Sentence Correction for CAT 2008

[shivam_01]

My take:::

piscean84-SC1-20/8/8-pg120

250 B
251 B
252 B
253 B
254 B
255 C

Great work piscean for ur uninterrupted posts and lucid explanations
U deserve a big round of applause

[Flameboy007]

RE: piscean84-SC1-20/8/8-pg120

250.B
251.C
252.A
253.D
254.B
255.C

[ankaj]

Originally Posted by piscean84

puys,

piscean84-sc1-20/8/8-pg120

251: C
252:a
253: B
254: D
255: C

[shashank3012]

Piscean84-sc1-20/8/08-pg 120

My take on the answers

250)b
251)a
252)a
253)b
254)d
255)d

[piscean84]

puys,

Answers to the post piscean84-SC1-20/8/8-pg120

Since Q.250 is a repeated question from the last post i have given...the required explanation is my last post...apologies for posting the question again.

251. The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's. .
(A) extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than
(B) extinction; its numbers are now five times more than
(C) extinction, their numbers now fivefold what they were
(D) extinction, now with fivefold the numbers they had
(E) extinction, now with numbers five times greater than

Answer to Question 251
A, the best choice, uses a singular pronoun, its, to refer to the singular antecedent The gyrfalcon, and it properly uses the construction its numbers are now ... greater than. In B, the construction its numbers are ... more is not idiomatic: there are more birds, but not more numbers. Choices C and D use a plural pronoun, their
or they, to refer to a grammatically singular antecedent, The gyrfalcon. Choices D and E wrongly use a phrase introduced by now with to modify The gyrfalcon. In both choices, the phrase confusingly seems to parallel with extinction; a new clause with a present tense verb is needed to state what the gyrfalcon's numbers are now.

252. Three out of every four automobile owners in the United States also own a bicycle.
(A) Three out of every four automobile owners in the United States also own a bicycle.
(B) Out of every four, three automobile owners in the United States also owns a bicycle.
(C) Bicycles are owned by three out of every four owners of automobiles in the United States.
(D) In the United States, three out of every four automobile owners owns bicycles.
(E) Out of every four owners of automobiles in the United States, bicycles are also owned by three.

Answer to Question 252
A, the best choice, is concise, idiomatic, and maintains subject-verb agreement. In B, Out of every four, three is unidiomatic. The singular verb owns does not agree with its plural subject, three ... owners. The passive construction in C (Bicycles are owned by) is cumbersome and does not contribute meaningfully to the sentence. The shift to plural Bicycles detracts from clarity by suggesting that multiple bicycles are owned by each person in question. In D, the singular owns does not agree with its plural subject three... owners. Furthermore, the plural bicycles detracts from clarity by suggesting that multiple bicycles are owned by each person in question. In E, the phrase beginning Out of every four ... cannot properly modify bicycles, and the passive construction (bicycles are also owned) is awkward and does not contribute meaningfully to the sentence. The plural nouns bicycles and automobiles suggest imprecisely that each person owns more than one of each.

253. Analysts blamed May's sluggish retail sales on unexciting merchandise as well as the weather, colder and wetter than was usual in some regions. which slowed sales of barbecue grills and lawn furniture.
(A) colder and wetter than was usual in some regions, which slowed
(B) which was colder and wetter than usual in some regions, slowing
(C) since it was colder and wetter than usually in some regions, which slowed
(D) being colder and wetter than usually in some regions, slowing
(E) having been colder and wetter than was usual in some regions and slowed

Answer to Question 253
Choice B is the best answer. It is concise and idiomatic, and which has a clear referent, the weather. In A, the insertion of was is unnecessary, and the referent of which is not clear because regions, not weather, is the nearest noun. In C, the adjective usual is needed in place of the adverb usually, and the referent of which is
unclear because regions, not weather, is the nearest noun. In D and E, the verb phrases (being colder ..., having been colder . ..) do not refer as clearly to the noun weather as the pronoun which does. Choice D needs the adjective usual in place of the adverb usually, while choice E fails to maintain parallelism in verb tense (having been... and slowed).

254. Balding is much more common among White males than males of other races.
(A) than
(B) than among
(C) than is so of
(D) compared to
(E) in comparison with

Answer to Question 254
B, the best choice, correctly uses the idiomatic construction more common among x than among y. In A, the comparison is not parallel and not clear; one illogical but available reading is that balding is more common among White males than are males of other races. To be clear, the sentence should read more common among White males than among .... In C, the phrase is so cannot refer to the process Balding, and more common among ... than is so lacks parallelism. In D and E, the phrases more common... compared to and more common ... in comparison with are redundant and unidiomatic. The correct form is more common
than.

255. The bank holds $3 billion in loans that are seriously delinquent or in such trouble that they do not expect payments when due.

(A) they do not expect payments when
(B) it does not expect payments when it is
(C) it does not expect payments to be made when they are
(D) payments are not to be expected to be paid when
(E) payments are not expected to be paid when they will be

Answer to Question 255
Choice C, the best answer, expresses its meaning clearly and directly, with subject-verb agreement throughout. Choice A is incorrect: although in some dialects of English a bank is treated as a plural entity, in this case The bank holds clearly establishes that bank is grammatically singular, and thus it cannot be referred to with the plural pronoun they. Furthermore, the structure of they do not expect payments when due makes the modification of due unclear. In B, it correctly refers to the singular bank, but payments when it is due introduces an agreement error between plural payments and singular it. In D and E, the use of the passive (payments are not... expected to be paid) does not contribute meaningfully to the sentence and thus is unwarranted, while payments... to be paid is redundant and unidiomatic. Also, are not to be in D and will be in E inappropriately shift action to the future.

Regards,

Parag.

[piscean84]

puys,

piscean84-SC1-21/8/8-pg121

256. 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.

257. The direction in which the Earth and the other solid planets --Mercury, Venus, and Mars -- spins were determined from collisions with giant celestial bodies in the early history of the Solar System.
(A) spins were determined from
(B) spins were determined because of
(C) spins was determined through
(D) spin was determined by
(E) spin was determined as a result of

258. The British sociologist and activist Barbara Wootton once noted as a humorous example of income maldistribution that the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo was earning annually exactly what she then earned as director of adult education for London.
(A) that the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo was earning
(B) that the elephant, giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo, had been earning
(C) that there was an elephant giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo, and it earned
(D) the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo and was earning

(E) the elephant giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo and that it earned

259. Five fledgling sea eagles left their nests in western Scotland this summer, bringing to 34 the number of wild birds successfully raised since transplants from Norway began in 1975.
(A) bringing
(B) and brings
(C) and it brings
(D) and it brought
(E) and brought

260. According to some economists, the July decrease in unemployment so that it was the lowest in two years suggests that the gradual improvement in the job market is continuing.
(A) so that it was the lowest in two years
(B) so that it was the lowest two-year rate
(C) to what would be the lowest in two years
(D) to a two-year low level
(E) to the lowest level in two years

[arbit_rageur]

[quote=piscean84;1207744]puys,

piscean84-SC1-21/8/8-pg121

256.E
257. D
258. A
259.D
260.E

[Fuzon]

piscean84-SC1-21/8/8-pg121

256 (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.
257 (D) spin was determined by
258 (A) that the elephant that gave rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo was earning
259 (A) bringing
260 (C) to what would be the lowest in two years

[hismajesty143]

Re: piscean84-SC1-21/8/8-pg121

My take on the questions:

256: E
257: D
258: A
259: A
260: D

[v-factor]

piscean84-SC1-21/8/8-pg121

My answers are:
E
D
B
A
E