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GMAT prep 2....

by agarwalva » Sun May 13, 2012 7:16 pm
The first detailed study of magpie attacks in Australia indicates that by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in the country have been attacked by the birds.

a.) by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in the country have been attacked by the birds.
b.) by the time they reach adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women, who were born in the country, had been attacked by the birds
c.) by the time they reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in the country had been attacked by the birds
d.) 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women that were born in the country were attacked by the birds by the time they reach adulthood
e.) 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women who were born in the country, by the time they reached adulthood had been attacked by the birds


OA: C
Last edited by agarwalva on Mon May 14, 2012 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by sam2304 » Sun May 13, 2012 7:39 pm
A - had reached and have been attacked - both are wrong tense here.
B - reach adulthood - wrong
D - that were - wrong usage of that, we should use who for people.
E - Gives awkward meaning.

By the time X reached adulthood, Y had been attacked by X - this is the intended meaning of the sentence we need simple past 'reached' here because it happens after the attack gets over. had been attacked - past perfect continuous is right here because it started long way back and continued till the birds reached adulthood.

IMO C.
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Sun May 13, 2012 8:12 pm
A) Reaching adulthood is the latest event in the sequence, so it doesn't make sense to use past perfect. It also doesn't make sense to use present perfect for an earlier event.

B) Present tense for reaching adulthood is incorrect, and the phrase "born in the country" is crucial to the meaning of the sentence, so we shouldn't set it off with commas.

C) Gets the sequence right. Simple past for "reached adulthood", past perfect for the earlier event "had been attacked."

D) "That" should be "who", and simple past for were attacked and present tense for reaching adulthood are both incorrect.

E) Creates a run-on sentence
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by ice_rush » Sun May 13, 2012 11:27 pm
Hi Bill,

Doesn't GMAT prefer having the antecedent before the pronoun?




thanks!
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by GmatKiss » Mon May 14, 2012 12:45 am
The first detailed study of magpie attacks in Australia indicates that by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in the country have been attacked by the birds.

a.) by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in the country have been attacked by the birds.
b.) by the time they reach adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women, who were born in the country, had been attacked by the birds
c.) by the time they reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in the country had been attacked by the birds
d.) 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women that were born in the country were attacked by the birds by the time they reach adulthood
e.) 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women who were born in the country, by the time they reached adulthood had been attacked by the birds
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by GmatKiss » Mon May 14, 2012 12:49 am
Between B and C
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Mon May 14, 2012 7:30 am
ice_rush wrote:Hi Bill,

Doesn't GMAT prefer having the antecedent before the pronoun?




thanks!
As a general rule, yes, but there are really only two absolute certainties for pronouns:

1. Reference--the antecedent must be in the sentence.
2. Agreement--the antecedent and pronoun must both be plural or singular.
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by Gaurav 2013-fall » Wed May 16, 2012 2:37 am
expect similar questions on GMAT....
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by hailmanyu » Wed May 16, 2012 10:13 pm
Hi Bill

"they reached adulthood" can incorrectly refer to the magpie too. In fact it appears to refer more to the magpies than men/ women since it is "they" is part of same clause as magpies while men/women are in another clause. My take would be that E) is correct, it is not correct but of all it is the best.
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Thu May 17, 2012 7:18 am
"They" is not in the same clause as "magpies":

The first detailed study of magpie attacks in Australia indicates THAT by the time they had reached adulthood, 98 percent of men and 75 percent of women born in the country have been attacked by the birds.

"they" is in a phrase modifying the subject of the second clause, "98 percent of men and 75 percent of women", so we can safely draw that connection.
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