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What's your approach for these Longlong SC's?

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What's your approach for these Longlong SC's?

by cyrwr1 » Sun May 15, 2011 1:40 pm
Please time yourself, I completed this in 2:15 and got the correct answer.

The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains


(A) The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

(B) The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing- Tibet highway reportedly was caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute along with the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

C) The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly was caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

(D) A spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains reportedly have caused the recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway


(E) Heavy truck movement carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as the delayed response by the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains reportedly were the cause of the recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway




OA : C
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by smackmartine » Sun May 15, 2011 2:47 pm
IMO C

Completed in 1:17 min.

Approach:

When I see a long sentence ,that too all underlined.. I expect A to be correct . Logic is that GMAT wants you to read every single line or kill your time , and it tries to trap you.

So I look for subject-verb agreement first. Then I check whether it is a complete sentence.

A) spate ----> look for singular verb --> not in the sentence --> eliminate.

only B and C have "WAS".
Then I checked whether they are complete sentences.

Sometime you can almost read two sentences simultaneously if they are similar in structure. (Only differences are "along with" and "as well as")

I know COMMA should precede "along with" --> eliminated B

Lets verify D and E.

D) passive & awkward --> eliminated
E) passive & awkward ---> eliminated
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by atulmangal » Sun May 15, 2011 7:34 pm
cyrwr1 wrote:Please time yourself, I completed this in 2:15 and got the correct answer.

The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains


(A) The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

(B) The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing- Tibet highway reportedly was caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute along with the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

C) The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly was caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

(D) A spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains reportedly have caused the recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway


(E) Heavy truck movement carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as the delayed response by the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains reportedly were the cause of the recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway




OA : C
See this thing:

spurt in traffic causes the spate of traffic jams. -----> Active voice structure (A->B)

if u want to make the object of the above sentence to a subject then:

the spate of traffic jams was caused spurt in traffic. ----> passive voice (B was caused by A)

So, u see, we actually need a passive voice construction, because the sub is the receiver of the action. Diff b/w Op A and Op B,C is this same. Op A uses Active voice which is wrong this context. Drop A.

Op D has sub-verb agreement error.

A spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains reportedly have caused the recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway

Op E---> this structure is awkward and distorts the whole meaning.

B/w Op B and Op C...i choose "as well as" over "along with"....why...well my thinking is the two items connected are of different domain, they have no logical relationship...that's why...not sure about the comma rule suggested by a fellow mate in above post.


Strategy:

Same, u have to look for splits and here u actually got Op B and Op C are similar in structure. keep them aside. Check for Sub-verb error, always at least one op contains either this error or most of the times as per my exp. Modifier errors are very prone in such questions (completely underlined). Always suspect out of league looking choice like here Op E...its starts in a completely different fashion.

Guessing strategy: if not sure and have to make a blind guess then pick the one which is similar in structure, for ex here pick b/w Op B or Op C.

Hope this help!!!
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by atulmangal » Sun May 15, 2011 7:38 pm
@smackmartine

I don't think this is correct.
A) spate ----> look for singular verb --> not in the sentence --> eliminate.

only B and C have "WAS".
Then I checked whether they are complete sentences.


The verb in Op A is CAUSED, so there is no point of saying sing/ plu thing. I feel the problem is the active voice const. which is wrong here...read my above post. If u find anything wrong...please share otherwise please justify your point.
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by smackmartine » Sun May 15, 2011 8:55 pm
atulmangal wrote:@smackmartine

I don't think this is correct.
A) spate ----> look for singular verb --> not in the sentence --> eliminate.

only B and C have "WAS".
Then I checked whether they are complete sentences.


The verb in Op A is CAUSED, so there is no point of saying sing/ plu thing. I feel the problem is the active voice const. which is wrong here...read my above post. If u find anything wrong...please share otherwise please justify your point.
@atulmangal

In op A , I think "Caused" is not the main verb of subject "The spate" , but rather "caused by......" is a modifier. Here "by" definitely indicates that its a modifier.

If you consider "Caused" main verb , the sentence seems incomplete.

If "Caused" were the main verb (without "by") the sentence would read as :

The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused a spurt in traffic .......... (which is a complete sentence at least. It might not be logical though).

So we need a main verb such as "WAS"

Correct me if I am wrong.
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by atulmangal » Sun May 15, 2011 9:05 pm
smackmartine wrote:
atulmangal wrote:@smackmartine

I don't think this is correct.
A) spate ----> look for singular verb --> not in the sentence --> eliminate.

only B and C have "WAS".
Then I checked whether they are complete sentences.


