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Hi Instructors, Need your advice on the following question

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Hi Instructors, Need your advice on the following question

by sachin_yadav » Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:21 am
Judge Bonham denied a motion to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of to confine them to a hotel


(A). to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of to confine them to
(B). that would have allowed members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of confined to
(C). under which members of the jury are allowed to go home at the end of each day instead of confining them in
(D). that would allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than confinement in
(E). to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than be confined to


Answer is E, but my answer was A.

I am confused between "X instead of Y" and "X rather than Y"

In A and E both the idioms are mentioned. Is it that infinites cannot be used with "instead of" ?

to go home.... instead of to confine


Please advice.

Regards
Sachin
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by amir_hatef » Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:36 am
Nazarft7 can give your skeleton on this Q? Thanks.
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by nazar7ft » Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:53 am
sachin_yadav wrote:Judge Bonham denied a motion to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of to confine them to a hotel


(A). to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of to confine them to
(B). that would have allowed members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of confined to
(C). under which members of the jury are allowed to go home at the end of each day instead of confining them in
(D). that would allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than confinement in
(E). to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than be confined to

Answer is E, but my answer was A.
I am confused between "X instead of Y" and "X rather than Y"
In A and E both the idioms are mentioned. Is it that infinites cannot be used with "instead of" ?
to go home.... instead of to confine
lease advice.
Regards
Sachin
There are two deals in this problem:

ONE=> Parallelism:

In both "X instead of Y" and "X rather than Y", both X and Y MUST be parallel.

So, we can eliminate the options B, C, and D easily.

We are between A and E.

second: Meaning

See the following sentences:

I have been allowed to do the work and to make a decision.

--> Meaning I will do two things:
Do the work
make the decision.

I have been allowed to do the work instead of to make a decision.

---> Meaning I have been asked to do the following two things:
to do the work.
Not to make decision.

See the option A.
Judge Bonham denied a motion to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of to confine them to a hotel

This is wrong for two reasons:

1. It seems that the members of the jury will confine themselves.
2. Even if it is allowed that the members of the jury can confine themselves, option A is not correct for using "them" after confine.
Because "I cannot see me through the mirror" rather "I can see myself through the mirror".

So, A is NOT correct.

Thanks.
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by e-GMAT » Mon Dec 06, 2010 4:14 pm
This is a great question which exemplifies the importance of understanding the meaning of the sentence.
Meaning: This sentence describes a motion that a judge denied. This motion was to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day. The previous law or rule was to confine the jury members to a hotel.

Now that we understand the meaning of the sentence, we will perform the Error Analysis on the original sentence. We will check for the key grammar rules that are applicable in this sentence - SV, verb tense, pronoun, parallelism.

* This sentence contains 1 clause with SV pair - "judge denied". OK
* The verb tense is simple past stating an action that happened at a point in time in the past. OK
* Pronoun "them" is used correctly to refer to members of the jury. OK
* There is a list in this sentence:
The motion to allow members to
1. go home at the end of each day instead of
2. confine them to a hotel
Notice that the list is not:
The motion
* to allow members to go home at the end of each day instead of
* to confine them to a hotel

This is a key point in this question. From the meaning of the sentence, we need to understand that the contrast has been made between what the members are allowed to do:
are they going home or
are they confined in a hotel.

Now in the light of this lets review the list in original choice again:
Element 1 : The motion to allow members to go home at the end of each day. OK
Element 2: The motion to allow members to confine them to a hotel. NOT OK
This non-sensically states that members will confine members to a hotel. Infact, members are not doing the action of confine. They are actually being confined. Thus, use of passive voice is required here.

Since you have a doubt between Choice A and E, I will now focus on Choice E.
Element 1: The motion to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day. OK
Element 2: The motion to allow members of the jury to be confined to hotel. OK

Thus, just based on the meaning of the sentence, we were able to solve this question.

Thanks,

Payal
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by sachin_yadav » Mon Dec 06, 2010 9:14 pm
Thank you very much nazar7ft, Payal, and amir_hatef. I really appreciate for the help.

So, in this particular question we have to focus on two things.
1. parallelism and
2. Meaning (Important)

Thanks once again to all of you.

Regards
Sachin
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by hitesh888 » Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:27 pm
e-GMAT wrote:This is a great question which exemplifies the importance of understanding the meaning of the sentence.
Meaning: This sentence describes a motion that a judge denied. This motion was to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day. The previous law or rule was to confine the jury members to a hotel.

The motion to allow members to
1. go home at the end of each day instead of
2. confine them to a hotel
Notice that the list is not:
The motion
* to allow members to go home at the end of each day instead of
* to confine them to a hotel

This is a key point in this question. From the meaning of the sentence, we need to understand that the contrast has been made between what the members are allowed to do:
are they going home or
are they confined in a hotel.


Payal

We would need some convincing argument in this regard.

The motion
* to allow members to go home at the end of each day instead of
* to confine them to a hotel

Looks Better than

The motion to allow members to
1. go home at the end of each day instead of
2. confine them to a hotel

Because the sentence in 2nd part - "The motion to allow members to confine them to a hotel" does not make any sense.
You can not allow someone to be confined.

The parallel part seems to be -> To allow ..... || To confine.....

Please Explain
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