Sentence Correction

The company said revenue rose 13 percent, or $453 million, compared with the period a year earlier, but was lower than the $675 million analysts predicted.

(A) or $453 million, compared with the period a year earlier, but was lower than the $675 million analysts predicted.
(B) an amount equal to $453 million, in comparison to that period last year, but was lower than the $675 million analysts predicted.
(C) or $453 million, compared with the period a year earlier, but was lower than the $675 million analysts had predicted.
(D)$453 million, from the period a year earlier, but was lower than the $675 million analysts had predicted.
(E) or $453 million, compared with the period a year earlier, but lower than the $675 million analysts predicted.

While I was doing the above question, I was pretty confident about the fact that the "revenue is rising from a certain number to a certain number", and this helped me narrow down to option D. However option (D) looked a bit awkward because it says - "revenue rose 13%,$453 million,...." - shouldn't it be "rose 13%, or $453 million"?

While Ceilidh may have a useful point about some Veritas questions, this one is still useful for learning multiple things, including the value of looking for the best answer choice rather than a perfect choice. While I have seen test prep company verbal questions that are utterly unanswerable, this is not such a question.

I have yet to see a test prep company that puts out verbal questions that are 100 percent flawless, and even some official verbal questions have OAs of debatable validity.

Here's a case in point. I took the MGMAT free CAT and, being aware of MGMAT's marketing and reputation, I was surprised to be given multiple verbal questions that had significant flaws.

In preparing for the verbal section of the GMAT one does well by learning to do one's best to hack one's way to credited answers even when dealing with flawed questions. When one does run into significant flaws in a question, one possible course of action is sending a quick message to the company that created the question and thus getting the question fixed.

ceilidh.erickson wrote:The GMAT will always use the relative pronoun "that" when introducing a subordinate noun clause.

An important exception:
When a subject is reporting information about ITSELF, the GMAT may omit that from the noun-clause.
The typical construction is as follows:
SUBJECT + REPORTING VERB + it + VERB.

SC48 in the OG for Verbal:
The seven-store retailer said it would start a three-month liquidation sale.
Here, the seven-store retailer is reporting information about itself.
As a result, it is permissible to omit that after the reporting verb said.

An OA from GMATPrep:
Trans World Entertainment Corporation announced it was closing up to one fourth of its stores.
Here, Trans World is reporting information about itself.
As a result, it is permissible to omit that after the reporting verb announced.
Of special note:
In this case, announced that is included in one of the INCORRECT answer choices.

In some cases, the GMAT will INCLUDE that when the subject is reporting information about itself.
SC79 in the OG for Verbal:
The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company.
Here, even though the computer company is reporting information about itself, the reporting verb has announced is followed by that.

Bottom line:
If a subject is reporting information about itself, the reporting verb may or may not be followed by that.
Thus, do not eliminate an answer choice solely because it includes or omits that after the reporting verb.
Instead, look for other reasons to eliminate answer choices.

Just a few thoughts here (with apologies to students for turning this into a debate among instructors!):

*As Mitch mentioned, there are exceptions to most rules in the English language, so I'd be careful with phrases like "The GMAT will always..." and "The GMAT will never..." unless it's a mathematical/logical/grammatical certainty that what you're saying the GMAT won't do is absolutely incorrect. The forums and blogs love to throw out "The GMAT prefers" and "the GMAT will never" but GMAC itself doesn't confirm/deny any of that, and its responsibility is to create fair, effective assessments so if something is commonly and accurately used in language I wouldn't write it off as impossible to appear on the test. (And as Mitch showed, there's proof in this case that Ceilidh's primary objection to the problem in question is actually something that GMAC has tested).

*Not to go personal attack at all, but in classic Critical Reasoning style your conclusion "every single answer is grammatically incorrect" isn't really supported by your premise "D...is incredibly awkward. I'd argue that it's idiomatically incorrect." For one, "awkward (but correct)" is actually a testmaker technique on challenging problems, forcing examinees to think critically about the meaning and structure of a sentence. (This article shows that off pretty well, using an official GMAT problem as the demonstration: https://poetsandquants.com/2013/06/20/he ... only-hope/) And, of course, GMAT correctness doesn't come from "a 99th percentile scorer / reputable GMAT instructor could make an argument that it's incorrect." Most of us who have been doing this for a while would still, if we're being honest, have to see a few correct official answers and think "wow, I'd never say it that way but I guess they have a point (plus it's the only option that doesn't violate something major)."

