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Tough nut !

by himu » Sun Mar 23, 2014 7:26 pm
Among the important themes that characterize Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, and varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony


A. Among the important themes that characterize Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, and varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony
B. Among the important themes that characterize Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, and intermittent aggression from northern aliens, together with varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony
C. The important themes that characterize Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, along with varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony
D. Among the important themes of Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony that characterize its history
E. The important theme that characterizes Chinese history is the pattern of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, along with varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony
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by neptune28 » Sun Mar 23, 2014 8:06 pm
This sentence is rather convoluted, isn't it? :)

In A), the two "and"s close to the end muddle things up.

In B), it makes no sense to put a comma followed by "and" after "fall."

C) changes the meaning a bit by leaving out "among," and also lacks a connective "and."

E) has all the problems of C), including one more: strangely changing "themes" to be singular.

-----------------------------
D) has nothing obviously wrong with it, and also avoids the awkward "along with" and "together with" from some of the other choices.

Next time, you might want to try a nut with a softer shell, such as a peanut. ;)
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by [email protected] » Sun Mar 23, 2014 10:01 pm
Hi himu,

You're likely to see an SC on Test Day that is completely underlined - these types of prompts are usually based on Modification or Parallelism rules.

You should notice a "list" of ideas presented in the original prompt; we'll need to use Parallelism rules to make sure that all of the ideas are presented in the same way.

Each of the 4 wrong answers includes something that's NOT parallel with the other ideas:

Answer A: the extra "and" (in the phrase "and varying degrees of openness...")
Answer B: the extra "and" (in the phrase "and intermittent aggression..."
Answer C: the phrase "along with"
Answer E: the phrase "along with"

While there are other aspects that some of the wrong answers incorrect, this one rule allows us to eliminate ALL of the wrong answers.

Final Answer: D

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by aditya8062 » Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:37 am
it cannot be D because according to D it is the dynamics of stability and social harmony that characterize its history .this is not the intended meaning !
the intended meaning is about the themes that characterize Chinese history
i feel that B should be the answer
the core of B is as follow : Among the important themes that characterize Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, and intermittent aggression from northern aliens, together with varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:12 am
All around a bad sentence, but I don't think D is the best option. The phrase "that characterize its history " at its end is redundant because we're discussing "important themes that characterize its history".

If forced, I'd choose B. In the first part:

patterns of
1. dynastic rise and fall

and

2. intermittent aggression from northern aliens.

I don't think the comma before the second "and" is strictly necessary, but it's not incorrect. It serves to make the distinction between the two parts more obvious.

The second part:

together with
1. varying degrees of openness

and

2. the dynamics of stability

Not bad.


I think it makes sense to split the sentence like this because you have two distinct themes. First, the historical: rise and fall of dynasties, intermittent aggression. Second, the cultural: degrees of openness, dynamics of stability. [/b]
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by conquistador » Mon Sep 21, 2015 1:15 pm
Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:All around a bad sentence, but I don't think D is the best option. The phrase "that characterize its history " at its end is redundant because we're discussing "important themes that characterize its history".

If forced, I'd choose B. In the first part:

patterns of
1. dynastic rise and fall

and

2. intermittent aggression from northern aliens.

I don't think the comma before the second "and" is strictly necessary, but it's not incorrect. It serves to make the distinction between the two parts more obvious.

The second part:

together with
1. varying degrees of openness

and

2. the dynamics of stability

Not bad.


I think it makes sense to split the sentence like this because you have two distinct themes. First, the historical: rise and fall of dynasties, intermittent aggression. Second, the cultural: degrees of openness, dynamics of stability. [/b]
I'm unaware of this historical and cultural themes.
Is it necessary to have the knowledge regarding them to solve this SC question.
can someone explain why D is wrong and B is correct.
Last edited by conquistador on Wed Sep 23, 2015 9:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Sep 23, 2015 4:17 am
himu wrote:Among the important themes that characterize Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, and varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony


A. Among the important themes that characterize Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, and varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony
B. Among the important themes that characterize Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, and intermittent aggression from northern aliens, together with varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony
C. The important themes that characterize Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, along with varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony
D. Among the important themes of Chinese history are the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony that characterize its history
E. The important theme that characterizes Chinese history is the pattern of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens, along with varying degrees of openness to outside cultural influences and the dynamics of stability and social harmony
A: Among the important themes are the patterns...intermittent aggression...and varying degrees...and the dynamics.
Here, the and in red is unnecessary.
Eliminate A.

B: aggression...together with...stability.
Here, aggression and stability occur TOGETHER.
This meaning is contradictory.
Eliminate B.

C: the patterns of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens
E: the pattern of dynastic rise and fall, intermittent aggression from northern aliens
In these options, the two noun phrases must be connected by a conjunction such as and.
Eliminate C and E.

D: its history
Here, its is intended to refer to China -- as in CHINA'S history -- but the noun China does not appear earlier in the sentence.
As a result, its lacks an antecedent.
Eliminate D.

There is no correct answer here.
Ignore this SC.
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