A government body officially known as the Althing, ______
GMAT Standard English Conventions : (Grammar) Questions
A government body officially known as the Althing, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
the world's oldest parliaments include one which first met in 930 CE, Iceland's.
Iceland's parliament is one of the oldest in the world, first meeting in 930 CE.
the first meeting of one of the oldest parliaments in the world, Iceland's, was in 930 CE.
930 CE was the year when Iceland's parliament, one of the oldest parliaments in the world, first met.
Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!
Sentence Structure
- A government body
- officially known as the Althing,
- ______ [?]
- officially known as the Althing,
Understanding the Meaning
The sentence starts by introducing something:
- 'A government body officially known as the Althing,'
This opening tells us:
- We're talking about a government body (some kind of governmental institution)
- It has an official name: the Althing
- The comma after 'Althing' signals that more information is coming
This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices:
- Choice A talks about "the world's oldest parliaments" (plural)
- Choice B talks about "Iceland's parliament is..."
- Choice C talks about "the first meeting"
- Choice D starts with "930 CE was the year"
To see what works here, I need to think about what the opening phrase is describing. Let's check each option:
What do we notice about the structure here?
The opening phrase "A government body officially known as the Althing" is a noun phrase that describes something.
Whatever comes after the comma needs to be:
- The same thing as what we just described, OR
- Logically connected to "a government body"
Let's test this:
- Choice A: "A government body... the world's oldest parliaments include..."
- A government body (singular) ≠ parliaments (plural)
- These aren't the same thing - doesn't work
- Choice B: "A government body... Iceland's parliament is..."
- "A government body officially known as the Althing" = "Iceland's parliament"
- These are two ways of referring to the same thing!
- We get a subject (Iceland's parliament) + verb (is) + description
- This works perfectly!
- Choice C: "A government body... the first meeting... was in 930 CE"
- A government body ≠ a meeting
- One is an institution, the other is an event - doesn't work
- Choice D: "A government body... 930 CE was the year..."
- A government body ≠ a year
- These are completely different concepts - doesn't work
The correct answer is Choice B.
The opening phrase introduces "a government body officially known as the Althing," and Choice B then identifies what this body is: "Iceland's parliament." The two noun phrases refer to the same entity, and then we get the main verb "is" to complete the sentence with the information that it's one of the oldest parliaments in the world.
GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED
Introductory Descriptive Phrases Must Match What Follows
When you start a sentence with a descriptive noun phrase followed by a comma, what comes after that comma must logically match or refer to the same thing:
Pattern:
- [Descriptive noun phrase], [subject that refers to same thing] [verb] [rest of sentence]
Example 1:
- Correct: "A landmark of ancient architecture, the Colosseum attracts millions of visitors."
- "A landmark of ancient architecture" = "the Colosseum" (same thing)
- Incorrect: "A landmark of ancient architecture, visitors flock to see the Colosseum."
- "A landmark" ≠ "visitors" (different things)
Example 2:
- Correct: "A technology revolutionary, Steve Jobs changed how we use computers."
- "A technology revolutionary" = "Steve Jobs" (same person)
- Incorrect: "A technology revolutionary, computers were changed by Steve Jobs."
- "A technology revolutionary" ≠ "computers" (person vs. objects)
In this question:
- The opening phrase "A government body officially known as the Althing" must be followed by something that refers to the same entity
- Choice B works because "Iceland's parliament" is the same institution as "the Althing"
- The other choices fail because they try to make the opening phrase describe things that don't match: multiple parliaments, a meeting, or a year
the world's oldest parliaments include one which first met in 930 CE, Iceland's.
✗ Incorrect
"the world's oldest parliaments include one which first met in 930 CE, Iceland's."
- Creates a mismatch between the opening phrase and what follows
- "A government body" (singular) doesn't match with "parliaments" (plural)
- The opening phrase should describe what comes next, but these refer to different things
- The logic breaks down: we're told about one specific government body (the Althing), but then the sentence shifts to talking about multiple parliaments
Iceland's parliament is one of the oldest in the world, first meeting in 930 CE.
✓ Correct
Correct as explained in the solution above.
the first meeting of one of the oldest parliaments in the world, Iceland's, was in 930 CE.
✗ Incorrect
"the first meeting of one of the oldest parliaments in the world, Iceland's, was in 930 CE."
- Makes the opening phrase describe "the first meeting" rather than the government body itself
- "A government body" cannot be "the first meeting" - they're fundamentally different types of things
- One is an institution, the other is an event
- The logical connection between the introductory phrase and what follows is broken
930 CE was the year when Iceland's parliament, one of the oldest parliaments in the world, first met.
✗ Incorrect
"930 CE was the year when Iceland's parliament, one of the oldest parliaments in the world, first met."
- Makes the opening phrase describe "930 CE" (a year)
- "A government body" cannot be a year - these are completely incompatible concepts
- Creates a nonsensical relationship between the introductory phrase and the main clause