Sentence Correction

Verbal rules GMAT

used/would and use/will for "if" clause

One of the X who/that Y...
One of the 'Noun' (will always be plural) + that/who + Plural Verb
Examples : He is one of the persons who make money.
This is one of the cars that belong to him.
This is one of the cars that run on hydrogen.

However, please do not confuse this construction with the one below:
One of the chairs is broken (not 'are broken')
The structure for such questions is:
One of the 'Noun' (will always be plural)+Singular Verb (usually 'is')

Use of Consider: When 'consider' means 'regard as', 'as' should not be present with 'consider' in the sentence. Consider must directly be followed by the sentence WITHOUT an infinitive 'to be' etc.


Correct: He recommended that each driver report his tips.
His father demanded that he return home by 9 PM.

Each of these gods "HAS" pros and cons - always singular for each of
Each of which 'requires' - Each of which is always singular!

Q) Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required of firms to survive in the electronics industry

which can come as a non essential part only and should be followed by a comma here.

Due to vs because

Due to MUST describe a noun.
'Due to' must DESCRIBE a noun. it is commonly used in speech to describe entire clauses/sentences/ideas, but
that usage is wrong in the written language.
e.g.
unemployment due to offshoring is rising in factory towns. <-- here, "due to..." describes "unemployment"
much of the unemployment in factory towns is due to offshoring.
BUT
James was late due to the traffic <-- this is incorrect; you can't use "due to..." to describe an entire
sentence/clause (such as "James was late").

"due to" means "caused by".
if you can't replace "due to" with "caused by", then it's wrong.

OK: analysts have been predicting X because of the economy's continued strength.
vs
NO: analysts have been predicting X CAUSED BY the economy's continued strength.
for instance:
i was late due to the construction --> incorrect (because you can't say "i was late caused by the construction")
i was late because of the construction --> correct.
--
in general, "due to" only applies to nouns, since it means "caused by". for instance, the traffic jam was due to an obstruction in the left lane or the traffic jam due to the obstruction in the left lane caused 30-minute delay.

2.a) Because
"because" connects two complete sentences (clauses). the sentence coming after "because" should actually be the
cause of what is described in the other one.
e.g.
Because the bridge was closed, the morning rush hour lasted two extra hours.
The morning rush hour lasted two extra hours because the bridge was closed.

As for "because" vs "because of", we use "because" when we have a dependent clause. In choice A, we have a subject (oversupply) and a verb (has sent), so it works. With "because of," we only need a noun.

because "of" is a preposition and its object should be a noun.

Despite - Despite is a proposition and needs to be followed by a noun, and although is a conjunction and needs to be followed by a clause

Instead of vs. Rather than

1. It is already pointed out that "instead of" compares two nouns
e.g I decided to order ice-cream instead of coffee.
"rather than" can compare nouns or verbs e.g. I decided to write rather than call/calling.
2. There's another thing that subtly differentiates the two: "instead of" and "rather than". Experts please correct me if I'm wrong here: "rather than" shows preference of one thing or the other whereas "instead of" suggests replacement of a noun or an action noun with something else
e.g.I prefer starting early rather than leaving things to the last minute.
I'll have tea instead of coffee, please.


Q) According to public health officials, in 1998 Massachusetts became the first state in which more babies were born to women over the age of thirty than under it.
A. than
B. than born
C. that they were
D. than there had been
E. than had been born
Under it refers to under the age of thirty.
A - Parallel. Over the age Vs under it. It refers to "age of thirty"
B - Not parallel. Eliminate
C - same as B. They could refer to women or babies. Eliminate
D - Not parallel . There refers to ? . Eliminate
E - Not parallel. Eliminate

Point - Something is doing this, but also doing the opposite......not only, but also construction has the same positive/negatives. However, 'Something is, but also is" has opposite meanings.

Point - the gmat tends to write sentences in which "which" stands for the ELIGIBLE noun that's closest to the comma.
here's an example:
by "eligible", i mean that the noun has to AGREE IN TERMS OF SINGULAR/PLURAL with the FOLLOWING VERB.
Eg: - the box of nails, which is on the counter, is to be used on this p
se, "which" CANNOT refer to "nails", since the verb "is" is singular. therefore, the nearest eligible noun is "box (of nails)". so, "which" unambiguously stands for that.

Parallelism
Remember the parallelism is always 'not by, but by' / 'not only, but also' and so on. It is never 'not by but are by'.
Point - If one clause is active, then the other clause should also be active, and if one clause is passive, the other one should also be passive.
Point - Eg: .....were trained "to respect Simplicity, be austere and observe..."
Point - Parallelism dictates the objects of the main verb 'determine' be in the same form introduced with an interrogative pronoun 'when'. For example, 'which' and 'what' and 'where' and'how'. We shouldn't use 'that' parallel to that interrogative pronoun.

Point - Prepositional phrase following the verb distort the sentence
Point- Coordinating conjunctions like 'and' and'although' etc. introduce a clause which should contain a subject and a main verb
'but' can be used .
a) as a conjunction, to join contrasting ideas; as a coordinating conjunction, used to join to ICs. Here,
b) as a preposition, can mean except ( Everybody came but John) ;
c) ', but without success' is an adverbial modifier, modifying the preceding clause- an event.

Point - Studies show "that" something is .... We need 'that' after studies. Cannot use 'Show X as Y', we need a 'to be' verb like 'Show X to be Y'.

Q) Despite the criticism in the aryl 1890's question....
the following question is from gmatprep question pack 1. in my point of view, the event is from the past so future tense does not work here, B is out. conditional "would" is used with present verb form "use", which is incorrect so A is out. D is just wordy. in E "diminishing" incorrectly modifies journalist. correct me if i am wrong or is there another way to attack this question.
That's an impressive review of this problem! The tense issue is the big problem in A/B here both within the clause, use/would and use/will, and in the sentence as a whole, present tense "use" where "used" is required. D and E both have a modifier problem because "of the..." is modifying 1890s instead of criticism. Also, D contains the word "being", which is almost never used correctly on the GMAT.


Point - Participial phrases are set off by a comma
Point - all constructions built on preposition + "which" - such as of which, from which, some of which, with which, etc. - must be used in the same way as "which" itself.


Subject - verb agreement

Point - "Rising rates..." is not a gerund. "Rising" is simply an adjective (participle) modifying the NOUN rates. Gerund's are when the "-ing" word ITSELF is the noun: "The rising of the sun is beautiful", or "The running of the bulls is a lot of fun." See how, in those examples, "rising" and "running" are the actual nouns?

If an -ing word modifies another noun, we call it a participle, which is functionally an adjective (like a gerund is functionally a noun): "The rising tide is coming." "The flying monkeys are going to eat us!" etc.

Q) The number of people flying first class on domestic flights rose sharply in 1990, doubling the increase of the the previous year.

a. doubling the increase of
b. doubling that of the increase in
c. double as much as the increase of
d. twice as many as the increase in
e. twice as many as the increase of
in this case, you can't use "..., twice as many as...", because that's an appositive modifier. appositives must modify some noun that comes IMMEDIATELY before the comma, which in this case would have to be whatever figure is twice whatever other figure. since no such figure is given, you can't use this construction.

so, A, B or C

by contrast, the -ING FOLLOWED BY A COMMA modifies the entire action of the preceding clause. this is exactly what you want to happen, because the actual rising of the # of people flying first class is what "doubled the increase of...". there's no noun in there that pinpoints this concept, so you have to use a modifier that modifies the entire clause.


I will be adding more as I go along.