The Nephew of Pliny the Elder Wrote the Only Eyewitness Account of the Great Eruption of Vesuvius

Question: The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

(A) The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.
(B) To the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote two letters, being the only eyewitness accounts of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
(C) The only eyewitness account is in two letters by the nephew of Pliny the Elder writing to the historian Tacitus an account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
(D) Writing the only eyewitness account, Pliny the Elder’s nephew accounted for the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.
(E) In two letters to the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

“The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius”- 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 is based on Modifiers and Construction. 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. This section of GMAT verbal checks the ability of the candidates on their grammatical skills.

Answer: E
Explanation: The following concepts are tested in the sentence:

1. Subject-verb agreement
2. Meaning
3. Redundancy

We need to remember:

• Events that concluded in the past are referred by simple past tense
• The introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “being” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

Option A: Incorrect

This option uses an indirect phrase "wrote the only eyewitness account...in two letters...". This leads to awkwardness in the sentence, making it incorrect.

Option B: Incorrect

This option is incorrect. This changes the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "being the only eyewitness accounts of the great eruption of Vesuvius". Here, "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "being" in this sentence)" incorrectly implies the meaning. The introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “being” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship. Hence, this is also incorrect.

Option C: Incorrect

This option also changes the meaning of the sentence through the clause "The only eyewitness account is in two letters". This implies that the only eyewitness account of anything is in two letters by the nephew of Pliny the Elder. The intended meaning is that the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius is in two letters by the nephew of Pliny the Elder. This option also incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "writing" in this sentence) to denote an action that already concluded in the past.

Option D: Incorrect

Option D alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "accounted for". The construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the nephew of Pliny the Elder explained the great eruption of Vesuvius. The intended meaning is that the nephew of Pliny the Elder described the great eruption of Vesuvius.

Option E: Correct

Correct. This answer choice uses the clause "the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius". This conveys the intended meaning correctly. It says that the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote two letters to the historian Tacitus, describing the great eruption of Vesuvius. These letters are the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius. This option also uses the simple past tense verb "wrote" correctly. It is used to refer to an event that concluded in the past. There is not any awkwardness or redundancy in this option.

Hence, E is the correct choice.

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