GMAT Sentence Correction Discussions

yserious · October 3, 2009, 6:06pm

I second Nada Nada's answer here...

Don't get fooled by the plural "commuters". Many a times, the actual verb hinds behind the "of" and confuses many a people.

But, A majority is plural right..Jus like The majority is singular..
The number is singular,A number is plural

grtembey · October 3, 2009, 6:41pm

But, A majority is plural right..Jus like The majority is singular..
The number is singular,A number is plural

The rule for "number" does not carry over to "majority".

I quote the usage note from thefreedictionary.com here:

Usage Note: When majority refers to a particular number of votes, it takes a singular verb: Her majority was five votes. His majority has been growing by 5 percent every year. When it refers to a group of persons or things that are in the majority, it may take either a singular or plural verb, depending on whether the group is considered as a whole or as a set of people considered individually. So we say The majority elects (not elect) the candidate it wants (not they want), since the election is accomplished by the group as a whole; but The majority of the voters live (not lives) in the city, since living in the city is something that each voter does individually. Majority is often preceded by great (but not by greater) in expressing emphatically the sense of "most of": The great majority approved. The phrase greater majority is appropriate only when considering two majorities: He won by a greater majority in this election than in the last.

This makes me wrong...

vpitc · October 4, 2009, 8:31am

Even their most ardent champions concede that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is
necessary before solar cells can meet the goal of providing one percent of the nation's energy needs.
(A) that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(B) that nothing other than a technical or scientific breakthrough is needed
(C) that a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(D) the necessity for an occurrence of a technical or scientific breakthrough
(E) the necessity for a technical or scientific breakthrough occurring
friends,
I felt option a is right. But the OG10 key says Choices A and B needlessly lengthen the statement by expressing the idea through negation. The OA is c. can someone explain

tikna_atpug · October 4, 2009, 9:32am

hi...help me with the sentence given below:

A majority of railway commuters reads or listens to music while travelling

i have found this sentence in Manhattan's SC....

i think the sentence should b like this:
A majority or railway commuters read or listen to music while travelling

The rule for "number" does not carry over to "majority".

I quote the usage note from thefreedictionary.com here:

Usage Note: When majority refers to a particular number of votes, it takes a singular verb: Her majority was five votes. His majority has been growing by 5 percent every year. When it refers to a group of persons or things that are in the majority, it may take either a singular or plural verb, depending on whether the group is considered as a whole or as a set of people considered individually. So we say The majority elects (not elect) the candidate it wants (not they want), since the election is accomplished by the group as a whole; but The majority of the voters live (not lives) in the city, since living in the city is something that each voter does individually. Majority is often preceded by great (but not by greater) in expressing emphatically the sense of "most of": The great majority approved. The phrase greater majority is appropriate only when considering two majorities: He won by a greater majority in this election than in the last.

This makes me wrong...

@Gaurav: So with this explanation, does it mean that the correct statement should be:
A majority of railway commuters read or listen to music while travelling.
Please share your thoughts.

@xpect@ton: Could you please point out the page number or some reference where this sentence is mentioned in Manhattan SC (I tried, but could not find. Though I dint try too hard

) Thanks.

Cheers.
Ankit.

yserious · October 4, 2009, 8:17pm

Even their most ardent champions concede that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is

necessary before solar cells can meet the goal of providing one percent of the nation's energy needs.
(A) that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(B) that nothing other than a technical or scientific breakthrough is needed
(C) that a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(D) the necessity for an occurrence of a technical or scientific breakthrough
(E) the necessity for a technical or scientific breakthrough occurring
friends,
I felt option a is right. But the OG10 key says Choices A and B needlessly lengthen the statement by expressing the idea through negation. The OA is c. can someone explain

hey!!

i'm not so sure about this..the possible explanation why GMAT is looking for brevity here may be coz this is a active sentence with a bit of technical/scientific content..this might be the possible reason for being concise

g_s_dhanoa007 · October 6, 2009, 5:28am

i am also facing the same problem

guy_with_guts · October 7, 2009, 5:20am

Even their most ardent champions concede that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is

necessary before solar cells can meet the goal of providing one percent of the nation's energy needs.
(A) that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(B) that nothing other than a technical or scientific breakthrough is needed
(C) that a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(D) the necessity for an occurrence of a technical or scientific breakthrough
(E) the necessity for a technical or scientific breakthrough occurring
friends,
I felt option a is right. But the OG10 key says Choices A and B needlessly lengthen the statement by expressing the idea through negation. The OA is c. can someone explain

The question is a clear cut case of redundancy and nothing else.why do you think option a conveys the menaing which option c does not?

mvikred · October 8, 2009, 1:21pm

Please give your answers with explanations. Thank you.