*For this particular problem, if a linguistics PhD came to me and told me there was a slight idiomatic flaw with it I guess I wouldn't be shocked, but I'd be surprised. This sentence (along with I think at least most of the others you linked) came straight from a pretty reputable, well-edited/well-written publication. Knowing that the GMAT uses "interesting/unique" sentence structures (your classic anaphoras, asyndetons, and hyperbations like that above link mentions), we're always on the hunt for GMAT-style sentences with those strange structures so that our students are trained to deal with that kind of awkwardness on test day. That's especially important to us because, ever since the GMAT switched item writers from ETS to ACT in 2006, the trend has been much less "idiom/memorization" and much more about sifting through denser sentences to find meaning and structure (at least at the high end of difficulty). So if you do find our more-challenging problems to be a bit awkward...thank you - that's by design.

*And with that knowledge that the GMAT has evolved - particularly on the verbal side, with more logic and meaning on SC, more "practical" (plan/strategy, useful-to-evaluate) CR, shorter/denser RC - it's important for students to realize that newer, official problems are the best sources out there. Which tends to mean that the electronic resources (the newer resources like the Question Pack and GMAT Prep tests) are more current, and that problems that date back to the 10th or 11th edition Official Guide (which therefore were appearing on GMATs in the 1990s) are less useful for study. There's a lot of Sentence Correction practice out there that's modeled after those old questions, so one of our aims in recent years (so problems with serial numbers above maybe 06000) is to get plenty of "new-style" SC practice out there for students.

*Lest we forget the point of the forum, to help students with their questions and provide strategic guidance: Radbuz, if you're still reading this, your instincts were pretty good getting to D! And what makes D pretty tricky (and what made us do a double-take when reading this in print) is that "$453 million" is used as an appositive modifier there to further explain 13 percent (just like saying "Radbuz, a GMAT student, asked a great question..." in which "a GMAT student" is just a noun used as a modifier to explain more about you). That's an important part of tricky Sentence Correction - on hard problems the right answer may not be written exactly as you'd write it yourself, so you have to train yourself to seek-and-destroy the errors you know you can't live with and deal with the structural choices that you can live with.

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Just a few thoughts here (with apologies to students for turning this into a debate among instructors!):

*As Mitch mentioned, there are exceptions to most rules in the English language, so I'd be careful with phrases like "The GMAT will always..." and "The GMAT will never..." unless it's a mathematical/logical/grammatical certainty that what you're saying the GMAT won't do is absolutely incorrect. The forums and blogs love to throw out "The GMAT prefers" and "the GMAT will never" but GMAC itself doesn't confirm/deny any of that, and its responsibility is to create fair, effective assessments so if something is commonly and accurately used in language I wouldn't write it off as impossible to appear on the test. (And as Mitch showed, there's proof in this case that Ceilidh's primary objection to the problem in question is actually something that GMAC has tested).

*Not to go personal attack at all, but in classic Critical Reasoning style your conclusion "every single answer is grammatically incorrect" isn't really supported by your premise "D...is incredibly awkward. I'd argue that it's idiomatically incorrect." For one, "awkward (but correct)" is actually a testmaker technique on challenging problems, forcing examinees to think critically about the meaning and structure of a sentence. (This article shows that off pretty well, using an official GMAT problem as the demonstration: https://poetsandquants.com/2013/06/20/he ... only-hope/) And, of course, GMAT correctness doesn't come from "a 99th percentile scorer / reputable GMAT instructor could make an argument that it's incorrect." Most of us who have been doing this for a while would still, if we're being honest, have to see a few correct official answers and think "wow, I'd never say it that way but I guess they have a point (plus it's the only option that doesn't violate something major)."

*For this particular problem, if a linguistics PhD came to me and told me there was a slight idiomatic flaw with it I guess I wouldn't be shocked, but I'd be surprised. This sentence (along with I think at least most of the others you linked) came straight from a pretty reputable, well-edited/well-written publication. Knowing that the GMAT uses "interesting/unique" sentence structures (your classic anaphoras, asyndetons, and hyperbations like that above link mentions), we're always on the hunt for GMAT-style sentences with those strange structures so that our students are trained to deal with that kind of awkwardness on test day. That's especially important to us because, ever since the GMAT switched item writers from ETS to ACT in 2006, the trend has been much less "idiom/memorization" and much more about sifting through denser sentences to find meaning and structure (at least at the high end of difficulty). So if you do find our more-challenging problems to be a bit awkward...thank you - that's by design.

