Sentence Correction

In E, being is not a modifier but a GERUND -- a verb functioning as a noun -- and is the subject of the verb is:

BEING heavily committed...IS likely to make an executive miss signs...

aamenn wrote:

In E, being is not a modifier but a GERUND -- a verb functioning as a noun -- and is the subject of the verb is:

BEING heavily committed...IS likely to make an executive miss signs...

Thanks Mitch for your brilliant explaination on E, but i find it hard to differentiate modifier and gerund like this..."being heavily committed..." seems so much like a opening modifier. What should I consider when I come across a similar situation next time?

I have another question about the verb tense here. In E, there are both "in the past" and "has worked", but i wonder "in the past" is a sign for simple past tense?

My understanding to the confusion: present perfect means that the effect is still relevant(that is, "worked well" still remains true right now). In fact, the effect remains true for a long time, e.g for the past year, and that period is in the past, so these two tenses can be used together.

Hope I made myself clear!

LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR ANSWER!

Thanks& Regards
Camilla

Whenever you see an underlined verb, ISOLATE THE SUBJECT of that verb.
Pay attention to MEANING as well as grammar.
In E, the underlined portion includes is.
This verb requires a subject.
According to E, SOMETHING is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble.
The only subject that makes any sense -- grammatically and semantically -- is the opening phrase:
BEING HEAVILY COMMITTED TO A COURSE OF ACTION is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble.

One use of the present perfect is to describe the present in terms of an action that occurred at an INDEFINITE TIME IN THE PAST.
Incorrect: a course of action that has worked well YESTERDAY.
Here, a definite time is specified -- YESTERDAY -- so the present perfect cannot be used.
Correct: a course of action that has worked well IN THE PAST.
Here, no definite time is specified -- IN THE PAST does not imply a particular moment in time -- so the use of the present perfect is justified.

Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.


A. Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

B. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that worked well in the past, makes missing signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting ones likely when they do appear.

C. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action is likely to miss or misinterpret signs of incipient trouble when they do appear, especially if it has worked well in the past.

D. Executives' being heavily committed to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes them likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting them when they do appear.

E. Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

Answer is E

RBBmba@2014 wrote: First them seems to refer to Executives', whereas they and the second them BOTH seem to refer to signs of incipient trouble.

But, in GMAT, any subject/object pronoun of same GROUP MUST REFER to the SAME ANTECEDENT. Right ?

Correct me please of wrong!

GMATGuruNY wrote:

sachin_yadav wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: In B, an executive...makes missing signs of incipient trouble...likely does not convey the intended meaning. It is not the EXECUTIVE himself but the COMMITMENT TO A COURSE OF ACTION that is causing the problems discussed in this SC. Eliminate B.

Thanks Mitch.

Certainly, the answer is E, and B changes the meaning of the sentence, but what about "ones" in B. Is "ones" incorrect ?

What if there were "ones" in the answer choice E, then the choice E would have been correct ?

Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret ones when they do appear.

Now, I have replaced "them" with "ones". Is this correct ? ("Them" is referring to "signs", so "ones" refers to "signs")

I am confused with "ones". I believe "ones" is plural and can be used if "them" is not mentioned in the sentence. I might be wrong, but if i am wrong, then why i am wrong ?

Why "them", and why not "ones" ?

Looking forward to your reply.

Regards
Sachin

Ones is used to refer to select members of a group:

Please put the clean dishes in the cabinet and the dirty ones in the sink.

In the SC above, ones would imply that the executive is misinterpreting only a few specific signs of incipient trouble; which ONES is he misinterpreting? Since we don't know, ones is inappropriate.

I would be skeptical of an answer choice that uses ones, which seems a bit informal for the GMAT.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

sachin_yadav wrote:Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.


A. Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

B. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that worked well in the past, makes missing signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting ones likely when they do appear.

C. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action is likely to miss or misinterpret signs of incipient trouble when they do appear, especially if it has worked well in the past.

D. Executives' being heavily committed to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes them likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting them when they do appear.

E. Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

Answer is E

Hi Everyone,

At first this question seems tough to me but after understanding and spending more time than the usual time of attempting each SC question I got this correct. But I was not able to understand choice B completely. Well choice B is not the answer of this question, but I am not able to understand why the usage of "ones" is incorrect? Why "ones" cannot refer to signs?

I read in one of the posts that the usage of "ones" in choice B is incorrect, and it should be "them", not "ones".

I understand that "them" is also correct as it is plural that refers to "signs", but why can't it be "ones". This is also plural.

Looking forward to all of your replies.

Thanks & Regards
Sachin.

In A, it could refer to commitment or to course of action. Eliminate A.

In C, it lacks a clear antecedent. The nearest preceding singular noun is trouble, but the desired antecedent is course of action, which is placed too far from it. Eliminate C.

In D, them cannot be used to refer to executives', which is not a noun but an adjective. Eliminate D.

In B, an executive...makes missing signs of incipient trouble...likely does not convey the intended meaning. It is not the EXECUTIVE himself but the COMMITMENT TO A COURSE OF ACTION that is causing the problems discussed in this SC. Eliminate B.

The correct answer is E.

sagarock wrote:mitch sir,very well explained but i want to know the role of adverb 'especially' here.what is it modifying?

sagarock wrote:sorry mitch sir, pardon my ignorance but can you please tell me other intensifier adverbs that can do the same?

GMATGuruNY wrote:

sachin_yadav wrote:Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.


A. Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

B. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that worked well in the past, makes missing signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting ones likely when they do appear.

C. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action is likely to miss or misinterpret signs of incipient trouble when they do appear, especially if it has worked well in the past.

D. Executives' being heavily committed to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes them likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting them when they do appear.

E. Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

Answer is E

Hi Everyone,

At first this question seems tough to me but after understanding and spending more time than the usual time of attempting each SC question I got this correct. But I was not able to understand choice B completely. Well choice B is not the answer of this question, but I am not able to understand why the usage of "ones" is incorrect? Why "ones" cannot refer to signs?

I read in one of the posts that the usage of "ones" in choice B is incorrect, and it should be "them", not "ones".

I understand that "them" is also correct as it is plural that refers to "signs", but why can't it be "ones". This is also plural.

Looking forward to all of your replies.

Thanks & Regards
Sachin.

In B, an executive...makes missing signs of incipient trouble...likely does not convey the intended meaning. It is not the EXECUTIVE himself but the COMMITMENT TO A COURSE OF ACTION that is causing the problems discussed in this SC. Eliminate B.

The correct answer is E.