The verb in Op A is CAUSED, so there is no point of saying sing/ plu thing. I feel the problem is the active voice const. which is wrong here...read my above post. If u find anything wrong...please share otherwise please justify your point.

In op A , I think "Caused" is not the main verb of subject "The spate" , but rather "caused by......" is a modifier. Here "by" definitely indicates that its a modifier.

If you consider "Caused" main verb , the sentence seems incomplete. (Its an incomplete passive voice sentence)

If "Caused" were the main verb (without "by") the sentence would read as :

The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused a spurt in traffic .......... (which is a complete sentence at least. It might not be logical though).

Correct me if I am wrong.
If "caused by" is a modifier than in OA op C also, "caused by" is a modifier and WAS will be the MAIN VERB not "was caused"...right??? well as per my knowledge, VERBS either represent an ACTION (change) or STATE and the VERBS like IS, ARE, WAS, WERE etc represents STATE...here though m not 100% sure but i believe we are defining an ACTION not STATE so saying that WAS is the MAIN VERB seems incorrect to me....thats why i think WAS CAUSED is the MAIN VERB and the sentence is in PASSIVE VOICE as required.

Your point is strong, i hope some expert will shed some light in this context, it gonna be good as learning point of view.

Regards
Atul
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by smackmartine » Sun May 15, 2011 9:11 pm
atulmangal wrote:
smackmartine wrote:
atulmangal wrote:@smackmartine

I don't think this is correct.
A) spate ----> look for singular verb --> not in the sentence --> eliminate.

only B and C have "WAS".
Then I checked whether they are complete sentences.


The verb in Op A is CAUSED, so there is no point of saying sing/ plu thing. I feel the problem is the active voice const. which is wrong here...read my above post. If u find anything wrong...please share otherwise please justify your point.

In op A , I think "Caused" is not the main verb of subject "The spate" , but rather "caused by......" is a modifier. Here "by" definitely indicates that its a modifier.

If you consider "Caused" main verb , the sentence seems incomplete. (Its an incomplete passive voice sentence)

If "Caused" were the main verb (without "by") the sentence would read as :

The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused a spurt in traffic .......... (which is a complete sentence at least. It might not be logical though).

Correct me if I am wrong.
If "caused by" is a modifier than in OA op C also, "caused by" is a modifier and WAS will be the MAIN VERB not "was caused"...right??? well as per my knowledge, VERBS either represent an ACTION (change) or STATE and the VERBS like IS, ARE, WAS, WERE etc represents STATE...here though m not 100% sure but i believe we are defining an ACTION not STATE so saying that WAS is the MAIN VERB seems incorrect to me....thats why i think WAS CAUSED is the MAIN VERB and the sentence is in PASSIVE VOICE as required.

Your point is strong, i hope some expert will shed some light in this context, it gonna be good as learning point of view.

Regards
Atul
You are correct that main verb should be "WAS CAUSED" ( because the sentence is passive) . . Option A is simply an incomplete passive sentence.
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by atulmangal » Sun May 15, 2011 9:39 pm
smackmartine wrote:
atulmangal wrote:
smackmartine wrote:
atulmangal wrote:@smackmartine

I don't think this is correct.
A) spate ----> look for singular verb --> not in the sentence --> eliminate.

only B and C have "WAS".
Then I checked whether they are complete sentences.


The verb in Op A is CAUSED, so there is no point of saying sing/ plu thing. I feel the problem is the active voice const. which is wrong here...read my above post. If u find anything wrong...please share otherwise please justify your point.

In op A , I think "Caused" is not the main verb of subject "The spate" , but rather "caused by......" is a modifier. Here "by" definitely indicates that its a modifier.

If you consider "Caused" main verb , the sentence seems incomplete. (Its an incomplete passive voice sentence)

If "Caused" were the main verb (without "by") the sentence would read as :

The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused a spurt in traffic .......... (which is a complete sentence at least. It might not be logical though).

Correct me if I am wrong.
If "caused by" is a modifier than in OA op C also, "caused by" is a modifier and WAS will be the MAIN VERB not "was caused"...right??? well as per my knowledge, VERBS either represent an ACTION (change) or STATE and the VERBS like IS, ARE, WAS, WERE etc represents STATE...here though m not 100% sure but i believe we are defining an ACTION not STATE so saying that WAS is the MAIN VERB seems incorrect to me....thats why i think WAS CAUSED is the MAIN VERB and the sentence is in PASSIVE VOICE as required.

Your point is strong, i hope some expert will shed some light in this context, it gonna be good as learning point of view.

