GMAT Sentence Correction Discussions

MBA
8987
dibyapal Says
The option E calls for a That after think and again use of nuclear power stations creates redundancy.In option D they refers to the power stations and not to the international journalists as the word Majority is singular.



Dibya...that's a good one....I was really pondering how to reconcile the pronoun reference issue here.

Can you also explain as to how 'will or could' comes together using the same time reference? Why not would or could?? Infact will or could sounds bad to the ear also.
8988
eastcoastrocks Says
Thanks Payal. I can understand why C is incorrect. But how can E be correct with a comma before but when there is no independent clause after it. Is that not incorrect?


Pasting the question again for reference:
After several years of rapid growth, the health care company became one of the largest health care providers in the metropolitan area, while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in its payment to doctors and hospitals.
A. while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in its payment to
B. while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business and fell months behind in its payment to
C. but then it proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in its paying
D. but then proving unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in paying
E. but then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in paying

You are correct in saying that in Choice E, what follows "but" is not an independent clause. But still comma + but construction is used in correct choice.

Well, for this I can only say that this is GMATPrep question so we cannot challenge the official answer. We can however learn something from this: Use punctuation errors when it comes to connecting clauses as the last resort to eliminate the choices. Do not use it prior to eliminations based on more obvious errors. In choice C for example, there is more obvious error in terms of "in its paying".

I know it can be perplexing at times. What rules to remember, what rules to use for eliminations. As it pertains to such punctuation errors, I would suggest that do not be a stickler to eliminate choices based on them when there are other choices that have more glaring errors. Remember, we have to select the BEST among the available choices. :)

Payal
8989
1. A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.
(A) believed to be
(B) and that is believed to be
(C) and it is believed to have been
(D) which was, it is believed,
(E) which is believed to be

2. A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were published, reveals that Twain provided financial assistance to one of the first Black students at Yale Law School.
(A) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were published,
(B) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year of publication as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
(C) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published,
(D) Mark Twain wrote a letter in the same year as he published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that
(E) Mark Twain wrote a letter in the same year of publication as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that

3. A majority of the international journalists surveyed view nuclear power stations as unsafe at present but that they will, or could, be made sufficiently safe in the future.
(A) that they will, or could,
(B) that they would, or could,
(C) they will be or could
(D) think that they will be or could
(E) think the power stations would or could

Please provide explanations for the above questions...


Regards,
Sabby
8990
eastcoastrocks Says
Thanks Payal. One more question. Is "with the intention to turn" incorrect?

Pasting the question for reference:

Asset allocators create portfolios, often in the form of of mutual funds, with the intention to turn in good results in both bull and bear markets.
(A) with the intention
(B) the intention of which is
(C) intended
(D) and intending
(E) so intended as

Well, I would say that its not incorrect. Although I would prefer using "with the intention of turning". This boils down to idiomatic usage. I have seen both expressions being used in business English, but I must admit that the latter is used more often. If you do google for the expression "with the intention" and search it in wsj.com or newsweek.com, you will find way more hits for "with the intention of verb-ing" than for "with the intention to verb". So its more a matter of preffered usage than incorrect usage.

Payal
8991
Why is E not an answer to this one? Can some one please explain??

is it that its just to wordy quoting "the powerstation" unnecessarily?

should it be "would be or could"....to make E a right answer?


---

E could have been the correct answer if the option had "That" in it.

OA is D.
8992
This question has been posted before but I cudnt find a proper explanation for the answer.
Rivaling the pyramids of Egypt or even the ancient cities of the Maya as an achievement, the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, Chinas first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete.

A: the army of terra-cotta warriors created to protect Qin Shi Huang, Chinas first emperor, in his afterlife is more than 2,000 years old and took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to complete

B: Qin Shi Huang, Chinas first emperor, was protected in his afterlife by an army of terra-cotta warriors that was created more than 2,000 years ago by 700,000 artisans who took more than 36 years to complete it

C: it took 700,000 artisans more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors more than 2,000 years ago that would protect Qin Shi Huang, Chinas first emperor, in his afterlife

D: more than 2,000 years ago, 700,000 artisans worked more than 36 years to create an army of terra-cotta warriors to protect Qin Shi Huang, Chinas first emperor, in his afterlife

E: more than 36 years were needed to complete the army of terra-cotta warriors that 700,000 artisans created 2,000 years ago to protect Qin Shi Huang, Chinas first emperor, in his afterlife

The answer is A and the explanation for that is 'The opening phrase correctly
modifi es the subject, the army of terra-cotta warriors; the placement of modifi ers and predicates in the main clause makes the meaning of the sentence clear.'

