Thank you all for your participation in the most recent all-in-one question — dozens of responses within a day!  I’m glad to see you’re all so committed to your GMAT studies and interested in learning more; as you may have noticed, time you invest in any part of Verbal transfers to all the other Verbal tasks to various extents.   I’m sorry I don’t have prizes for you beyond the excitement of something different, perhaps the satisfaction of a job well done, and potentially a tiny contribution to a higher GMAT score — maybe someday I’ll have something tangible for you!

If you’re new to the all-in-ones, check out the question (link above) for background and then come back.  The answer choices explained:

A.  The storming of the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned from a prison, by angry protesters on July 14, 1789 was the first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution, following the dramatic formation of the National Assembly and the inception of a long period of much turmoil within France and throughout Europe.

The Bastille was a fortress first and a prison more recently; “from” reverses this order.  The modifying phrase beginning with “following” is setting up events that took place prior to the attack, but “the inception of a long period . . .” is meant to describe the attack, not an event before it.

B.  After the revolutionary formation of the National Assembly by angry protesters, then a long period of much turmoil within France and throughout Europe were begun by the storming of the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned into a prison, on July 14, 1789, the first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution.

Here angry protesters are the ones who formed the National Assembly, “then” subordinates what ought to be the main clause of a sentence, and the plural verb “were begun” does not agree with the singular “period.”

C.  Angry protesters stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned into a prison, the first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution, the dramatic formation of the National Assembly, and the beginning of a long period of much turmoil with France and throughout Europe on July 14, 1789.

I like this (wrong) answer choice because while it’s clearly wrong, it’s challenging to articulate why — apposition and modification may make a good blog post later.  Modifying phrases by default modify the thing they are closest to, but there are still rules.  You can add apposition — a parenthetical restatement of a word you just said, similar to this thing I’m typing right now — set off only by commas and without any additional marking words; you can even put several in a row (“George’s faithful dog Spot, terror of the postal service, stealer of bacon, and pursuer of squirrels, loved riding in the car more than anything”) modifying something prior.  Without additional participles, verbs, adverbs, or relative pronouns in front of each phrase after “prison” to suggest a structure, though, the phrases default to modifying “the Bastille.”

D.  A long period of much turmoil within France and throughout Europe began on July 14th, 1789 along with the first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution, when angry protesters stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned into a prison following the dramatic formation of the National Assembly.

“Along with” suggests that there were two parallel events, when in fact they are the same event.  The lack of a comma in D is undesirable because it suggests that the conversion from fortress to prison followed the formation of the National Assembly, when in fact that happened years before.  Commas are the difference between “I’m hungry! Let’s eat, Grandma!” and “I’m hungry!  Let’s eat Grandma!”

E.  After the revolutionary formation of the National Assembly, a long period of many turmoil within France and throughout Europe were begun by the storming of the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned into a prison by angry protesters on July 14, 1789, the first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution.

“Turmoil” is a non-count noun, and so should be modified with “much.”  “Were begun” is plural where “period” is singular.  Lack of an important comma strikes again, as this sentence indicates that the angry protesters are the ones who converted the fortress to a prison (not true).

F.  A long period of much turmoil within France and throughout Europe had been begun July 14th, 1789 with the first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution, when angry protesters stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned into a prison, an event after the dramatic formation of the National Assembly.

Past perfect tenses (“had been begun”) are used to indicate time prior to a past tense elsewhere in the sentence, but here the period of turmoil begins at the same time as the storming of the Bastille.  “An event after” is simply a wordier (and therefore GMAT-incorrect) version of “after.”

G.  The storming of the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned into a prison by angry protesters on July 14, 1789, was the first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution, following the dramatic formation of the National Assembly and likewise beginning a long period of much turmoil not only within France and throughout Europe.

Angry protesters are industriously engaged in remodeling once more in choice G, and doing so right at the beginning of the French Revolution.  “And likewise” is wordy and unnecessary.

H.  The first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution was the storming of the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned into a prison, by angry protesters on July14, 1789, following the dramatic formation of the National Assembly and beginning a long period of much turmoil within France and throughout Europe.

In “real English” there’s no good reason to have a sentence this long and heavily modified, but this is correct.  You may also notice that it is mostly the same as choice I, but the ideas come in the opposite order.

I.  A long period of much turmoil within France and throughout Europe began July 14th, 1789 with the first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution when, following the dramatic formation of the National Assembly, angry protesters stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned into a prison.

Some of you felt that “following the dramatic  formation of the National Assembly” is oddly placed — you are right, it’s a more complex sentence arrangement, but a correct one.  It looks less unusual in a shorter sentence:  “A bad time period started with a violent event when, following a political event, people did stuff to a building, a fortress made into a prison.”   As before, don’t write like this on the AWA.

J.  The first violent event of the opening stage of the French Revolution was the storming of the Bastille, a medieval fortress turned into a prison, by angry protesters on July14, 1789, following the dramatic formation of the National Assembly, also a beginning of a long period of many turmoil within France and throughout Europe.

If “also a beginning” is parallel to anything, it’s parallel to “the National Assembly”, which wouldn’t make sense anyway.  “Many” makes another appearance in place of “much”.

Thank you so much for reading!  I have another one on the way, and I’ll have the answers scheduled closer to the post next time, sorry about the delay!