Regards
Atul
You are correct that main verb should be "WAS CAUSED" ( because the sentence is passive) . . Option A is simply an incomplete passive sentence.
you are suggesting that OP A is actually a fragment as it contain no VERB right...This is where i'm not 100% sure...in Op A, notice this adverb "reportedly"...if caused is a verb then "reportedly" modify VERB and that's what adverbs do..right....but if caused by...is a modifier..then what kind of modifier is this (adverbial etc etc...)...and is this word reportedly modifying that whole modifier???
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by ankurmit » Sun May 15, 2011 10:17 pm
atulmangal wrote:
cyrwr1 wrote:Please time yourself, I completed this in 2:15 and got the correct answer.

The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains


(A) The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

(B) The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing- Tibet highway reportedly was caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute along with the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

C) The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly was caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

(D) A spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains reportedly have caused the recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway


(E) Heavy truck movement carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as the delayed response by the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains reportedly were the cause of the recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway




OA : C
See this thing:

spurt in traffic causes the spate of traffic jams. -----> Active voice structure (A->B)

if u want to make the object of the above sentence to a subject then:

the spate of traffic jams was caused spurt in traffic. ----> passive voice (B was caused by A)

So, u see, we actually need a passive voice construction, because the sub is the receiver of the action. Diff b/w Op A and Op B,C is this same. Op A uses Active voice which is wrong this context. Drop A.

Op D has sub-verb agreement error.

A spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains reportedly have caused the recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway

Op E---> this structure is awkward and distorts the whole meaning.

B/w Op B and Op C...i choose "as well as" over "along with"....why...well my thinking is the two items connected are of different domain, they have no logical relationship...that's why...not sure about the comma rule suggested by a fellow mate in above post.


Strategy:

Same, u have to look for splits and here u actually got Op B and Op C are similar in structure. keep them aside. Check for Sub-verb error, always at least one op contains either this error or most of the times as per my exp. Modifier errors are very prone in such questions (completely underlined). Always suspect out of league looking choice like here Op E...its starts in a completely different fashion.

Guessing strategy: if not sure and have to make a blind guess then pick the one which is similar in structure, for ex here pick b/w Op B or Op C.

Hope this help!!!
I am also confused between B and C.
Can anyone explain here why C is a better choice.
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by bubbliiiiiiii » Mon May 16, 2011 1:17 am
I know COMMA should precede "along with" --> eliminated B
I just read somewhere in this thread that some one needs clarification on this.

Yes, along with should be preceeded by a comma. The reason is, along with is an additive phrase and an additive phrase, except AND, acts as modifiers.

Since, modifiers should always be guarded by commas, along with needs a comma before it.

Other such additive phrases are as long as, including, together with, accompanied by, in addition to, etc.

Hope it helps.
Regards,

Pranay
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by cyrwr1 » Mon May 16, 2011 6:33 am
What I did to eliminate the answer choices:
A) It is a run-on sentence lacking "was" in front of "caused"
Rephrase The recent spate of traffic jams as " The recent spike in traffic"
E) This choice is incorrect as "along with"(an additve phrase) keeps it singular with the "were"
D) is just terribly worded

That Leaves B and C
C>B in the sense that:
1)Both are similarly worded and correctly uses the simple past , "caused by"
2) BUT B is not parallel on close reading.


The recent spate of traffic jams was caused by A ..... as well as by B
Hence, C
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by niksworth » Mon May 16, 2011 7:22 am
Atul, you are over-analyzing and getting lost in grammar jargon.
atulmangal wrote:
you are suggesting that OP A is actually a fragment as it contain no VERB right...This is where i'm not 100% sure...in Op A, notice this adverb "reportedly"...if caused is a verb then "reportedly" modify VERB and that's what adverbs do..right....but if caused by...is a modifier..then what kind of modifier is this (adverbial etc etc...)...and is this word reportedly modifying that whole modifier???
Smackmartine has correctly pointed out that option A lacks a main verb.

The recent spate of traffic jams on Beijing-Tibet highway reportedly caused by a spurt in traffic by heavy trucks carrying coal and heading to Beijing as part of the illegal trade in coal that has flourished due to lack of government control enroute as well as by the delayed response of the maintenance agencies to undertake timely repairs to the roads damaged in the recent incessant rains

The yellow colored parts are prepositional phrases acting as modifiers.

The core of the sentence A is simply -
The recent spate of traffic jams reportedly caused by a spurt in traffic

As is evident now, this is simply a sentence fragment without a main verb. To correct this, we need a helping verb was

The recent spate of traffic jams reportedly was caused by a spurt in traffic (Option C)
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