My point is how can an army of terracotta warriors rival the pyramids of Egypt or whatever. The king could have rivaled it in his lifetime and hence the act of using terracotta warriors. Please can someone explain me where I am going wrong in my understanding. My take is B.


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Option B incorrectly says that " army of terra-cotta warriors was created by the artisans"

Option A is clear and correctly points that "pyramids of Egypt or the ancient cities of the Maya " were created by 70K artisans.
8993
Dibya...that's a good one....I was really pondering how to reconcile the pronoun reference issue here.

Can you also explain as to how 'will or could' comes together using the same time reference? Why not would or could?? Infact will or could sounds bad to the ear also.

Its quite fair to use both would and could. Would reveals certainity of any action in the future whereas could onlydescribes the possibility.
There is a certain degree of confusion regarding this question, however D seems to be the better option when compared to E.
8994
IMO A is the correct answer.

What is the OA?

The easiest split would be to remove the ones that do not have parallel verbs. ie elucidates, explains, and discusses or elucidating, explaining, and discussing.

So (B) and (E) can be crossed off the list.

(C) is out because the sentence has changed from Pollan elucidating/explaining/discussing to being structured in a way that the book is elucidating/explaining/discussing

Between (A) and (D), I would have to go with (A) because it has a logical flow and seems that the modifier is placed perfectly..
8995
Can you cite an official GMAT question that corroborates this. "would" is primarily used as past tense of "will" and for depicting hypothetical situations.

-------------------------------------------
Thanks,
Ashish
GMAT Faculty @ EducationAisle
GMAT - 99th Percentile, MBA - ISB

Yes Ashish, i would like to rectify myself: Would is used to express the idea of "future in the past" - to talk about a past action which had not yet happened at the time we are talking about .
8996
dibyapal Says
Yes Ashish, i would like to rectify myself: Would is used to express the idea of "future in the past" - to talk about a past action which had not yet happened at the time we are talking about .

That's a good explanation... we don't realize when we speak but it's important to speak correctly because only then we can write correctly!!!
8997
In his best-selling book The Omnivore's Dilemma, which social critics see as yet another piece of evidence to support their thesis of a burgeoning interest in natural food among Americans, Michael Pollan elucidates industrial farming, explains organic farming, and discusses hunting and gathering food for oneself.

A) In his best-selling book The Omnivore's Dilemma, which social critics see as yet another piece of evidence to support their thesis of a burgeoning interest in natural food among Americans, Michael Pollan elucidates industrial farming, explains organic farming, and discusses hunting and gathering food for oneself.
B) Michael Pollan, in his best-selling book The Omnivores Dilemma, which social critics see as yet another piece of evidence to support their thesis of a burgeoning interest in natural foods among Americans, elucidates industrial farming, explaining organic farming and discussing hunting and gathering food for oneself.
C) In his best-selling book The Omnivores Dilemma, elucidating industrial farming, explaining organic farming, and discussing hunting and gathering food for oneself, Michael Pollan gives social critics yet another piece of evidence to support their thesis of a burgeoning interest in natural food among Americans.
D) Michael Pollan, in his best-selling book The Omnivores Dilemma, serving as yet another piece of evidence to support the thesis of a burgeoning interest in natural food among Americans, elucidates industrial farming, explains organic farming, and discusses hunting and gathering food for oneself.
E) In his best-selling book The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is seen by social critics as yet another piece of evidence to support their thesis of a burgeoning interest in natural food among Americans, Michael Pollan elucidates industrial farming, explaining organic farming and discussing hunting and gathering food for oneself.



