Question: Those who study ancient European history soon realize that before Greece was Greece, it was a collection of small city-states that were intensely jealous of one another and were only occasionally able to work together for common goals.

1. before Greece was Greece, it was a collection of small city-states
2. before there was Greece, it was a collection of small city-states
3. before Greece, it was a collection of small city-states
4. it was a collection of small city-states that was Greece
5. Greece became a collection of small city states

Answer: A
Explanation: The following arguments could be used to defend the suggested language change:

• Parallelism
• Considering two separate truths
• Modifiers

A: Correct
It is the correct answer. This is a very unusual way to put something together, but it is correct. When we say, "Before Greece was Greece," we're referring to what happened in that area before it became what we think of when we hear that name. The phrase plays on the tension between the place (which is now known by a name) and the name, which makes you think of a certain time in history.

B: Incorrect
This is an incorrect answer. Before there was Greece is a big, awkward, and flabby sentence. There is the kind of extra words that the GMAT doesn't like. Also, as seekmba points out, the word "it" here seems to mean "ancient European history," which is wrong.

C: Incorrect
This sentence structure makes it sound like "it can't be Greece." Logic tells us that we shouldn't talk about what something is before it exists. Again, the only thing that could come before "it" is "ancient European history," as seekmba points out. Also, this choice is wrong.

D: Incorrect
This isn't a good place for a strong construction, and it's also confusing and awkward.

E: Incorrect
This is grammatically correct, but the meaning is very different from what the prompt asked for. It's not that Greece as a whole turned into separate city-states over time. Instead, the different city-states in that area joined together to form the country of Greece. That's what the prompt says, but this choice gets the order of history and causes wrong.

“Those who study ancient European history soon realize that before Gree” - is a GMAT sentence correction question. The text that is underlined in these questions has grammatical mistakes, and we must select the right response from the list of possibilities. The GMAT verbal section includes GMAT sentence correction.

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