Distinguished architecture requires the expenditure

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netigen
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Topic: Distinguished architecture requires the expenditure
PostThu May 15, 2008 3:45 pm Reply with quote
Distinguished architecture requires the expenditure of large sums of money, even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produce distinguished architecture.

(A) even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produce
(B) even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money will produce
(C) even though there is no certainty that the expenditure of money in large sums produces
(D) even though it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produces
(E) though there is no certainty as to the expenditure of money in large sums producing


Official Answer: X
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chidcguy
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PostFri May 16, 2008 7:59 am Reply with quote
C

expenditure is singular, needs produces A&B are out.

I dont see a need for producing, E is out

expenditure of money in large sums is correct as opposed to expenditure of larger sums of money in C. Also it is by no means sounds awkward.

What is the OA?
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PostFri May 16, 2008 9:37 am Reply with quote
A,B - subject verb agreement (the expenditure .... produce)
D - wordy 'it is by no mean certian' counld be said more precisely 'it is not certain'
E - ungrammatical and does not make sense
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netigen
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PostFri May 16, 2008 10:47 am Reply with quote
OA is D but I am not convinced, what is "it" referring to in D.

There is some discussion on this question here - http://gmatclub.com/forum/t49739
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tar.goyal
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PostFri May 16, 2008 12:24 pm Reply with quote
C is the answer in my opinion as well.
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lunarpower
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PostFri May 16, 2008 11:03 pm Reply with quote
netigen wrote:
Distinguished architecture requires the expenditure of large sums of money, even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produce distinguished architecture.

(A) even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produce
(B) even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money will produce
(C) even though there is no certainty that the expenditure of money in large sums produces
(D) even though it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produces
(E) though there is no certainty as to the expenditure of money in large sums producing


Official Answer: X
i'd go with d. (the original post has 'x' as the official answer - is this a mistake?)
reasoning:
* 'it is by no means certain...' is better than 'there is no certainty...' for two reasons:
- first of all, it preserves the original meaning; remember that you have to preserve the original meaning, unless it's absurd. in particular, the original sentence says that 'it is by no means certain': in other words, it is not necessarily certain. choice d preserves the exact wording of the original on this point, so, a fortiori, it preserves the original meaning. choice c, however, is much more extreme than choice d: it states definitively that there is no certainty. you aren't allowed to change the meaning like that.
- also, 'there' is much more questionable than 'it'. here, the 'it' is an accepted english construction, not unlike the 'it' in sentences such as 'it is likely that he'll fail the exam' (a sentence that, hopefully, none of you would criticize). 'there', though, seems to imply some sort of place where we're looking for certainty and not finding it.

* 'expenditure of large sums of money' is clearer, and flows better, than 'expenditure of money in large sums'.
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2010gmat
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PostWed Nov 04, 2009 10:59 am Reply with quote
why not B??

it has a clear if --will construction + s-v is also not a problem..because it says expenditure -- WILL PRODUCE...and with will we always use plural verb....

i am still stuck between b and d....read somewhere that to show contrast even though is better than even if...Is it true???
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PostThu Nov 05, 2009 12:51 am Reply with quote
found something that might help


even if / even though

No, they are not interchangeable. If you want to use even though, the meaning changes.

Even though means despite the fact that and is a more emphatic version of though and although.

Even if means whether or not and has to do with the conditions that may apply.




Compare the following:
Even if I had two hours to spare for shopping, I wouldn't go out and buy a suit.
Even though I had two hours to spare for shopping, I couldn't find the suit I wanted.

D is better than B because D uses even though....right usage in this context
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PostSat Nov 07, 2009 1:39 am Reply with quote
2010gmat wrote:
found something that might help


even if / even though

No, they are not interchangeable. If you want to use even though, the meaning changes.

Even though means despite the fact that and is a more emphatic version of though and although.

Even if means whether or not and has to do with the conditions that may apply.




Compare the following:
Even if I had two hours to spare for shopping, I wouldn't go out and buy a suit.
Even though I had two hours to spare for shopping, I couldn't find the suit I wanted.

D is better than B because D uses even though....right usage in this context
good explanation, and excellent examples. i endorse this explanation.
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PostSat Nov 07, 2009 9:19 am Reply with quote
Distinguished architecture requires the expenditure of large sums of money, even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produce distinguished architecture.


On a different note, I was analyzing the structure of the sentence.

1. Is this is a run-on sentence, the two clauses are joined by a comma without a conjuction.
Clause 1:

Distinguished architecture requires the expenditure of large sums of money


Clause 2Sad has subordinate clause with pronoun that )

even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produce distinguished architecture

Ron, could you please clarify ???
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lunarpower
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PostSat Nov 07, 2009 3:12 pm Reply with quote
pink_08 wrote:
Distinguished architecture requires the expenditure of large sums of money, even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produce distinguished architecture.


On a different note, I was analyzing the structure of the sentence.

1. Is this is a run-on sentence, the two clauses are joined by a comma without a conjuction.
Clause 1:

Distinguished architecture requires the expenditure of large sums of money


Clause 2:( has subordinate clause with pronoun that )

even if it is by no means certain that the expenditure of large sums of money produce distinguished architecture

Ron, could you please clarify ???
it's not a run-on sentence.

you may just want to memorize the following as an idiomatic construction:
it is ADJ that INDEPENDENT CLAUSE
for instance, it is impossible that he understands all of this stuff.

that's what's happening in the second half of this sentence.
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palvarez
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PostSat Nov 07, 2009 3:31 pm Reply with quote
even if and even though are used to concede. The difference between B and D lies in the probable nature of concession.

-expectative, neutral, +expectative.

In B, "will" signals "+expectative"
In D, it is neutral.

Is it a GMAC question or is it written by weird prep com?
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PostMon Nov 16, 2009 3:32 am Reply with quote
palvarez wrote:
even if and even though are used to concede. The difference between B and D lies in the probable nature of concession.

-expectative, neutral, +expectative.

In B, "will" signals "+expectative"
In D, it is neutral.

Is it a GMAC question or is it written by weird prep com?
i'm not sure exactly what you mean by "+expectative" and "-expectative". if you elaborate further, i can let you know whether you're on the right track.

i've changed my mind, though, and i now think (b) is a little better, for the following reasons:
* "even if" and "even though" have different meanings. since the original contains "even if" (and that's a reasonable construction), we should try to preserve it.
* "it is by no means certain" fits better with the future tense than with the present tense.

however, neither (b) nor (d) is wrong enough to be a wrong answer on the official test. so, if you can't eliminate either of those choices, then you can still feel good about yourself.
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PostMon Nov 16, 2009 5:46 am Reply with quote
to make it easy for us to remember

even if-to talk of CONDITION

even though-to talk of FACT
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PostTue Nov 17, 2009 5:04 am Reply with quote
duongthang wrote:
to make it easy for us to remember

even if-to talk of CONDITION

even though-to talk of FACT
this is correct. nice summary.
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