" should be as similar as possible to the words following "but also".

after "not only" you have ON...
so after "but also" you should also have ON...

this INSTANTLY eliminates everything except (b) and (d).

--

(d)
AND creates a parallel structure, but the past-tense construction "they permitted..." isn't parallel to anything.

also, "they permitted them" will ALWAYS be wrong. you can't use a "they" and a "them", consecutively, to refer to different antecedents (they would default to the same antecedent).

I'm just glad that I thought on exactly the same lines as stated above.
Just one question here:
Which one is preferred in general or in specific situations i.e. pls explain if there's a difference in the meanings of : "on their imposing of .." and "on their imposition of .."

I've gone through your explanations on the difference between gerund such as "constructing .. " and another noun modifier such as "construction of .." and I think now I understand the subtle difference between the two.
The above question is also inspired from that. And, once again, thank you very much.

[RonPurewal]

Which one is preferred in general or in specific situations i.e. pls explain if there's a difference in the meanings of : "on their imposing of .." and "on their imposition of .."

if you're looking for a noun, then go for the dedicated noun form if it actually exists.
e.g.,
"the destruction..." is better than "the destroying..."
"the imposition..." (your example) is better than "the imposing..."
and so on.

[jabgt]

It seems to me that "their" in the non underlined parts "their customs" and "their own leaders" changes the referent from original "Incas' " to "ethnic groups' " . ^^ But I‘m fine with this and thus have no question, since I understand I will be good as long as I don't pick the answer choice with pronouns referring different agents.

(I really don't mean to be picky. I just like SC's wording, so I repeatedly read these sentences, learning a lot.)

[RonPurewal]

sorry, but, i can't tell what you are asking.

i assume you're asking ... something? since I don't think you would post on a public forum just to say "hmm ok, I understand this problem but don't have any questions about it"

please clarify, thanks.