Modifier Madness: Breaking Down a GMATPrep SC Problem
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Stacey is a GMAT Instructor living in Montreal. Click here to read more articles from Manhattan GMAT and to learn more about Manhattan GMAT's classes. |
This week, we’re going to analyze a particularly tough GMATPrep® Sentence Correction question.
First, set your timer for 1 minute and 15 seconds and try the problem!
Research has shown that when speaking, individuals who have been blind from birth and have thus never seen anyone gesture nonetheless make hand motions just as frequently and in the same way as sighted people do, and that they will gesture even when conversing with another blind person.
A) have thus never seen anyone gesture nonetheless make hand motions just as frequently and in the same way as sighted people do, and that
B) have thus never seen anyone gesture but nonetheless make hand motions just as frequently and in the same way that sighted people do, and
C) have thus never seen anyone gesture, that they nonetheless make hand motions just as frequently and in the same way as sighted people do, and
D) thus they have never seen anyone gesture, but nonetheless they make hand motions just as frequently and in the same way that sighted people do, and that
E) thus they have never seen anyone gesture nonetheless make hand motions just as frequently and in the same way that sighted people do, and
Okay, have you got your answer? Now, let’s dive into this thing! What did you think when you read the original sentence?
This is a very tough problem; when I read the sentence the first time, I actually had to stop and try to strip the sentence down to its basic core, then figure out how the modifiers fit. Until I did that, I couldn’t go any further.
First, we have “research has shown,” a subject-verb pair. That’s the start of the core. The research has shown some things. What are those things (in simple form)? In the following sentence, the words in <brackets> are my simplification of the sentence; these words do not represent the original sentence.
“Research has shown THAT when speaking, <certain>¹ individuals nonetheless make hand motions <in a certain way>², and THAT <when speaking>† they will gesture <in another way>³.”
¹<certain> takes the place of “who have been blind from birth and have thus never seen anyone gesture.”
²<in a certain way> takes the place of “just as frequently and in the same way as sighted people do.”
†<when speaking> is implied by parallelism; this second thing is something that occurs when speaking, just as the first thing is something that occurs when speaking. This parallelism is indicated by the second instance of the word “that” and is reinforced by the pronoun “they,” which refers to the subject (individuals) of the first “that” clause.
³<in another way> takes the place of “even when conversing with another blind person.”
So what we’ve really got is:
“Research has shown THAT when speaking, <certain> individuals nonetheless make <certain> hand motions, and THAT they will gesture <in a certain way>.”
Simplify that even more:
“Research has shown THAT X, and THAT Y.” (X and Y are parallel and are both things that the research has shown.)
In the original sentence, the main word in X is “individuals” and the main word in Y is “they,” so we already have proper parallelism.
Are the other four choices also correct just at the core level of the sentence? Part of the core is not underlined: “Research has shown THAT X.” We know, then, that the Y part should be introduced with another THAT (in order to indicate that these two parts, X and Y, should be parallel). Choices B, C, and E all omit the THAT in front of Y, so they are not correct.
D also uses the core structure “and THAT Y,” so D is okay as far as that issue is concerned. How do the rest of A and D compare? A begins “have thus never seen” while D begins “thus they have never seen.” What’s the major difference? D includes the subject “they” while A omits a subject. Do we want a subject here? Now we need to dive into one of the modifiers.
“individuals who have been blind from birth and have thus never seen anyone gesture nonetheless make”
As we discussed earlier, “individuals” is a subject; the matching verb is “make”: “individuals nonetheless make <certain> hand motions.” The words in between “individuals” and “nonetheless” are modifiers – and because we have two separate modifiers connected by the word “and,” we need to make those two modifiers parallel.
“Individuals who J and K nonetheless make”
A: “Individuals who [have been blind from birth] and [have thus never seen anyone gesture] nonetheless make”
D: “Individuals who [have been blind from birth] and [thus they have never seen anyone gesture], but nonetheless they make”
So, are they both properly parallel? The J modifier is not part of the underline, so we know that the structure of K has to match the existing structure of J. J’s main construction is a verb in the present-perfect tense, so K should have the same structure. In choice A, K does begin with a present-perfect verb, but in choice D, K beings with a noun (“they”). That’s not parallel. Eliminate D.
Now, we’re down to one answer choice. The correct answer is A.
There are other ways we could have eliminated answers. For example, choices B and D both use the phrase “but nonetheless” to indicate a contrast. Each word indicates a contrast by itself, so using both words together is redundant.
There’s another split between “just as frequently and in the same way as” and “just as frequently and in the same way that.” Which one is right? The word “and” once again indicates parallelism, so there’s something parallel about the part before and the part after the “and.” Try each part individually.
