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Daniel Bernoulli derived the famous fluid equation named aft

by Mike@Magoosh » Fri May 02, 2014 10:54 am
Daniel Bernoulli (1700 - 1782) derived the famous fluid equation named after him, to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift, and made a discovery that lead to an early method of measuring blood pressure.
(A) equation named after him, to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift
(B) equation named after him, and this principle explains the lift of an airplane's wing
(C) equation, named it after himself, explained how an airplane's wing is generating lift
(D) equation named for him, giving an explanation of the generation of the lift of an airplane's wing
(E) equation named for him, which explains how an airplane's wing generates lift

GMAT SC is not just about grammar --- it's about logic. Logic is at least as important as, if not more important than, grammar. Folks who approach SC solely in terms of looking for grammatical mistakes will miss the logical problems common in more difficult questions. This question has few, if any, pure grammar problems, but there are a number of logical problems among the answer choices. At this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/logical-sp ... orrection/
you will find (1) a discussion of logic on the GMAT SC questions, (2) three more practice questions of this sort, and (3) the OA & OE of the above question.

Enjoy!
Mike :-)
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by raj44 » Fri May 02, 2014 9:19 pm
Hi,

Though I am not able to figure out the error free option here; I've used elimination techniques to get close to the right option:

A- Looks logically and meaningfully right
B- Distorts the meaning of the sentence
C- Idiomatically incorrect-he is not the one naming the equation himself
D,E- Idiomatic error "named for him" --always it is "named after him"

I'll go with choice A and move on.
Mike@Magoosh wrote:Daniel Bernoulli (1700 - 1782) derived the famous fluid equation named after him, to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift, and made a discovery that lead to an early method of measuring blood pressure.
(A) equation named after him, to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift
(B) equation named after him, and this principle explains the lift of an airplane's wing
(C) equation, named it after himself, explained how an airplane's wing is generating lift
(D) equation named for him, giving an explanation of the generation of the lift of an airplane's wing
(E) equation named for him, which explains how an airplane's wing generates lift

GMAT SC is not just about grammar --- it's about logic. Logic is at least as important as, if not more important than, grammar. Folks who approach SC solely in terms of looking for grammatical mistakes will miss the logical problems common in more difficult questions. This question has few, if any, pure grammar problems, but there are a number of logical problems among the answer choices. At this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/logical-sp ... orrection/
you will find (1) a discussion of logic on the GMAT SC questions, (2) three more practice questions of this sort, and (3) the OA & OE of the above question.

Enjoy!
Mike :-)
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by Mike@Magoosh » Mon May 05, 2014 8:57 am
raj44 wrote:Hi,

Though I am not able to figure out the error free option here; I've used elimination techniques to get close to the right option:

A- Looks logically and meaningfully right
B- Distorts the meaning of the sentence
C- Idiomatically incorrect-he is not the one naming the equation himself
D,E- Idiomatic error "named for him" --always it is "named after him"

I'll go with choice A and move on.
Dear raj44
Both "named after him" and "named for him" are both 100% acceptable idioms.
You are correct that (B) & (C) are wrong. I would suggest taking another look.

Mike :-)
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by aditya8062 » Mon May 05, 2014 10:25 am
I'll go with choice A and move on.
i feel that putting the infinitive in comma's (to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift) is a problem in option A. we can do so if we are putting a list of infinitives in a parallel construction but in A it appears wrong
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by aditya8062 » Mon May 05, 2014 10:37 am
B says : equation named after him, and this principle explains the lift of an airplane's wing

i feel that the construction "and this principle explains the lift of an airplane's wing" breaks the parallelism between "Daniel Bernoulli (1700 - 1782) derived the famous fluid and made a discovery that lead to an early method of measuring blood pressure."

C is wrong because it unnecessarily puts the things in parallel when they are not needed
D is wrong for an awkward modifier:giving an explanation of the generation of the lift of an airplane's wing
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by Mike@Magoosh » Mon May 05, 2014 10:49 am
aditya8062 wrote:
I'll go with choice A and move on.
i feel that putting the infinitive in comma's (to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift) is a problem in option A. we can do so if we are putting a list of infinitives in a parallel construction but in A it appears wrong
Dear aditya8062,
It is not necessary incorrect to set an infinitive phrase off in commas, to add an aside comment, for example. In (A), though, there is a logical problem with the infinitive.
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by aditya8062 » Mon May 05, 2014 9:36 pm
Good day mike
yeah i feel A is not good because it has put the infinitive in commas .can u please elaborate as why this construction is not correct here?
also can u please tell me the kind of construction where infinitives are correct if they are put in commas. one way i know is when we list items in parallel .also other way can be to put an aside, as u have done in your text above. what can be the other ways?
also kindly confirm if my logic of eliminating B C and D correct

thanks and regards
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by raj44 » Tue May 06, 2014 3:23 am
Thanks Mike,

I wasn't aware that named for is also idiomatically correct.

Well now since b,c are both wrong
.. a,e, d remains. ..

E is also incorrect due to the misplaced modifier which..that is supposed to modify the equation but it is modifying bernoulli himself...

Between d and a I am confused...


Mike@Magoosh wrote:
raj44 wrote:Hi,

Though I am not able to figure out the error free option here; I've used elimination techniques to get close to the right option:

A- Looks logically and meaningfully right
B- Distorts the meaning of the sentence
C- Idiomatically incorrect-he is not the one naming the equation himself
D,E- Idiomatic error "named for him" --always it is "named after him"

I'll go with choice A and move on.
Dear raj44
Both "named after him" and "named for him" are both 100% acceptable idioms.
You are correct that (B) & (C) are wrong. I would suggest taking another look.

