GMAT Sentence Correction Discussions

MBA
6812
Q) When he phones her, she tells him to stop calling, but he acted as if he had not understood her.

  1. she tells him to stop calling, but he acted as if he had not understood her.


    • she told him to stop calling, but he acted as if he had not understood her.


    • she tells him to stop calling, but he acts as if he did not understood her.


    • she tells him to stop calling, but he acts as if he has not understood her.


    • she tells him to stop calling, but he acted as if he does not understood her.


IMO answer is 4. Shows the perfect subject verb agreement.
6813
1. If anyone at InterCom Financial Advisers would have anticipated, or even suspected, the impending sale of the Koniko kelp processing plant, they would have advised owners of Koniko stock to unload all shares immediately.
(A) If anyone at InterCom Financial Advisers would have anticipated (wrong tense for "if...then.." construction)
(B) Had anyone at InterCom Financial Advisers anticipated ( best answer)
(C) If any people at InterCom Financial Advisers would have anticipated ( anyone is better than any people and also same error as A)
(D) If any people at InterCom Financial Advisers had anticipated ( anyone is better than any people, otherwise this choice is second best )
(E) If anybody at InterCom Financial Advisers anticipated (wrong use of past tense)


my answer is in blue.
6814
1. In 1922, when Truman was almost forty years old, he was living in his mother-in-laws house, watching the haberdashery store he opened three years earlier go bankrupt, and he faced a future with no visible prospects.
(A) opened three years earlier go bankrupt, and he faced
(B) opened three years earlier go bankrupt and faced
(C) had opened three years earlier go bankrupt, and he was facing
(D) had opened three years earlier go bankrupt, and facing
(E) was opening three years earlier going bankrupt, and facing


Answer should be C. "had opened.." perfectly mentions the event of opening the store is already finished in past. "and he was facing..." finishes the perfect parallelism with "he was living...." clause.

please post OA for both.
6815
MissionPGPX Says
IMO answer is 4. Shows the perfect subject verb agreement.

My answer: D

"had" - past perfect tense. Should be used for events which have occured in past when we are discussing about something in past. This rules out A, B

The activity is still on-going, hence needs to use present perfect tense which only D provides.

What is the OA?
6816
1. If anyone at InterCom Financial Advisers would have anticipated, or even suspected, the impending sale of the Koniko kelp processing plant, they would have advised owners of Koniko stock to unload all shares immediately.
(A) If anyone at InterCom Financial Advisers would have anticipated
(B) Had anyone at InterCom Financial Advisers anticipated
(C) If any people at InterCom Financial Advisers would have anticipated
(D) If any people at InterCom Financial Advisers had anticipated
(E) If anybody at InterCom Financial Advisers anticipated


OA is D...
6817
1. In 1922, when Truman was almost forty years old, he was living in his mother-in-laws house, watching the haberdashery store he opened three years earlier go bankrupt, and he faced a future with no visible prospects.
(A) opened three years earlier go bankrupt, and he faced
(B) opened three years earlier go bankrupt and faced
(C) had opened three years earlier go bankrupt, and he was facing
(D) had opened three years earlier go bankrupt, and facing
(E) was opening three years earlier going bankrupt, and facing


OA is D again...
6818
Answer should be C. "had opened.." perfectly mentions the event of opening the store is already finished in past. "and he was facing..." finishes the perfect parallelism with "he was living...." clause.

please post OA for both.


Even i had marked the same answers, however OA is D for both... can someone please highlight where I went wrong!!
6819
kapur.arnav Says
OA is D again...


Oops... "he was..." made the redundancy in the sentence. "he was living.... and facing..." sounds better than "he was living... and he was facing..."...damn, i should have spotted this... :banghead:
6820

Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers,
significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of
more than $100 billion a year.
128
(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business
of
(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business
(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of
(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business
(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business

OA: B

6821
Quote:
Originally Posted by kapur.arnav View Post
1. If anyone at InterCom Financial Advisers would have anticipated, or even suspected, the impending sale of the Koniko kelp processing plant, they would have advised owners of Koniko stock to unload all shares immediately.
(A) If anyone at InterCom Financial Advisers would have anticipated
(B) Had anyone at InterCom Financial Advisers anticipated
(C) If any people at InterCom Financial Advisers would have anticipated
(D) If any people at InterCom Financial Advisers had anticipated
(E) If anybody at InterCom Financial Advisers anticipated

OA is D...