“She runs just as frequently as he skis.” That’s fine. Can we say “She runs just as frequently he skis?” No – we need that second “as” after the word “frequently.” The full phrase is “just as frequently as.” So that’s why we have parallelism in this sentence! In the structure “just as frequently and in the same way as,” the second “as” applies to both parts (“just as frequently as” and “in the same way as”). We can’t use “just as frequently and in the same way than” because that would leave us with either “just as frequently” (with no second “as”) or “just as frequently than” – neither of which is correct.
The major take-aways here:
- When doing SC, first attack the errors that you know how to do and reuse your prior analysis as much as you can; you may not have to use all of the errors / differences in order to find the right answer!
- Scan SC answer choices vertically to find differences; don’t read horizontally
- Know how to recognize and properly construct noun modifiers and adverbial modifiers
- Watch out for parallelism markers – the markers are often little words but they can make a big difference!
* GMATPrep® question courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. Usage of this question does not imply endorsement by GMAC.
Read my other SC Problem breakdown article here.
17 comments
A. Kiran on November 27th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Stacey.
This sentence was very confusing for me when i read for the first time. I had spent nearly 2- 3 hours to understand what all are you explaining and still am not clear though.
The whole quarrel is in the Clauses in the above setence.
There are 3 clauses. Who , that, verb clause. which makes tough to understand at an instant.
These 3 modifiers in one sentence makes complex for me in identifying what is modifying what.
Is there any quick Tip that you can give us to understand when there are more than 2 clauses or 2 modifiers ??
The major trouble i had was with the parallel marker " AND"
If you see in the sentence, there are 4 AND's.
Especially the Last AND in the sentence.
Is there any quick way to identify which is modifying what after the AND parallel???? when we have more than 2-3 AND's in a sentence
Stacey Koprince on December 2nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
This is definitely a very confusing sentence.
First, you do need to know the markers that indicate that something is a modifier (for example, relative pronouns such as "who" or "which," phrases or clauses set off by commas, and so on).
It's also a good idea to practice stripping a sentence down to its core: the essential elements necessary in order to make the basic complete sentence. Try that with some less convoluted sentences first, just to learn how to do it. (Similar to what we discussed in this forum thread: http://www.beatthegmat.com/modifiers-t47816.html)
In terms of the parallel marker "and," it is usually the case that the first few words after the "and" will contain the Y component of the full "X and Y" parallelism construction. The X part may or may not appear closely before the "and" - so start by looking for the "Y," which will almost always be the first "main word" after the "and."
For instance, in the above sentence, we first hit "and have thus never seen anyone" so the Y component is probably the verb "have never seen." Now we look back for a match; do we have one? Yes! "have been blind" Do the X and Y components both make sense? Individuals who X (have been blind) and Y (have never seen). Yes. So this one is okay.
Next, we see "and in the same way" so the Y component is probably the prepositional phrase "in the same way." What would match with that? Well, something must be happening "in the same way" so what is that thing? Oh, the people "make hand motions... in the same way" - that makes sense. What's in between? "just as frequently" - so there's the X component.
Finally, we get to our third "and" of the sentence: "and that they will gesture." The Y, in this case, is the subject "they" - the first main word to show up after "and." The "that" is typically a parallelism marker that tells us where to look for the X to match with the Y in a complex sentence. Where is an earlier "that" in the sentence? All the way at the beginning: "that when speaking, individuals..." Our Y starts with the subject pronoun "they," so what's the subject after the first "that"? "Individuals." Does the "they" pronoun refer to those same individuals? Yes! Parallelism achieved.
As I mentioned in the article, this particular question is very difficult, so don't worry too much if this one still gives you problems. You can still get a great score without getting a question like the above correct.
A.Kiran on December 3rd, 2009 at 10:55 am
Its crystal clear now in my head.
"And" Modifier , thats very easy,interesting way to identify the X, and components of it.
I really appreciate your help in identification of it.
Thanks again Stacey for it.
A.Kiran on December 3rd, 2009 at 6:46 pm
That - Modifier is a typical parallel modifier like "and."
1. " That" Forms the Basic sentence.
2. " That " can be the " That clause ", refers to the
antecedent noun or Specific way.
3. " That" can be Parallel marker like "and"
Are only the 3 uses of "That" ? According to sentence, "That" can take any form.
Is that right ?
A.Kiran on December 3rd, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Its very new thing to me " That " is a parallel modifier as well.
is it ? its very strange to me
Stacey Koprince on December 7th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I could have worded my last post a bit better. The word "that" is not the marker that tells us we *need* parallelism, but it is one way in which we can *fulfill* the required parallelism.
