Antoine Lavoisier

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gmatnmein2010: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 185; Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:06 am; Thanked: 6 times

by gmatnmein2010 » Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:38 pm

Until Antoine Lavoisier proved otherwise in the eighteenth century, many scientists had believed that combustion released phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood.

many scientists had believed that combustion released phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood

many scientists believed that phlogiston was an imaginary substance released by combustion and its properties were not fully understood

phlogiston was an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood and which many scientists had believed was released by combustion

phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood, was believed by scientists to be released by combustion

many scientists had believed that phlogiston was released by combustion and was an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood

Y B IS wrng

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:38 pm

thephoenix: Legendary Member; Posts: 1560; Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:38 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 137 times

by thephoenix » Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:04 pm

(A) CORRECT. The past perfect "had believed" is correct because it is the earlier of two past actions the later action is "proved," which is in the simple past tense.

(B)PASSIVE

(C)Misplaced Modifier The placement of "phlogiston" incorrectly implies that phlogiston had been imaginary until Lavoisier proved otherwise.

(D) This sentence is unnecessarily in the passive voice. Moreover, "was believed" is in the simple past tense. It should be in the past perfect tense

(E) its construction incorrectly implies that scientists had believed that phlogiston was imaginary.
which is not the case

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soumyopriyosaha: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 126; Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:53 am; Location: Bangalore, India; Thanked: 1 times

by soumyopriyosaha » Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:47 am

gmatnmein2010 wrote:Until Antoine Lavoisier proved otherwise in the eighteenth century, many scientists had believed that combustion released phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood.

many scientists had believed that combustion released phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood

many scientists believed that phlogiston was an imaginary substance released by combustion and its properties were not fully understood

phlogiston was an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood and which many scientists had believed was released by combustion

phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood, was believed by scientists to be released by combustion

many scientists had believed that phlogiston was released by combustion and was an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood

Y B IS wrng

IMO A.
B somewhat changes the meaning of the sentence. It says that "scientists believed that phlogiston is an imaginary substance" which means that may or may not be true. But in the original it is stated as a fact.

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harsh.champ: Legendary Member; Posts: 1132; Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:38 amFollowed by: 6 members; Location: India; Thanked: 64 times; GMAT Score:760

by harsh.champ » Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:28 am

gmatnmein2010 wrote:Until Antoine Lavoisier proved otherwise in the eighteenth century, many scientists had believed that combustion released phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood.

(A)many scientists had believed that combustion released phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood - stating the facts clearly.

(B)many scientists believed that phlogiston was an imaginary substance released by combustion and its properties were not fully understood - passive voice.We should try not to alter the sentence.

(C)phlogiston was an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood and which many scientists had believed was released by combustion- too wordy and constructed very long

(D)phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood, was believed by scientists to be released by combustion-again passive voice.combustion takes a back seat

(E)many scientists had believed that phlogiston was released by combustion and was an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood - too wordy again.

Y B IS wrng

IMO A.

B is wrong since it is in passive voice and construction seems too wordy.

Hope,my explanation is correct.

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mgmt_gmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 221; Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:24 pm; Thanked: 2 times

by mgmt_gmat » Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:23 am

I Have chosen A.

Before proving..

belief was previos event.

Choice correctly mention.... phlogiston, an imaginary substance

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VikingWarrior: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 89; Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:55 am; Thanked: 6 times

by VikingWarrior » Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:59 am

Answer is A.
B is incorrect because it does not use past perfect tense "had believed" and it has ambiguous pronoun referral when it says "and its properties"

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harshavardhanc: Legendary Member; Posts: 526; Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:47 pm; Location: India; Thanked: 68 times; GMAT Score:680

by harshavardhanc » Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:32 am

with B, you should be more concerned about the meaning it conveys.

Author's intention is to tell that scientists believed : "combustion releases a substance" ( being imaginary was an additional characteristic).

B changes the order of these two things, giving primary importance to the "imaginary" part.

Regards,
Harsha

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komal: Legendary Member; Posts: 777; Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:02 amFollowed by: 47 members; Location: Mumbai, India; Thanked: 117 times

by komal » Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:48 am

This is y (B) is wrong :

It uses the simple past for both verbs, incorrectly implying that they were simultaneous. I suppose the "until" clarifies the intended timeline, but the verbs should indicate the order correctly, too.

--"was an imaginary substance released by combustion" is unnecessarily in passive voice.

--the construction "and its properties were not fully understood" is incorrectly parallel with "phlogiston was released by combustion" rather than subordinate to it, as in the original sentence; this also creates ambiguity around the pronoun "its" which could refer to either combustion or phlogiston.

https://www.e-gmat.com/

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ru2008: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 58; Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:42 am

by ru2008 » Tue May 11, 2010 8:34 pm

why is E different in meaning than A?

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sumanr84: Legendary Member; Posts: 758; Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:32 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Bangalore,India; Thanked: 67 times

by sumanr84 » Tue May 11, 2010 9:51 pm

gmatnmein2010 wrote:Until Antoine Lavoisier proved otherwise in the eighteenth century, many scientists had believed that combustion released phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood.

many scientists had believed that combustion released phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood

many scientists believed that phlogiston was an imaginary substance released by combustion and its properties were not fully understood

phlogiston was an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood and which many scientists had believed was released by combustion

phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood, was believed by scientists to be released by combustion

many scientists had believed that phlogiston was released by combustion and was an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood

Y B IS wrng

I don't see any option convincingly correct. However, A seems better among other choices.
In A, combustion released phlogiston sounds pretty awkward and usage of Passive Voice should be OK.
Also, Modifier has been put towards the end of the sentence..not grammatically wrong but structure-wise not a smart way of composing a sentence.
I would put my sentence as below,

many scientists had believed that phlogiston, an imaginary substance whose properties were not fully understood, was released by combustion.

I am on a break !!

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