*And with that knowledge that the GMAT has evolved - particularly on the verbal side, with more logic and meaning on SC, more "practical" (plan/strategy, useful-to-evaluate) CR, shorter/denser RC - it's important for students to realize that newer, official problems are the best sources out there. Which tends to mean that the electronic resources (the newer resources like the Question Pack and GMAT Prep tests) are more current, and that problems that date back to the 10th or 11th edition Official Guide (which therefore were appearing on GMATs in the 1990s) are less useful for study. There's a lot of Sentence Correction practice out there that's modeled after those old questions, so one of our aims in recent years (so problems with serial numbers above maybe 06000) is to get plenty of "new-style" SC practice out there for students.

*Lest we forget the point of the forum, to help students with their questions and provide strategic guidance: Radbuz, if you're still reading this, your instincts were pretty good getting to D! And what makes D pretty tricky (and what made us do a double-take when reading this in print) is that "$453 million" is used as an appositive modifier there to further explain 13 percent (just like saying "Radbuz, a GMAT student, asked a great question..." in which "a GMAT student" is just a noun used as a modifier to explain more about you). That's an important part of tricky Sentence Correction - on hard problems the right answer may not be written exactly as you'd write it yourself, so you have to train yourself to seek-and-destroy the errors you know you can't live with and deal with the structural choices that you can live with.

thank you expert for sharing this thought, which I think is fatally important for students.

sc focus on meaning and logic. this means gmat cau use controversial pattern in OA in the context that many other choices are erroneous logically clearly.

sc dose not hard grammar points . gmat can use simple basic grammar to test logic. for example, all in underlined question is hard though there is no point of grammar we do not know. we can not do this type of question because we do not focus on meaning and our reading ability-for non native- is weak.

Hello All,

I read through all the comments. But I still would like to know that what are the intended meanings of the
other options Which does not sound proper, since I read through each option 2 to 3 times, but I feel all convey the same meaning.

Totally confused.

Help me please...

[email protected] wrote:Hello All,

I read through all the comments. But I still would like to know that what are the intended meanings of the
other options Which does not sound proper, since I read through each option 2 to 3 times, but I feel all convey the same meaning.

The company said revenue rose 13 percent, or $453 million, compared with the period a year earlier, but was lower than the $675 million analysts predicted.

(A) or $453 million, compared with the period a year earlier, but was lower than the $675 million analysts predicted.

Look at this carefully. Using this answer choice, the sentence says "The company said revenue rose 13 percent... compared with the period a year earlier...

You don't really need to know any arcane grammar rules to realize that rose 13 percent compared with the period does not really make sense. What is being compared with what? rose is compared with the period? 13 percent is compared with the period?

In a way the sentence sounds ok, but really the wording of this answer choice is nonsensical.

(B) an amount equal to $453 million, in comparison to that period last year, but was lower than the $675 million analysts predicted.

Now 13 percent is also an amount equal to $453 million? Once again somehow it all sounds ok without actually making sense. rose 13 percent...in comparison to that period a year earlier does not make sense either. Rose 13 percent from the year ago period would work.

Meanwhile, that period last year seems to convey that somehow the period this year occurred last year also.

(C) or $453 million, compared with the period a year earlier, but was lower than the $675 million analysts had predicted.

Different answer choice, similar issues. Once again 13 percent is being compared with the period. Meanwhile, there is one improvement from A and B though. This answer choice uses the past perfect analysts had predicted rather than just analysts predicted and thus better fits the actual timeline in which first the analysts predicted and later the revenue rose.

(D)$453 million, from the period a year earlier, but was lower than the $675 million analysts had predicted.

Finally, some sanity. Now it rose 13 percent...from the period a year earlier. Really, I believe it should be rose 13 percent from that of the period a year earlier, but at least this one makes more sense than any of the others. Also this answer choice includes the preferable analysts had predicted.

(E) or $453 million, compared with the period a year earlier, but lower than the $675 million analysts predicted.

This has three issues. Once again the a nonsense comparison between a percent change and a period is discussed, but also, now instead of saying "but was lower", this answer choice does not include the was and so we get, in a simplified form, revenue rose 13 percent but lower than the $675 million analysts predicted. What exactly does rose 13 percent but lower mean? Finally in this choice analysts had predicted is changed back toanalysts predicted, and so the timeline indication provided by the inclusion of had, which creates a past perfect construction, is lost.

So D is the best answer.

In a way this is a great example of how a GMAT SC question can work and of how getting an SC question right can require noticing key details, some of which may be issues that are fairly unique to the particular sentence and answer choices.

So generating a high SC hit rate is way more than a matter of learning a whole bunch of grammar rules.

this sentence shows that to get high score on sc, we focus on meaning not on grammar rules. of course, at a very high sc question, gmat do test grammar rules. but it is at very high

I think to get 40 on sc, we need to focus on logic/meaning. this is A GREAT NEWS FOR US, the non native