The Coast guard is conducting tests to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find survivors of wrecks at sea.
(A) to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find
(B) to see whether pigeons can be trained as help to find
(C) to see if pigeons can be trained for helping to find
(D) that see if pigeons are able to be trained in helping to find.
(E) that see whether pigeons are able to be trained for help in finding

mvikred · October 8, 2009, 1:30pm

Even their most ardent champions concede that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is
necessary before solar cells can meet the goal of providing one percent of the nation's energy needs.
(A) that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(B) that nothing other than a technical or scientific breakthrough is needed
(C) that a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(D) the necessity for an occurrence of a technical or scientific breakthrough

(E) the necessity for a technical or scientific breakthrough occurring
friends,
I felt option a is right. But the OG10 key says Choices A and B needlessly lengthen the statement by expressing the idea through negation. The OA is c. can someone explain

As I see it, brevity is the only reason one would choose C. The meaning is the same. It is said, in GMAT , one should always choose the shorter option if one faces 2 options which are grammatically right.

I am giving GMAT in another week and I am sure I would've picked option A in an exam setting(only because it is a commonly used structure in papers and magazines )

Sometimes it does piss me off cuz GMAT has it's own set of rules and unless and until you invest some time learning them you may not get the answers right.

lakshya_iim_ahd · October 8, 2009, 3:37pm

Even their most ardent champions concede that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary before solar cells can meet the goal of providing one percent of the nation's energy needs.
(A) that no less than a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(B) that nothing other than a technical or scientific breakthrough is needed
(C) that a technical or scientific breakthrough is necessary
(D) the necessity for an occurrence of a technical or scientific breakthrough
(E) the necessity for a technical or scientific breakthrough occurring

Let me rip this apart for you:

Looking formost at the options, one can straightaway do away with options (D) and (E) because "the" is incorrect usage here. So we are left with 3 options.
(A)- "No less than" can be done away with because even if we remove these words, the sentence would still make sense.
(B) - "other" is incorrectly used. The sentence becomes wordy when you say "nothing other than". Why to use these words unnecessarily when you can directly say that "a ..... breakthrough is necessary". Also, the usage of word "needed" changes the meaning because it is not the same as "necessary"
(C) - clearly removes the unnecessary usage of words, is concise and does not change the meaning of the sentence.

Cheers..

lakshya_iim_ahd · October 8, 2009, 3:42pm

Please give your answers with explanations. Thank you.
Please give your answers with explanations. Thank you.

The Coast guard is conducting tests to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find survivors of wrecks at sea.
(A) to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find
(B) to see whether pigeons can be trained as help to find
(C) to see if pigeons can be trained for helping to find
(D) that see if pigeons are able to be trained in helping to find.
(E) that see whether pigeons are able to be trained for help in finding

This question is taken from the OG. So I believe you would have gone through the explanations (which unfotunately would have confused you

)

here's my two cents:
Options (D) and (E) can be straightaway removed when you see the words "that see". This is oncorrect usage and hence rejected. Now remain 3 options:
(A) - Usage of "whether" is incorrect and is hence rejected
(B) - Rejected because of the usage of the word "as". The correct idiom is "to help". it is also more wordy
(C) - Correctly uses "if"

For those having a confusion you can go through Manhattan SC and read up on the section titles "If" Vs "Whether"

Cheers..

mvikred · October 8, 2009, 3:50pm

This question is taken from the OG. So I believe you would have gone through the explanations (which unfotunately would have confused you)

here's my two cents:
Options (D) and (E) can be straightaway removed when you see the words "that see". This is oncorrect usage and hence rejected. Now remain 3 options:
(A) - Usage of "whether" is incorrect and is hence rejected
(B) - Rejected because of the usage of the word "as". The correct idiom is "to help". it is also more wordy
(C) - Correctly uses "if"

For those having a confusion you can go through Manhattan SC and read up on the section titles "If" Vs "Whether"

Cheers..

According to the Manhattan SC, I think "if" is used when you have a condition or in the form of "if ... then "

whether is used to in the form whether X Y

Correct me if i am wrong

also , your reason for eliminating option B is not very convincing, please look at the option once again considering "help" as a noun.

Also option C has the phrase "trained for helping to find" which just doesnot sound right.

My doubt was between A & B . I would choose option A because in option B, it appears that "help" is finding the survivors and not the pigeons.

deepakraam · October 8, 2009, 3:56pm

mvikred Says
Please give your answers with explanations. Thank you.