So, here's a simpler sentence:
I think that X and that Y.
I think that the GMAT is hard and that I should study a lot.
The word "and" is the parallelism marker that tells me I need parallelism between two components of the sentence.
The word "that" after the "and" tells me that the two things will most likely begin with "that ." So I go and take a look, and sure enough:
that the GMAT
and
that I
So, "that " for both.
In the example I just gave, the sentence is so short that we could probably get away with "I think that the GMAT is hard and I should study a lot." When the sentence is really copmlex though (like the one we did above), then the presence of the word "that" at the beginning of both X and Y makes it very clear to me what X and Y are - and I might not be able to figure that out otherwise.
Does that make more sense?
A.Kiran on December 7th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Thanks stacey.
its crystal clear now.
apoorva on March 23rd, 2010 at 10:05 am
Hi Stacey,
In General,when we are doing SC questions in Exam.
What should be the approach,this is what I follow:
1)I read the original question and try to find any obvious errors of which I am completely sure of.Such as Verbs,Pronoun some known Idiom etc:
What do you look for in the sentence when you read it for first time,or after years of Practice it has become second nature for you to identify errors at first go...what I am trying to figure out is what should I be doing when I read the sentence first time..
1) Should I be consciously cross checking key errors one by one Sub/Verb,Pronoun/Comparison keywords etc:
2) Should I go ahead and scan vertically
3) Should I strip the sentence Sub Verb Adverb etc:---I find this approach to be popular choice..But it takes bit more time than 2,since I am dissecting a sentence Max Morenberg style rather than finding error.
Case 1: If I find an error I eliminate all choices having that error
2)Now I scan through the choices vertically,and find other errors-and eliminate other choices.
This was the easy part where I get my ans correct
Case 2) In difficult question such as one above,where the entire sentence is underlined,I have to reread the entire sentence again to find the mistake.
Generally what happens is while going through the choices one of the other phrasing seems more attractive and I choose that other incorrect choice.
Also when there are modifiers(they keep putting it in different places) it's difficult to read vertically.So I have to read all the choices again. How do you handle these type of questions?????
Plus the timing of 1min 15 sec does not help.
Summing up: Can you please categorize your strategy-do you treat all SC questions alike.
Or for the questions where you see the entire sentence underlined,you just reread the choice A again in order to find the error.
Stacey Koprince on March 23rd, 2010 at 11:16 am
Good questions. In general, here's the process I try to use on every SC (though it doesn't always work; see below):
* * *
Read the original sentence all the way through.
If you happen to spot anything problematic, examine. If it's an error, cross off A. Then scan the other choices vertically, at the same point as that error you found (do NOT read the whole answer choice), and cross off any others that repeat the same error.
Repeat the above until you've dealt with everything you happened to see on your first read-through of the original sentence (note: sometimes you won't see anything on the first read-through!).
Then, do a vertical scan of the first word of each choice. If you can identify the potential error based on the differences you see, deal with it. If not, do a vertical scan of the last word of each choice - same thing. After that, do a vertical scan starting at the beginning of each choice.
If you notice a difference when scanning but you don't know what error that difference might signify, keep going - look for a different split.
If you've dealt with everything you know how to deal with and you still have more than one choice left, pick something and move on. Don't agonize over it - just pick and go.
* * *
So, that's the general process, but sometimes - especially on a really hard question - I get stuck along the way.
If I am not even sure what the general structure of the sentence is, then I take time to strip down to the core, as I did on the problem discussed above. That will usually help me to see what the major "parts" are (subject, verb, modifiers, etc.), and then I can get back to my regular process.
If a lot is underlined, it is often the case that blocks of text are moving around, rather than just one word changing in the same place - but that's still a clue, too! When blocks of text are moving around, that often indicates modifiers, comparisons, or parallelism. For instance, if a 5-word phrase stays the same but just moves around, that's probably a modifier, and the issue is where that modifier needs to be placed. If I know my modifier rules, then I can figure that out.
It sounds like you've already learned how to use the vertical scan for changing words or a couple of changing words - that's good. Now you just need to expand your skill to include instances where words or blocks of words are moving around (and possibly also changing). It's a little harder because the words don't line up vertically as easily, but you can still do it if you train yourself!
apoorva on March 23rd, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Thanks Stacey...I will try doing what you have advised as I Practice.
