Superb explanation ..thanks a lot guys:
Help on this please. My options of A,C,C,E are wrong for all these 4 questions.
1. Although some officials noted that using machines for farming in China costs more than traditional hand cultivation, the
mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while the previous years costs were cut in half.
(A) mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while the previous years costs were cut in half -
Incorrect - This changes the intended meaning and means that two events(mechanization & cost cuts) happened simultaneously, which is not what the author is trying to say.
(B) mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while cutting costs to half those of the previous year -
Correct -expresses the meaning in a clear and concise manner. Read like this : "Mechanization doubled A while cutting B to half". This clearly shows that Mechanization was responsible for Both(Increase in the yield and cost cuts). (C) mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield as cost were cut to half of the previous years
- Incorrect - This changes the intended meaning. This means that the costs cut contributed to the increase in corn, whereas the author intends to say that the costs reduced as a result. (D) farming mechanization in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield as it cut in half the previous years costs
Incorrect - Awkward construction.changing mechanization of farming to farming mechanization is not needed. "IT" is ambiguous and does not have a clear antecedent. "it" could refer back to farming mechanization, village of Long Bow, or the corn yield. (E) farming mechanization in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while costs were cut to half that of the previous year
Incorrect - Awkward construction.changing mechanization of farming to farming mechanization is not needed. "while costs were cut to half"
that something else was responsible for the cost cuts when indeed it was the mechanization. _________________________________________________________
2. Among the cossacks, vegetable farming was once
so despised that it was forbidden on pain of death.
(A) so despised that it was
- Correct-
This is idiomatic. Correctly expresses the meaning. "it" has a clear antecedent "vegetable farming" and is needed to express the meaning. (B) so despised to be
- Unidiomatic (C) so despised it had been
- Unidiomatic.
(D) despised enough that it was
- Unidiomatic. (E) despised enough as to be
- Unidiomatic._________________________________________________________
3. Among the emotions on display in the negotiating room
were anger for repeatedly raising the issue over and over again and preventing the raw wounds from earlier battles from ever beginning to heal.
(A)
were anger for repeatedly raising the issue over and over again and preventing the raw wounds from earlier battles from ever beginning to heal -
Were is incorrect. The "were" refers to the anger not "emotions". Should be was.(B) was anger for repeatedly raising the issue and preventing the raw wounds from earlier battles from ever beginning to heal - CORRECT- Sentence is clear and concise and expresses the meaning clearly. (C)
were anger over repeatedly raising the issue and preventing the raw wounds from earlier battles to begin healing -
Were is incorrect. The "were" refers to the anger not "emotions". Should be was. (D) was anger about the issue, which was raised over and over, and preventing the wounds from earlier battles, still raw, to begin healing
- Incorrect. Too many modifiers. Awkward construction. (E)
were anger about the issue, which was raised repeatedly, and preventing the raw wounds from earlier battles to begin to heal
- Were is incorrect. The "were" refers to the anger not "emotions". Should be was. _________________________________________________________
4. An array of tax incentives has led to a boom in the construction of new office buildings;
so abundant has capital been for commercial real estate that investors regularly scour the country for areas in which to build.
(A) so abundant has capital been for commercial real estate that -
Correct. Uses the verb form which is stronger and clearer in meaning. (B) capital has been so abundant for commercial real estate, so that
- Incorrect. "So abundant...., so that"- Unidiomatic. (C) the abundance of capital for commercial real estate has been such, -
- Incorrect. "the abundance....has been such"- Ungrammatical, awkward construction. (D) such has the abundance of capital been for commercial real estate that
- Incorrect - "such has the abundance of capital been" Is wordy. Chose verb form over Noun. A is better. (E) such has been an abundance of capital for commercial real estate, -
Incorrect - "such has been an abundance of capital" not grammatical construction.