Though the artifacts of pre-Columbian civilization created

[calm.jing]

Source: GMAT Prep

Though the artifacts of pre-Columbian civilization created a stir from the very first European contacts with the new world in the sixteenth century, it was not until the later half of the nineteenth century that western designers, artists and crafters were inspired to imitate them.

(A)it was not until the later half of the nineteenth century that western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them.
(B)they did not inspire imitations of western designers,artists, and crafters until it was the later half of the nineteenth century
(C)not until the later half of the nineteenth century was it that they have inspired western designers,artists ,and crafters to imitation
(D)until the later half of the nineteenth century western designers,artists ,and crafters have not been inspired to imitate
(E)they were not inspirations of western designers,artists, and crafters imitations until the later half of the nineteenth century

OA: A

I think the other choices are wrong for the following reasons:
B: "imitations of western designers..." distorts meaning; "it" has no referent.
C: the inversion of the sentence is awkward; "to imitation" is wrong.
D: wrong tense (should not be present perfect)
E: should be "crafters' imitation". And the sentence is overall wordy...
Am I right?

And I have 2 questions about A... (but I am not questioning the OA...)

1. Why is it correct to use emphatic construction here?
(I know the other choices are badly wrong. My point is this: I think OG says that you have to have compelling reasons to use the emphatic construction, so what would be the "compelling reason" here? Just common sense?...)

2. Why is the pronoun "them" correct?
(I thought it does not have a very clear referent because there are several plural nouns in the sentence and "them" is not parallel to "artifacts". )


Thanks in advance!

[RonPurewal]

Most of your analysis is on point.

* In C, you forgot what may be the most straightforward means of elimination -- namely, verb tense. (Can't use "have inspired" for something that happened at a distinct point over 150 years ago.)

* In E, you'd need designers' and crafters' in addtion to the possessive you mentioned.
I've also never seen "inspirations" used in the plural this way. Even in reference to multiple individuals, I've still seen "They are an inspiration to all of us". Never really thought about it until now, but, yeah.

[RonPurewal]

1. Why is it correct to use emphatic construction here?

"Emphatic construction"?
I don't know what that means. Help me out here please.

If you're talking about "It was not until (time) that xxxxx happened", as opposed to "Xxxxx didn't happen until (time)", the answer is "Both are correct".
The difference is strictly rhetorical; the first version just places greater emphasis on the long period of time that passed between the two events.

You won't ever have to choose between two correct versions of a sentence, so "Both are correct" is good enough. Differentiating between them is only a thing if you plan to become a professional writer or editor.

[RonPurewal]

2. Why is the pronoun "them" correct?
(I thought it does not have a very clear referent because there are several plural nouns in the sentence and "them" is not parallel to "artifacts". )

It's perfectly obvious that "them" = "artifacts".

When it comes to pronouns, just 3 questions:
1/ Is the meaning of the pronoun obvious in context?
2/ Is there a noun?
3/ Does the noun match the pronoun (in terms of singular/plural)?
If the answers are yes, yes, and yes, you win -- the pronoun is fine.

On the gmat, "pronoun ambiguity" is not really a thing.
Theoretically, if you were given a sentence in which it's genuinely impossible to tell the antecedent of a pronoun (e.g., "Sharon was talking to Lisa about her children"), then, sure. But GMAC hasn't done that yet.

(If your requirement for pronouns were that strict -- i.e., if you actually demanded that there be no other plural nouns in the entire sentence in order to use "they" correctly -- then pronouns would become almost impossible to use.)

[onkipak]

Source: GMAT Prep

Though the artifacts of pre-Columbian civilization created a stir from the very first European contacts with the new world in the sixteenth century, it was not until the later half of the nineteenth century that western designers, artists and crafters were inspired to imitate them.

(A)it was not until the later half of the nineteenth century that western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them.
(B)they did not inspire imitations of western designers,artists, and crafters until it was the later half of the nineteenth century
(C)not until the later half of the nineteenth century was it that they have inspired western designers,artists ,and crafters to imitation
(D)until the later half of the nineteenth century western designers,artists ,and crafters have not been inspired to imitate
(E)they were not inspirations of western designers,artists, and crafters imitations until the later half of the nineteenth century

Official Answer says "no referent for the pronoun it" for B, C, &D.
How about "it was not until the later half of the nineteenth century..." in A?
What is "it" here refers to in the sentence?

Thank you!

[RonPurewal]

Read about it here:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/pronoun-ambi ... tml#312862

[thanghnvn]

[quote="calm.jing"]Source: GMAT Prep

Though the artifacts of pre-Columbian civilization created a stir from the very first European contacts with the new world in the sixteenth century, it was not until the later half of the nineteenth century that western designers, artists and crafters were inspired to imitate them.

(A)it was not until the later half of the nineteenth century that western designers, artists, and crafters were inspired to imitate them.
(B)they did not inspire imitations of western designers,artists, and crafters until it was the later half of the nineteenth century
(C)not until the later half of the nineteenth century was it that they have inspired western designers,artists ,and crafters to imitation
(D)until the later half of the nineteenth century western designers,artists ,and crafters have not been inspired to imitate
(E)they were not inspirations of western designers,artists, and crafters imitations until the later half of the nineteenth century

OA: A

a hard question.
B is wrong because if "it" is fake subject in "it is not until...", "it is not until..." must be at the beginning of the sentence. if this clause is at the end, "it" becomes having no noun/partner.

is that right?

[RonPurewal]

The non-referent "it" doesn't have to appear strictly at the beginning of a sentence, but it must be followed by a clause that clarifies it.

E.g.,
It was already 8 p.m. when the band started playing, even though the performance had been scheduled to start at six.

You can't just say "It was already 8 p.m.", because then "it" is a normal pronoun with nothing to stand for.

[akhileshkeshap]

Hi Ron,

I have not understood very clearly why choice E is incorrect.
I do see that when we compare A and E , A comes out more clear and concisely but is there any other reason apart from that ?

Regards
Akhil

[douyang]

Hi Ron,

I have not understood very clearly why choice E is incorrect.
I do see that when we compare A and E , A comes out more clear and concisely but is there any other reason apart from that ?

Regards
Akhil

E is illogical because it basically says they were not inspirations of imitations.

[RonPurewal]

^^ yes.

• you can "inspire" people to do things.

• you can also "inspire" the processes carried out by those people (e.g., The low-carb diet craze has inspired the founding of hundreds of new restaurants and specialty food stores).

• you cannot, however, "inspire" an inanimate object.

(none of this really has to be memorized, by the way; you can just think, carefully, about what the word "inspired" means.)

[AlvaroB426]

Hi Ron,

I don´t understand why option a is correct, doesn´t the pronoun "it" is a noun referent pronoun? I think this "it" shouldn´t be correct.

[RonPurewal]

DO NOT question the correct answers!

here's a handy FAQ:

Q: Is the correct answer correct?
A: Yes.

Q: Is the correct answer wrong?
A: No.

Q: I disagree with the correct answer. Who's wrong, me or GMAC?
A: You.

Q: I wrote this other version. Is it better than the correct answer?
A: No.

[RonPurewal]

an explanation is here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... tml#p49622

[aflaamM589]

Hello Ron,
Apart from imitations, is there any other error in B?
E also has this error but then it also has other error.
Thanks