Mike :-)
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by Mike@Magoosh » Tue May 06, 2014 1:23 pm
aditya8062 wrote:Good day mike
yeah i feel A is not good because it has put the infinitive in commas .can u please elaborate as why this construction is not correct here?
also can u please tell me the kind of construction where infinitives are correct if they are put in commas. one way i know is when we list items in parallel .also other way can be to put an aside, as u have done in your text above. what can be the other ways?
also kindly confirm if my logic of eliminating B C and D correct

thanks and regards
Dear aditya8062,
First of all, I would say it's crucially important to understand the Infinitive of Purpose, one of the most common uses of the infinitive.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/the-infini ... orrection/
Phrase in (A) suggests a purpose that that is logically not possible. Read that blog article, and you may see it.

I would say: your entire question about "when can infinitives correct appear within commas?" is a particularly poor question to be asking. It is not a question that is going to help you on the GMAT SC. The GMAT SC does not test punctuation. Forget about looking at patterns of punctuation to identify right & wrong answers. You have to think about meaning.

For (B), you are correct --- the phrasing interrupts the parallelism of the larger sentence.
For (C), you are correct, there's no reason to go overboard on parallelism, and this one also changes the meaning by suggesting that Bernoulli named the equation after himself.
For (D), you are correct: it's incredibly awkward.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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by Mike@Magoosh » Tue May 06, 2014 1:27 pm
raj44 wrote:Thanks Mike,

I wasn't aware that named for is also idiomatically correct.

Well now since b,c are both wrong
.. a,e, d remains. ..

E is also incorrect due to the misplaced modifier which..that is supposed to modify the equation but it is modifying bernoulli himself...

Between d and a I am confused...
Choice (E) does not have a misplaced modifier. The participial phrase "named for him" is a vital noun modifier that can come between a noun and another modifier. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... modifiers/

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by conquistador » Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:26 am
Daniel Bernoulli (1700 - 1782)
  • derived the famous fluid equation named after him, to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift, and
    made a discovery that led to an early method of measuring blood pressure.


to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift.......seems to modify derivation of equation
Appears to be correct not sure althoug.

B. equation named after him, and this principle explains the lift of an airplane's wing
and this principle refers to equation isntead of Bernoulli principle
use of and in modifier phrase appears incorrect
x and y and z structure is also not proper.

C. equation, named it after himself, explained how an airplane's wing is generating lift
forced parallelism is shown here.
Daniel Bernoulli (1700 - 1782)
  • derived the famous fluid equation,
  • named it after himself,
  • explained how an airplane's wing is generating lift and
  • made a discovery that led to an early method of measuring blood pressure.


All these are not different successive events but interrelated. Incorrect choice.

D. equation named for him, giving an explanation of the generation of the lift of an airplane's wing...........
he derived equation by
  • giving an explanation of wing lift and
    made a discovery

This does not make sense for me.......

E. equation named for him, which explains how an airplane's wing generates lift........equation cannot made a discovery

can someone explain where did I go wrong?
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by Mike@Magoosh » Thu Oct 22, 2015 9:01 am
Mechmeera wrote:Daniel Bernoulli (1700 - 1782)
  • derived the famous fluid equation named after him, to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift, and
    made a discovery that led to an early method of measuring blood pressure.


to explain an airplane's wing's generation of lift.......seems to modify derivation of equation
Appears to be correct not sure althoug.

B. equation named after him, and this principle explains the lift of an airplane's wing
and this principle refers to equation isntead of Bernoulli principle
use of and in modifier phrase appears incorrect
x and y and z structure is also not proper.

C. equation, named it after himself, explained how an airplane's wing is generating lift
forced parallelism is shown here.
Daniel Bernoulli (1700 - 1782)
  • derived the famous fluid equation,
  • named it after himself,
  • explained how an airplane's wing is generating lift and
  • made a discovery that led to an early method of measuring blood pressure.


All these are not different successive events but interrelated. Incorrect choice.

D. equation named for him, giving an explanation of the generation of the lift of an airplane's wing...........
he derived equation by
  • giving an explanation of wing lift and
    made a discovery

This does not make sense for me.......

E. equation named for him, which explains how an airplane's wing generates lift........equation cannot made a discovery

can someone explain where did I go wrong?
Dear Mechmeera,
I'm happy to respond. :-) My friend, you are being a bit too literal, and the GMAT SC punishes thinking that is too literal.

In academic scientific literature, it is common to talk about "equations" or "formulas" or "concepts" or "theories" that "explain" something or "demonstrate" something. I believe there are a couple instances in the OG of SC questions in which something inanimate does some cognitive act in this way---I can't remember which questions at the moment. The official questions are not wildly poetic, but neither are they rigidly concrete.

This structure is perfectly fine, and (E) is the OA.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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by conquistador » Thu Oct 22, 2015 9:49 am
Mike@Magoosh wrote: Dear Mechmeera,
I'm happy to respond. :-) My friend, you are being a bit too literal, and the GMAT SC punishes thinking that is too literal.

In academic scientific literature, it is common to talk about "equations" or "formulas" or "concepts" or "theories" that "explain" something or "demonstrate" something. I believe there are a couple instances in the OG of SC questions in which something inanimate does some cognitive act in this way---I can't remember which questions at the moment. The official questions are not wildly poetic, but neither are they rigidly concrete.

This structure is perfectly fine, and (E) is the OA.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
Daniel Bernoulli (1700 - 1782) derived the famous fluid equation named for him, which explains how an airplane's wing generates lift, and made a discovery that led to an early method of measuring blood pressure.

made a discovery correctly refers to Daniel Bernouli
Thanks Mike
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