Many of the Earliest Known Images of Hindu Deities in India Date from the Time of the Kushan Empire

Question: Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.

1. Empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
2. Empire, fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
3. Empire, either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or
4. Empire and either fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from
5. Empire and were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from

“Many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities in India date from the time of the Kushan empire, fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist.”- is a GMAT sentence correction question. This particular GMAT sentence correction topic has been taken from the book ‘The Official Guide of GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition, 2009’. This question checks meaning, parallelism, and verb. GMAT Sentence Correction questions comprise 11-16 questions to be completed within 65 minutes. Each Sentence Correction question contains a sentence with an underlined portion that includes 0-2 errors.

Answer: E

Explanation: The following concepts are tested in the sentence:

1. Meaning
2. Modifiers
3. Parallelism

Option A: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it modifies “the kushan empire” with “fashioned either….grey schist” incorrectly. It does not make any sense because it implies the kushan empire was fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura it from Gandharan grey schist. Also, the option fails to maintain parallelism between “from the spotted sandstone of Mathura” and “Gandharan grey schist”. So, Option A is incorrect.

Option B: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it also modifies “the kushan empire” with “fashioned either…..grey schist” incorrectly. The intended meaning is that many of the earliest known images of Hindu deities were fashioned either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist. Also, this option fails to maintain parallelism between “the spotted sandstone of Mathura” and “from Gandharan grey schist”. So, Option B is incorrect.

Option C: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it incorrectly modifies “the kushan empire” with “fashioned either….grey schist”. Always remember in a “noun+comma+phrase” construction, the phrase must accurately modify the noun. Also, this option does not maintain parallelism between “fashioned from the spotted sandstone of Mathura” and “Gandharan grey schist”. So, Option C is incorrect.

Option D: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it does not maintain parallelism between the verb phrase “date from the time of the kushan empire” and the noun modifier “either fashioned….grey schist”. Always remember that the elements linked by conjunction must be parallel. So, Option D is incorrect.

Option E: Correct
This option is correct because it avoids the modifiers mistakes that happened in all the other options. It uses the active verb phrase “were fashioned”, that conveys the intended meaning. It also maintains a parallelism between “date from the time of kushan empire” and “were fashioned”. So, Option E is correct.

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