The Artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Last Word Was "Flowers," GMAT Sentence Correction

You can persuade someone to change their language by stating the following reasons:

• Parallelism
• Thinking about two distinct truths
• Modifiers

Before making a choice, each alternative must be carefully evaluated. There will only be one accurate answer out of the possible five. To make the best choice, the candidate must take into account a range of elements, including meaning, grammar, etc.
Given that, The dying words of the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir were "flowers," which he said as a bunch of freshly picked roses from his garden were put in a vase on his bedroom window ledge.

Let's approach the answer choices carefully.

A: Incorrect
Remember that collective nouns are usually single, and this answer choice uses the plural verb "were arranged" to refer to the singular collective noun "bouquet." Additionally, Option A utilises the uncomfortable and redundant term "consisting of," which adds extra wordiness.

B: Incorrect
Remember that collective nouns are usually single, and this answer choice uses the plural verb "were arranged" to refer to the singular collective noun "bouquet."

C: Correct
"Bouquet" and "was being arranged" are correct answers. Option C's "a bouquet of roses...was being arranged in a vase on his bedroom windowsill" conveys the intended idea that the bouquet was on Pierre-Auguste Renoir's bedroom windowsill. Option C avoids the pronoun error by using only "his" to refer to "Pierre-Auguste Renoir's". Option C avoids discomfort and redundancy.

D: Incorrect
The phrase "his garden in a vase on his bedroom windowsill" in the sentence created by this answer option changes the meaning of the sentence; the illogical construction of this phrase implies that Pierre-Auguste Renoir's garden was in a vase on his bedroom windowsill, whereas the sentence's intended meaning is that the bouquet of roses was in a vase on Pierre-Auguste Renoir's bedroom windowsill. Option D also makes uncomfortable use of the needlessly indirect term "during the arrangement of".

E: Incorrect
This answer choice's phrase "his garden in a vase on his bedroom windowsill" illogically implies that Pierre-Auguste Renoir's garden was in a vase, but the intended meaning is that the bouquet of roses was. Option E has a pronoun error since "they" has no logical referent. Option E also employs the awkward "that had just been picked" phrasing.