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by mandeepak » Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:55 am
Question 1
-------------
Inuits of the Bering Sea were in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than Aleuts or Inuits of the North Pacific and northern Alaska.

(A) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than

(B) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than

(C) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than were

(D) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than were

(E) in isolation and without contacts with Europeans longer than

Correct answer is C. Why is C incorrect

Question 2
------------

The physical structure of the human eye enables it to sense light of wavelengths up to 0.0005 millimeters; infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength—0.1 millimeters—is too long to be registered by the eye.

(A) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength—0.1 millimeters—is too long to be registered by the eye

(B) however, the wavelength of infrared radiation—0.1 millimeters—is too long to be registered by the eye making it invisible

(C) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength—0.1 millimeters—is too long for the eye to register it

(D) however, because the wavelength of infrared radiation is 0.1 millimeters, it is too long for the eye to register and thus invisible

(E) however, infrared radiation has a wavelength of 0.1 millimeters that is too long for the eye to register, thus making it invisible

Correct Answer is A, Why is E incorrect
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by pahwa » Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:45 pm
request you to pls underline the part of sentence under scanner.
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by Danielle » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:16 am
Question 1.
The answer is B. C is wrong because 'in isolation' places an unnecessary preposition, "in" between the two words in the phrase 'were isolated'. Once you realize that 'in isolation' is wrong, you can choose between answer choices B and D, and D has 'were' at the end, which is wrong. It shouldn't be included at all.

Question 2.
E is incorrect because in that answer choice the phrase is set up as two independent phrases, with incorrect punctuation. 'however, infrared radiation has a wavelength of 0.1 millimeters' is one independent phrase, and 'that is too long for the eye to register, thus making it invisible' is the second independent phrase. In this answer, there is NO punctuation between these two phrases, when it is clear that they either should be separated by a semicolon or a period. Add that to the fact that the example sentence already has a semicolon set-up, this sentence would be cumbersome and not concise even with the right punctuation.
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by ranji » Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:53 am
Inuits of the Bering Sea were in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than Aleuts or Inuits of the North Pacific and northern Alaska.

I am confused between B and D again.

B says "inuits were isolated from contact with europeans longer than Aleutus ....."

is it parallel? should'nt the comparison be between time frame inuits were isolated and the time frame aleutus were isolated.

In that case,

D says "inuits were isolated from contact with europeans longer than were Aleutus .....", which seems to correctly compare the time frames..

please clarify on the same please..I need to make sure that I am analyzing correctly! got to beat the verbal!!
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by Danielle » Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:40 am
B is correct because it is parallel -- the 'were' part of the expression is silent at the end. This is an idiomatic usage you'll see often in English, i.e.:
Inuits of the Bering Sea were isolated from contact with Europeans longer than Aleuts or Inuits of the North Pacific and northern Alaska were isolated.

Because "were isolated" is a dangling participle, it is not written, its meaning is implied. If you look at the first part of the example, 'Inuits of the Bering Sea were isolated', then B is parallel. D places 'were' before 'Aleuts, etc' and that's out of order from the first part of the sentence technically.

Is that more helpful to you?
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by muks » Sat Nov 03, 2007 4:42 am
I'll prefer D in Q1. I think the presence of "were" makes it more clear.
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by Danielle » Sat Nov 03, 2007 7:18 am
Alright mandeepak, what's the real OA on Q1? It's obviously a typo there! Looks like this one won't be settled until we know what the OA is...
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by mandeepak » Sun Nov 04, 2007 12:14 am
OA - B
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ambiguity

by resilient » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:13 pm
choice c is ambigous however isnt choice a (solution) ambiguous also? in hcoice a we have a ITS but we dont know if it refers to the eye, structure, sense or light? I understand what the intention of the sentence is but overall the sentence solution is also ambiguous! Can someone explain the ambiguity!?
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by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:08 pm
Where is the question from?

I'd have definitely gone with (d), because (b) is ambiguous - we could imply a "were" at the end, or we could imply a "than" in the middle, which would give the sentence 2 completely different meanings.

In other words, without explicit language the comparison is ambiguous. One is not allowed to omit words if the meaning is thereby rendered unclear.

In fact, I'd have bet a fair sum of money that (d) is correct!
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by resilient » Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:17 pm
The physical structure of the human eye enables it to sense light of wavelengths up to 0.0005 millimeters; infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength—0.1 millimeters—is too long to be registered by the eye.