B : Elucidates, explaining and discussing not parallel
C: Awkward usage.
D:Misplaced modifier, I guess. If you omit "in his best-selling book The Omnivores Dilemma" it appear like Michael himself is serving as...
E: again elucidates, explaining and discussing are not parallel

A is the correct answer
8998
1. A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.
(A) believed to be
(B) and that is believed to be
(C) and it is believed to have been
(D) which was, it is believed,
(E) which is believed to be

2. A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were published, reveals that Twain provided financial assistance to one of the first Black students at Yale Law School.
(A) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were published,
(B) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year of publication as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
(C) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published,
(D) Mark Twain wrote a letter in the same year as he published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that
(E) Mark Twain wrote a letter in the same year of publication as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that

3. A majority of the international journalists surveyed view nuclear power stations as unsafe at present but that they will, or could, be made sufficiently safe in the future.
(A) that they will, or could,
(B) that they would, or could,
(C) they will be or could
(D) think that they will be or could
(E) think the power stations would or could

Please provide explanations for the above questions...


Regards,
Sabby

1.A
Which in D and E incorrectly refers to wingspan so wrong, and I think and in B and C is incorrect as believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen is nonessential modifier cause sentence completely makes sense anyway

2.C
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn demands singular verb was, so A wrong, D changes the original meaning unnecessarily, B awkward, written in the were published is a modifier, a letter being the subject of revels. In D and E that reveals that creates awkward construction

3.E
Clearly a verb should be followed by but to make it parallel to view. So A,B and C wrong. In D, they can theoretically refer to both journalists and power stations, E remove this ambiguity by repeating the noun power stations

Pl provide the OAs, so that these questions could be discussed further

regards
Dipak
8999
1.A
Which in D and E incorrectly refers to wingspan so wrong, and I think and in B and C is incorrect as believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen is nonessential modifier cause sentence completely makes sense anyway

2.C
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn demands singular verb was, so A wrong, D changes the original meaning unnecessarily, B awkward, written in the were published is a modifier, a letter being the subject of revels. In D and E that reveals that creates awkward construction

3.E
Clearly a verb should be followed by but to make it parallel to view. So A,B and C wrong. In D, they can theoretically refer to both journalists and power stations, E remove this ambiguity by repeating the noun power stations

Pl provide the OAs, so that these questions could be discussed further

regards
Dipak

ANS 1- C.

A) ... had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature - incorrectly suggesting that wingspan of 36feet was the largest flying creature.

D & E) Similar reasoning as for (A)

B) ... had a wingspan of 36 feet, and that is believed to be the largest flying creature - 'that' incorrectly used instead of 'it' while talking about Quetzalcoatlus.


ANS2- C
ANS3- D this has been discussed earlier.
9000
1. A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.
(A) believed to be
(B) and that is believed to be
(C) and it is believed to have been
(D) which was, it is believed,
(E) which is believed to be



I would choose B as the correct answer though not pretty sure , here is the explanations that I used to come to the answer
A) It could have been correct if there was a 'IS' in the beginning.
B)
C) "to have been" is wordy
D) Though I am not sure, I guess which incorrectly refers to "wingspan of 36 feet" and not Quetzalcoatlus.
E) same as D




2.A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were published, reveals that Twain provided financial assistance to one of the first Black students at Yale Law School.
(A) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were published,
(B) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year of publication as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
(C) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published,
(D) Mark Twain wrote a letter in the same year as he published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that
(E) Mark Twain wrote a letter in the same year of publication as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that

A) wrong usage of as. Also were is not parallel with the The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
B) same year of publication as ...is awkward
C) Correct , in the same year that...
D) mark twain....reveals ( The meaning is changed by stating that its Mark twain and not the letter which reveals the fact)
E) Same as D


3. A majority of the international journalists surveyed view nuclear power stations as unsafe at present but that they will, or could, be made sufficiently safe in the future.
(A) that they will, or could,
(B) that they would, or could,
(C) they will be or could
(D) think that they will be or could
(E) think the power stations would or could


Would is used when we convey something from past in future.Here we have nothing explained in past, so we can ignore the options B and E

A and C need a 'think' in the beginning to make it look logical and meaningful

D ) Though will be or could does not sound good to the ear , but it right provides the meaning to the statement by saying that either they will be made safe or the possibility that they could be made safe in future. Hence D is the right answer
9001

For ANS1: i would still go with C.

The present infinitive (to go, to run, to see, etc.) expresses contemporaneous action (an action happening at the same time as another action).

