Despite requiring decades to complete, massive financial investment, and hundreds of skilled craftsmen, ______ they revolutionized architectural desig...

Sentence Structure

• Despite requiring decades to complete,
• massive financial investment,
• and hundreds of skilled craftsmen,
• ______ [?]:
• they revolutionized architectural design
• and remain cultural landmarks today.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'Despite requiring decades to complete,
massive financial investment,
and hundreds of skilled craftsmen...'

This opening phrase is describing something's requirements:

• It needs decades to finish
• It needs massive financial investment
• It needs hundreds of skilled craftsmen

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank.

Let's look at our choices:

• A puts "there were Gothic cathedrals" after the opening phrase
• B puts "Gothic cathedrals stand" after the opening phrase
• C puts "remarkable achievements are visible" after the opening phrase
• D puts "Gothic cathedrals' construction created" after the opening phrase

What do we notice about the structure here?

The opening phrase describes what something requires.

• Whatever we name immediately after that phrase must be the thing that requires all those resources.
• This is how descriptive phrases at the beginning of sentences work - they attach to whatever comes right after them.

So what actually requires decades to complete, massive investment, and hundreds of craftsmen?

• Gothic cathedrals themselves - the actual buildings.

For the sentence to work correctly, "Gothic cathedrals" needs to come immediately after the comma.

• Only Choice B does this: "Gothic cathedrals stand as remarkable achievements"

Now let's read the rest to see the complete picture:
'they revolutionized architectural design and remain cultural landmarks today.'

This part works perfectly with Choice B:

• "They" refers back to "Gothic cathedrals" (both plural)
• The complete meaning: Despite all these requirements, Gothic cathedrals stand as remarkable achievements - they revolutionized design and remain landmarks today.

The correct answer is B.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Placing Introductory Descriptive Phrases

When a sentence begins with a descriptive phrase (called an introductory modifier in grammar terms), that phrase must be followed immediately by whatever it describes. This is especially important with phrases that start with words like "Despite," "After," "While," "Having," or any "-ing" verb form.

The Pattern:

• Descriptive phrase at start: Despite being expensive and time-consuming,
• Must be followed by what it describes: the renovation improved the building significantly.
• "The renovation" is what was expensive and time-consuming

If misplaced:

• Despite being expensive and time-consuming, the building was improved by the renovation.
• This incorrectly suggests "the building" was expensive and time-consuming

In this question:

• Descriptive phrase: "Despite requiring decades to complete, massive financial investment, and hundreds of skilled craftsmen"
• Describes what requires these things
• Must be followed by: "Gothic cathedrals"
• The cathedrals are what require all these resources
• Correct structure: Despite requiring [resources], Gothic cathedrals stand as remarkable achievements

The key principle: Whatever noun comes immediately after the comma following an introductory phrase is what that phrase describes. Make sure it's the right noun!