Along with just little more perseverance( Couple more Revisions of Manhattan SC,Practicing all the Manhattan Forum Questions,Going through all the Wrong questions' Matrix,Reading all Stacey's articles and SC explanations
,going thru Flash Cards/Notes of all the toppers,Doing more mixed drill SC questions from different sources along with RC and CR questions in timed condition,followed by more banging of my head on table) ---- Hopefully I will be able to take my Verbal Score from 36-38 to 42-45 and increase my overall score.
RL on January 14th, 2011 at 11:23 pm
Solved it correctly in 2 minutes 2 seconds. I know that's more than the ideal 90 seconds but this is a really long sentence. I don't think it's possible to do it in 75 seconds regardless of which approach you use.
I do however think that while knowing the rules and being able to break a sentence down to its core helps, this sentence can be solved much more quickly using your ear and recognising two very obvious and simple differences between the 5 answer choices (ofcourse, its probably easier if you are a native English speaker).
Choices B & D both contain "but nonetheless" - this is redundant since both words indicate contrast. Stop and Eliminate these two choices immediately, there's no need to even read the rest of the sentence.
While reading the sentence you should be able to recognise that "research" is showing two things and that the parallel marker is the 'and' in "AND that they". Once you recognise this, choices C & E can be eliminated for omitting the 'that' after the parallel marker 'and'.
This leaves you with only the original sentence - Choice A.
Stacey Koprince on January 15th, 2011 at 6:35 am
FYI - I NEVER recommend reading the answer choices straight through. Bad idea.
You do have to read the original sentence straight through, but then you use that to figure out something to eliminate (if you can!) and go from there. At the point that you start examining other answers, they should be examined vertically, not horizontally - similar parts should be compared.
You can read more about the process here: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/06/03/how-to-read-a-sentence-correction-problem
Also, what you described isn't actually relying on your ear - you actually did describe reasons why. Relying on your ear means not really being able to say why you're eliminating something, but just eliminating it because it vaguely doesn't "sound" right to you.
Finally, yes, the core method takes a while (though it does get faster the more you practice). I don't use it unless I have to, and that's only on the longest and hardest sentences. But it is a great tool when you need it!
Krishna on August 7th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
I am doing from core method stripping the peels like a a banana skin and then coming to the answer choices...
Sometimes in most of the easy questions, it is so fast that I do not even have to check the other answer choices !!!
But YES, it takes time to answer FAST...But it is really effective !!!
Krishna on August 7th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Typo - But YES, it takes practice to answer FAST using this method.
But really worth the practice and it is really effective !!!
sunny on March 11th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Needlessly to say, there're so many comments on this question. I'm going to add on one more:)
I'm quite puzzled about the modifying clause for the blind person " thus have never seen anyone gesture"... The subject is the blind person, main verb is have seen, the object is anyone... Why the gesture here is not gestured, or gesturing? Anyone is a singular pronoun, why gesture here is not gestures?
Stacey Koprince on March 19th, 2012 at 7:15 am
(You may understand part of this already - I'm just giving a thorough response for this part of the sentence.) The "thus have never seen" part is part of a double modifier, both starting with the word "who."
Individuals who have been blind... and (individuals who) have never seen..."
The word "and" triggers the parallelism, and the "individuals who" part does not need to be repeated because it's the same for both. We only need the two parallel bits: "have been blind" and "have never seen."
For the "gesture" bit, try pulling it out into a simpler form.
I have never seen you gesture.
I have never seen him gesture.
I have never seen anyone gesture.
Now try this:
I have never seen you make a gesture.
I have never seen him make a gesture.
I have never seen them make a gesture.
Notice that "make" is the same all the way through as well? We're not conjugating a verb here. There's no subject for "gesture" in the first set or "make" in the second set.
I have never seen you eat hot dogs.
I have never see him eat hot dogs.
Think of it as just using the infinitive form (minus the "to") - that's not exactly what's going on here, but it's an easy way to remember. You've got your conjugated verb already (have seen) and then you're talking about a general action that you have or haven't seen.
Note that this structure works with have seen but other forms might apply with a change in verb. For example:
I have never known you to gesture.
This is an idiomatic construction - just something you'd have to memorize - but I don't think I've ever seen them test this specifically.
sunny on March 19th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Thanks Stacey for the thorough explanation!
In addtion to it, I think many nonnative English speakers like myself are confused or simply forgot about the fact that inifinitive can be in bare form without to. In this specific example: I have never seen him gesture.
The main verb see is a perception verb which should be followed by infinitive without to. Some other perception verbs are watch, feel, hear, notice etc. Other than perception verbs, there're at least 4 other cases that inifinitive come with bare form.
Verbs like make and let... etc... It was quite gratifiying to pick up this basic yet trivial grammar in GMAT study:)