Despite Japan’s Relative Isolation from World Trade at the Time, the Prolonged Peace During the Tokugawa Shogunate Produced an Almost Explosive Expansion of Commerce.

Question: Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate produced an almost explosive expansion of commerce.

(A) Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate
(B) the relative isolation of Japan from world trade at the time and the Tokugawa shogunate’s prolonged peace, it
(C) being relatively isolated from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate
(D) Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time during the Tokugawa shogunate, prolonged peace
(E) its relative isolation from world trade then, prolonged peace in Japan during the Tokugawa shogunate

“Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate produced an almost explosive expansion of commerce.”- 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, Pronouns awkwardness and Modifiers. 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: A
Explanation: The following concepts are tested here:

1. Meaning
2. Modifiers
3. Pronouns
4. Awkwardness

Option A: Correct

This option is correct because it correctly uses the phrase "Despite Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time". This phrase is used to modify "the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate". It conveys the intended meaning of the sentence. Also, this option is free of any awkwardness or redundancy. Option A is correct.

Option B: Incorrect

This option is incorrect. It does not have the pronouns clarity, it is not clear whether "it" refers to "Japan" or "prolonged peace". It changes the meaning of the sentence by using the phrase "the relative isolation … the Tokugawa shogunate’s prolonged peace.” So, Option B is incorrect.

Option C: Incorrect

This option is incorrect. It wrongly uses "Despite being relatively isolated from world trade at the time" to modify "the prolonged peace during Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate". This incorrectly implies that the peace that Japan saw during the Tokugawa shogunate was relatively isolated from the world during the Tokugawa shogunate. Option C is incorrect.

Option D: Incorrect

This option is incorrect because it twists the meaning of the sentence. The phrase "Japan’s relative isolation from world trade at the time during the Tokugawa shogunate”. Also, the phrase "at the time during", seems redundant and looks needless and awkward. Option D is incorrect.

Option E: Incorrect

This option is incorrect. Again, it wrongly uses "Despite its relative isolation from world trade then" to modify "prolonged peace in Japan during Tokugawa shogunate". It illogically implies that the peace that Japan saw during the Tokugawa shogunate was relatively isolated from the world during the Tokugawa shogunate. Option E is incorrect.

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