Question: Socrates could have fled from Athens after he was sentenced to death, but he refused to do it.

(A) Socrates could have fled from Athens after he was sentenced to death, but he refused to do it.
(B) After he was sentenced to death, Socrates might have fled from Athens, but he refused to do it.
(C) After he was sentenced to death, Socrates could have fled from Athens, but he refused to do so.
(D) Refusing to flee from Athens, Socrates could have done so after he was sentenced to death.
(E) Socrates could have fled from Athens but refused to after he was sentenced to death.

Correct Answer: (C)
Explanation: The intended meaning of the sentence is that Socrates could have left Athens after being given the death penalty, but he chose not to.

The concepts used here to correct the sentence are,

• Subject-Verb Agreement
• Modifiers
• Meaning

When used in the underlined portion of the question, the correct answer will completely convey the intended meaning without any grammatical or other errors. Let us look at each option individually to find the best answer.

Option – C : Correct
"So" is an adverb, and the appropriate modification verb is "fled." This sentence is in the correct order and follows grammar rules. Therefore this option is the right answer.

Option – A : Incorrect
A Noun is ambiguous in this sentence. It may indicate a death or a runaway. Therefore this option is ruled out.

Option – B : Incorrect
In this sentence, the word "might have" is misused. Whether or not he could have escaped is uncertain. The message is distorted and there is a noun ambiguity. Therefore this option is ruled out.

Option – D : Incorrect
The tenses used here are inappropriate, and the order of the events is also incorrect. This results in improper grammatical construction. Therefore this option is ruled out.

Option – E : Incorrect
In this sentence, the absence of the proper verb changes the meaning. There has to be a proper usage of verbs to make a sentence perfect. Therefore this option is ruled out.

From the explanations given above, it is clear that the third option is the right choice.

“Socrates could have fled from Athens after he was sentenced to death” - is a GMAT sentence correction question. These types of questions contain grammatical errors in the underlined sentence and we have to choose the correct statement from the options. GMAT sentence correction is a part of GMAT verbal.

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