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by shrutee » Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:20 pm
Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuation in the financial market.

A)so gradual as to be indistinguishable

B)so gradual that they can be indistinguishable

C)so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished

D)gradual enough not to be distinguishable

E)gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them
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by navami » Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:02 pm
[spoiler]IMO C

A sounds wrong to me[/spoiler]
This time no looking back!!!
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by gunjan1208 » Sun Sep 25, 2011 8:05 pm
C for me too!!
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by 1947 » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:34 pm
A for me...it looks clear n concise
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:53 pm
shrutee wrote:Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuation in the financial market.

A)so gradual as to be indistinguishable

B)so gradual that they can be indistinguishable

C)so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished

D)gradual enough not to be distinguishable

E)gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them
It's A.

It's an idiom - the construction so+adjective has three possible correct continuations:

so....as to
example: A above. ...So gradual as to be indistinguishable.

so....that + clause
example: ...So gradual that they are indistinguishable.

so....,(nothing)
example: ...so gradual, they are indistinguishable.

C is awkward and opens up a possible illogical meaning: "unable to be distinguished" implies a will or intent by the shifts to be distinguished - as if the shifts "want" to be distinguished, but "are unable" to - which is complete foolishness.

Don't let something that "sounds bad" direct you away from logic - I suspect that those who chose C probably knew deep down that they were choosing the wrong answer, but chose it anyway because they did not know the construction in A. The devil you know is not always better than the devil you don't.
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by mankey » Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:52 am
@Geva: I have problem with A, so...as to be, brings about an intent in the economic shifts to be indistinguishable, which is really not the case. I would prefer B, which makes more sense.

Please comment.

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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:15 pm
mankey wrote:@Geva: I have problem with A, so...as to be, brings about an intent in the economic shifts to be indistinguishable, which is really not the case. I would prefer B, which makes more sense.

Please comment.

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It doesn't imply any intent ("the light is so bright as to blind the viewer" does not imply any intent by the light to blind), but it's an idiom, which means that the argument is pointless - there are no rules here - it's just ok the way it is. B is also grammatically correct, it's just longer and less concise that A.
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by shrutee » Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:34 pm
i think option B distorts the meaning of the sentence.Is the phrase "can be indistinguishable" correct?
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by tanviet » Mon Oct 10, 2011 4:08 am
Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:
shrutee wrote:Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuation in the financial market.

A)so gradual as to be indistinguishable

B)so gradual that they can be indistinguishable

C)so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished

D)gradual enough not to be distinguishable

E)gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them
It's A.

It's an idiom - the construction so+adjective has three possible correct continuations:

so....as to
example: A above. ...So gradual as to be indistinguishable.

so....that + clause
example: ...So gradual that they are indistinguishable.

so....,(nothing)
example: ...so gradual, they are indistinguishable.

C is awkward and opens up a possible illogical meaning: "unable to be distinguished" implies a will or intent by the shifts to be distinguished - as if the shifts "want" to be distinguished, but "are unable" to - which is complete foolishness.

Don't let something that "sounds bad" direct you away from logic - I suspect that those who chose C probably knew deep down that they were choosing the wrong answer, but chose it anyway because they did not know the construction in A. The devil you know is not always better than the devil you don't.
pls, help. Is B wrong because B changes the meaning of A from fact to "can "?
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by sungoal » Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:56 am
Hi Shrutee,

Please post the question from the reliable source. In the original GMATPrep question, option B is different.

so gradual so that they can be indistinguishable

Please don't tweak the original options in case you did. It unnecessarily creates the confusion.
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by tanviet » Mon Oct 10, 2011 6:52 pm
Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:
shrutee wrote:Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuation in the financial market.

A)so gradual as to be indistinguishable

B)so gradual that they can be indistinguishable

C)so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished

D)gradual enough not to be distinguishable

E)gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them
It's A.

It's an idiom - the construction so+adjective has three possible correct continuations:

so....as to
example: A above. ...So gradual as to be indistinguishable.

so....that + clause
example: ...So gradual that they are indistinguishable.

so....,(nothing)
example: ...so gradual, they are indistinguishable.

C is awkward and opens up a possible illogical meaning: "unable to be distinguished" implies a will or intent by the shifts to be distinguished - as if the shifts "want" to be distinguished, but "are unable" to - which is complete foolishness.

Don't let something that "sounds bad" direct you away from logic - I suspect that those who chose C probably knew deep down that they were choosing the wrong answer, but chose it anyway because they did not know the construction in A. The devil you know is not always better than the devil you don't.
B is wrong because it change the meaning of the original A from fact to non-fact "can". Is that right?
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