The Coast guard is conducting tests to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find survivors of wrecks at sea.
(A) to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find
(B) to see whether pigeons can be trained as help to find
(C) to see if pigeons can be trained for helping to find
(D) that see if pigeons are able to be trained in helping to find.
(E) that see whether pigeons are able to be trained for help in finding

I will go with option C for the above SC

mvikred · October 8, 2009, 5:09pm

The Coast guard is conducting tests to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find survivors of wrecks at sea.
(A) to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find
(B) to see whether pigeons can be trained as help to find
(C) to see if pigeons can be trained for helping to find
(D) that see if pigeons are able to be trained in helping to find.
(E) that see whether pigeons are able to be trained for help in finding

I will go with option C for the above SC

I'd really appreciate if you could post your explanation !!

grtembey · October 8, 2009, 5:21pm

Please give your answers with explanations. Thank you.

The Coast guard is conducting tests to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find survivors of wrecks at sea.
(A) to see whether pigeons can be trained to help find
(B) to see whether pigeons can be trained as help to find
(C) to see if pigeons can be trained for helping to find
(D) that see if pigeons are able to be trained in helping to find.
(E) that see whether pigeons are able to be trained for help in finding

IMO: A

A. Clear, concise, and correct usage of whether against if. We can also eliminate "C" and "D" for using "if". According the Manhattan SC, if is used for "if... then" constructions and whether is used for expressing a hypothetical situation.
B. Wordy. "trained as help to find" unnecessarily lengthens the concise "traine to help find" in "A"
E. Wordy, awkward. Hardly needs explanation.

athoyakat · October 9, 2009, 1:19pm

hello all,

came across the below rules for SC in Sahil notes.
However I am not too clear on these.Can you help by giving some explanations or egs?

1.Do NOT use 'preposition + noun + participle'.
e.g given is with child care facilities included.However I thought that phrase is incorrect more bcoz of redundancy than above rule

2.Do not use infinitives , instead use gerunds
e.g use Overcoming the GMAT is a great acheivement (rather than)
To overcome the GMAT is a great acheivement.
I thought sentect 2 is preferred to the -ing form in Sentence 1.

Pls clarify

ikruz · October 10, 2009, 5:47am

hello all,

came across the below rules for SC in Sahil notes.
However I am not too clear on these.Can you help by giving some explanations or egs?

1.Do NOT use 'preposition + noun + participle'.
e.g given is with child care facilities included.However I thought that phrase is incorrect more bcoz of redundancy than above rule

2.Do not use infinitives , instead use gerunds
e.g use Overcoming the GMAT is a great acheivement (rather than)
To overcome the GMAT is a great acheivement.
I thought sentect 2 is preferred to the -ing form in Sentence 1.

Pls clarify

Hi,
good questions again.
I shall try to answer your 2nd question first.
The infinitives can be used as nouns, but when they are used as subjects of verbs, you should postpoine the infinitive subjective using the placeholder 'it'.

For Eg: To err is human ---> awkward.
It is human to err. ---> right.

Going by the same rule "To overcome the GMAT is a great achievement' looks little awkward. Overcoming is better.

For your first question, i concur with your view that it is more because "with child-care facilities included" is wordy.. a better way will be to use "including child-care facilities.."

ikruz · October 10, 2009, 6:03am

My Doubts:
1.How did you conclude 'spawned' is participle.Isnt it past tense of action verb spawn?
as in sentence : A+B spawned from C.
2.Is there any rule for parallesism b/w participles i.e past participle + present participle make a parallel sentence?

1)Because spawned modifies the tentacles.(acting as an adjective) A verb cannot modify a noun.
2) yes,parallelism possible b/w 2 participles. not b/w a verb and a participle.

nishantpdce · October 10, 2009, 10:41am

With adjustments for inflation, the relative costs of welfare benefits has been dropping since 1973, resulting in the welfare progam now costing about 3 billion less to implement than in 1973.

choose:
(1) and as a result the welfare program now costs about 3 billion less to implement than it did
OR
(2) resulting in the welfare program now costing about 3 billion less to implement than it did
This is an age old question . many of you might have come across. But i still have a confusion here because sometimes i do it correctly and sometimes incorrectly.
Right Answer - (1) As the solution says - because resulting does not has a proper subject.
Can anyone comment please.

mvikred · October 10, 2009, 12:02pm

So poorly educated and trained are many young recruits to the United States work force that many business executives fear this country will lose its economic preeminence.

(A) So poorly educated and trained are many young recruits to the United States work force that
(B) As poorly educated and trained as many young recruits to the United States work force are
(C) Because of many young recruits to the * United States work force who are so poorly educated and trained.
(D) That many young recruits to the United *States work force are so poorly educated *and trained is why
(E) Many young recruits to the United States *work force who are so poorly educated and trained explains why

Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by
rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.

(A) to survive
(B) of firms to survive
(C) for surviving
(D) for survival
(E) for firms' survival

Can you folks help me with these 2 questions ?

Also , I have to mention that I do not have the OA for the first one :shocked:, but I do have the OA for the second SC .. I need an explanation which justifies the OA.

Source : 1000 SC

Thanks !!