The present perfect infinitive (to have gone, to have run, to have seen) expresses past action.

In this SC, the Quetzalcoatlus was the largest flying creature 65 million years ago. So the present perfect infinitive is needed, as in C:

...it is believed (in the present) to have been (in the past) the largest flying creature...

Eliminate A, B and E.

Also IT directly refers to the subject but there is ambiguity over what THAT is referring to in this clause.

9002
Puys tried this-
His studies of ice-polished rocks in his Alpine homeland, far outside the range of present-day glaciers, led Louis Agassiz in 1837 to propose the concept of an age in which great ice sheets had existed in now currently temperate areas.
(A) in which great ice sheets had existed in now currently temperate areas
(B) in which great ice sheets existed in what are now temperate areas
(C) when great ice sheets existed where there were areas now temperate
(D) when great ice sheets had existed in current temperate areas

(E) when great ice sheets existed in areas now that are temperate

A very old post but has not been explained properly and I have a problem here. As per the explanation in OG the tense should be existed and not 'had existed'. Why should we not be using past perfect here since the act of existing took place much before 1837 when Agassiz was led to propose?
9003
arijitprepares Says
A very old post but has not been explained properly and I have a problem here. As per the explanation in OG the tense should be existed and not 'had existed'. Why should we not be using past perfect here since the act of existing took place much before 1837 when Agassiz was led to propose?


'had existed'-incorrect verb tense.
I believe that here the sentence uses the past perfect tense, which is used when two events occur at different time periods and we need to show the order of the events. In the original sentence only one event takes place.It should be clear that the led is different from the verb existed.
Hence use only simple tense.
ANS:B

I hope i am right.
9004
arijitprepares Says
A very old post but has not been explained properly and I have a problem here. As per the explanation in OG the tense should be existed and not 'had existed'. Why should we not be using past perfect here since the act of existing took place much before 1837 when Agassiz was led to propose?



You ask a very good question @arijitprepares

His studies of ice-polished rocks in his Alpine homeland, far outside the range of present-day glaciers, led Louis Agassiz in 1837 to propose the concept of an age in which great ice sheets had existed in what are now temperate areas.

Lets take a look at what the sentence states:
Some studies of Louis Agazziz (LA) led him to propose the concept of a certain age.
In this age, great ice sheets existed in areas that are now temperate.

Notice how the action of "led" is not related to the action of "existed". These two are independent actions. And that is why use of past perfect tense is incorrect. Remember, you can use past perfect tense only for RELATED events in the PAST.

In this sentence, there is a set of related events. But one takes place in present and the other in past:
1: ice sheets existed in areas
2: areas that are now temperate

Lets take a similar sentence:

My geography teacher taught us yesterday that Mt. Vesuvius had erupted within the last hundred years.

In this sentence, "had erupted" is incorrect because the events - taught and "erupted" have not bearing on one another. These two are independent events that happened at different points in time in the past.

So always keep this thing in mind. Use PAST PERFECT tense only for 2 events in the PAST that are related to each other...

Lets take another sentence:
Their studies of the fossil remains led the geologists to believe that prosauropods had become extinct by the time ankylosauria gained prominence.

In this sentence - had become is correct because it is related to another event in past - gained and to show the intended sequencing, use of past perfect is needed. Notice again that the event - led has got nothing to do with "had become extinct" and "gained".

This concept is covered in detail in verb tenses - II concept in e-GMAT sentence correction course.

Payal

(View concept on verb-ing modifiers here)
9005
So-called green taxes, which exact a price for the use of polluting or nonrenewable fuels, are having a positive effect on the environmental and natural resource base of countries as varied as China, the Netherlands, and Hungary.
A as varied as
B as varied as are
C as varied as those of
D that are as varied as
E that are varied as are
Can someone please explain the choices in detail. I am really confused how Choice A is the correct answer. I can see that D can also be correct. B also appears to be correct to me. I could confidently only remove C as the answer. Please help.
9006
I also have a question in OG12 #25. For this question I was able to narrow the answer choices to A and E. But I am not able to choose between them!!!

I feel that both modifiers: "Based on" and "Using" correctly modify "scholars". Please explain the answer choices E and specially why A is wrong? Is there any rule for using "Based on" as a modifier?