Shouldn't it be B? There are two issues with D. First of all, isn't "any people" grammatically wrong? Doesn't any go with only one and body? Secondly, if I believe is used in the sense that "if A happens then B will happen", i.e. an event in the future. Isn't "had A happened then B would have happened" more appropriate for an event of the past? Please correct me if I am wrong.
6822
avi.ninja Says
Shouldn't it be B? There are two issues with D. First of all, isn't "any people" grammatically wrong? Doesn't any go with only one and body? Secondly, if I believe is used in the sense that "if A happens then B will happen", i.e. an event in the future. Isn't "had A happened then B would have happened" more appropriate for an event of the past? Please correct me if I am wrong.


well, educationaisle has already replied... i would just say read ur status: thats the answer..."The greatest enemy would hide in the last place you would ever look- Julius Ceaser"... the last place here is the non-underlined part "they"... i too missed it...
6823
Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers,
significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of
more than $100 billion a year.
128
(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business
of
(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business
(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of
(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business
(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business

D and E are incorrect since "the effects of drug and alcohol abuse" cost business, and not just "the use of crack and cocaine" which cost business. C is wrong because "business costs" means "costs of doing business". A is wrong because things don't "cost to someone/something", rather they "cost someone/something". For example, "the pencil cost him Rs.10" and not "the pencil cost to him Rs.10".
6824
It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led to the discovery of Neptune.
(a) same as the underlined
(b) It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that
(c) They were anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
(d) The orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what
(e) The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what

Please post the answer along with the reasoning.
Source of this question is Kaplan 800.
6825
It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led to the discovery of Neptune.
(a) same as the underlined
(b) It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that
(c) They were anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
(d) The orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what
(e) The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what

Please post the answer along with the reasoning.
Source of this question is Kaplan 800.


is it A...
6826
kapur.arnav Says
is it A...


Please post the reasoning. I will post the answer after some time so that other people can also try.
6827
Magic_Awaits Says
Please post the reasoning. I will post the answer after some time so that other people can also try.

It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led to the discovery of Neptune.
(a) same as the underlined - correct usage as the subject is anomalies in the orbit and that clearly refers to it... additionally since the subject is a phrase... hence was is correct
(b) It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that - orbit of Uranus is not the subject of the sentence rather the subject is anomalies in the orbit of Uranus ... altered intent
(c) They were anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that - they were.. incorrect pronoun usage... got me thinking if there were was used... but anyways the subject of the sentence is a phrase, hence singular, thus so was is the better option
(d) The orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what - passive
(e) The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what - i don't like the usage of what... i like that as it clearly refers to subject in the sentence

i have tried to articulate my reasons for going with option A in blue...
6828
It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led to the discovery of Neptune.
(a) It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that---if we read the sentence by considering subject "anomalies in the orbit of Uranus" as a whole then we interpret the correct meaning

(b) It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that ---subject is anomalies in the orbit of Uranus

(c) They were anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that--here which would be more appropriate than usage of that

(d) The orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what --absurd

(e) The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what --- incorrect subject verb agreement

Please post the answer along with the reasoning.
Source of this question is Kaplan 800.


my take is A...
6829
1. In good years, the patchwork of green fields that surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them in the area just for the season.
(A) surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them
(B) surrounds the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of whom are
(C) surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of who are
(D) surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustle with farm workers, many of which
(E) surrounds the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many are

2. In astronomy the term red shift denotes the extent to which light from a distant galaxy has been shifted toward the red, or long-wave, end of the light spectrum by the rapid motion of the galaxy away from the Earth.
(A) to which light from a distant galaxy has been shifted
(B) to which light from a distant galaxy has shifted
(C) that light from a distant galaxy has been shifted
(D) of light from a distant galaxy shifting
(E) of the shift of light from a distant galaxy
6830

For 1. the answer is (B) and for 2. it is (A). Please post OA.

6831

for 2 , it should be B or E.