(A) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength—0.1 millimeters—is too long to be registered by the eye

(B) however, the wavelength of infrared radiation—0.1 millimeters—is too long to be registered by the eye making it invisible

(C) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength—0.1 millimeters—is too long for the eye to register it

(D) however, because the wavelength of infrared radiation is 0.1 millimeters, it is too long for the eye to register and thus invisible

(E) however, infrared radiation has a wavelength of 0.1 millimeters that is too long for the eye to register, thus making it invisible

Correct Answer is A, Why is E incorrect


this question come from og verbal question # 107
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by rey.fernandez » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:42 pm
Inuits of the Bering Sea were in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than Aleuts or Inuits of the North Pacific and northern Alaska.

(A) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than

(B) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than

(C) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than were

(D) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than were

(E) in isolation and without contacts with Europeans longer than
I agree with Stuart. D is correct because it makes it clear that the Inuits of the Bering Sea were in isolation from Europeans longer than the Aleuts or other Inuits were in isolation from Europeans. Without the "were," we could interpret the sentence to mean that the Inuits of the Bering Sea were in isolation from Europeans longer than the Inuits were in isolation from the Aleuts and other Inuits.
The physical structure of the human eye enables it to sense light of wavelengths up to 0.0005 millimeters; infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength—0.1 millimeters—is too long to be registered by the eye.

(A) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength—0.1 millimeters—is too long to be registered by the eye

(B) however, the wavelength of infrared radiation—0.1 millimeters—is too long to be registered by the eye making it invisible

(C) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength—0.1 millimeters—is too long for the eye to register it

(D) however, because the wavelength of infrared radiation is 0.1 millimeters, it is too long for the eye to register and thus invisible

(E) however, infrared radiation has a wavelength of 0.1 millimeters that is too long for the eye to register, thus making it invisible

Correct Answer is A, Why is E incorrect
One reason E is incorrect because of the ambiguous "it" that ends the sentence.
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by sumanr84 » Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:37 am
rey.fernandez wrote:
Inuits of the Bering Sea were in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than Aleuts or Inuits of the North Pacific and northern Alaska.

(A) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than

(B) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than

(C) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than were

(D) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than were

(E) in isolation and without contacts with Europeans longer than
I agree with Stuart. D is correct because it makes it clear that the Inuits of the Bering Sea were in isolation from Europeans longer than the Aleuts or other Inuits were in isolation from Europeans. Without the "were," we could interpret the sentence to mean that the Inuits of the Bering Sea were in isolation from Europeans longer than the Inuits were in isolation from the Aleuts and other Inuits.
OG says - " In isolation from" is not the correct idiom. Isolated from is correctly used in this sentence in option D.
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by adi_800 » Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:02 am
prefer verb to noun..
isolation -> noun.
isolate -> verb.
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by reply2spg » Tue Jul 27, 2010 12:20 pm
For first Question IMO D is correct and same has clarified by Stuart.

GMAT prefers 'isolated' over 'in isolation of'. Down to B and D

I was bit curious to know why we need 'were' at the end, however, I got the answer and yes, we must need were in the end for the clarity of the meaning

without 'were' sentence will be

Inuits were isolated from contact with Europeans longer than Aleuts or Inuits - this sentece is very confusing in meaning. we are not sure whether Europeans or Aleuts or Inuits are of the same group?

However, if we mention 'were' then we compare Inuits isolation with Aleuts isolation, and inuits and Aleuts are of the same group
mandeepak wrote:Question 1
-------------
Inuits of the Bering Sea were in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than Aleuts or Inuits of the North Pacific and northern Alaska.

(A) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than

(B) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than

(C) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than were

(D) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than were

(E) in isolation and without contacts with Europeans longer than

Correct answer is C. Why is C incorrect

Question 2
------------

The physical structure of the human eye enables it to sense light of wavelengths up to 0.0005 millimeters; infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength?0.1 millimeters?is too long to be registered by the eye.

(A) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength?0.1 millimeters?is too long to be registered by the eye

(B) however, the wavelength of infrared radiation?0.1 millimeters?is too long to be registered by the eye making it invisible

(C) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength?0.1 millimeters?is too long for the eye to register it

(D) however, because the wavelength of infrared radiation is 0.1 millimeters, it is too long for the eye to register and thus invisible

(E) however, infrared radiation has a wavelength of 0.1 millimeters that is too long for the eye to register, thus making it invisible

Correct Answer is A, Why is E incorrect
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