Help!!! OG Sentence correction.

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Nidhs: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 69; Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:12 pm; Thanked: 3 times; Followed by:1 members

Help!!! OG Sentence correction.

by Nidhs » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:30 pm

For members of the seventeenth-century Ashanti nation in Africa, animal-hide shields with wooden frames were essential items of military equipment, a method to protect warriors against enemy arrows and
spears.

(A) a method to protect

(B) as a method protecting

(C) protecting

(D) as a protection of

(E) to protect
OA is (C)...but i can't understand why. Can someone please explain

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:30 pm

solaris: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 41; Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:21 pm; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 9 times

by solaris » Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:51 pm

What was your answer pick?

A 'shield' is not a 'method' - agreed? so, A and B are out.

'As a protection of' is completely ungrammatical, so strike D out.

Choice E, the 'to protect' form following a comma isn't correct either.

Therefore, answer is C.

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Nidhs: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 69; Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:12 pm; Thanked: 3 times; Followed by:1 members

by Nidhs » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:30 pm

my choice was (E)

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solaris: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 41; Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:21 pm; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 9 times

by solaris » Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:31 pm

right, unless i'm mistaken it was the placement of the comma that made E incorrect.

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piyush_nitt: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 424; Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:15 pm; Location: Sydney; Thanked: 12 times

Re: Help!!! OG Sentence correction.

by piyush_nitt » Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:10 pm

Nidhs wrote:For members of the seventeenth-century Ashanti nation in Africa, animal-hide shields with wooden frames were essential items of military equipment, a method to protect warriors against enemy arrows and
spears.

(A) a method to protect

(B) as a method protecting

(C) protecting

(D) as a protection of

(E) to protect
OA is (C)...but i can't understand why. Can someone please explain

1.What exaclty protecting modifies here ? Shields or items ??
2. Why option E is incorrect ? Cannot we use infinitive instead of participle?

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piyush_nitt: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 424; Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:15 pm; Location: Sydney; Thanked: 12 times

by piyush_nitt » Fri Mar 20, 2009 4:41 am

Plz help guys ?

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schumi_gmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 377; Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:30 am; Thanked: 15 times; Followed by:2 members

by schumi_gmat » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:48 am

For members of the seventeenth-century Ashanti nation in Africa, animal-hide shields with wooden frames were essential items of military equipment, a method to protect warriors against enemy arrows and
spears.

Lets anlayse the sentence

Animal hide shields ---------Subject (noun)

were essential items of military equipement for members....

"to protect" is an infinitive cannot act as adjective to modify noun.

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codesnooker: Legendary Member; Posts: 543; Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:01 am; Thanked: 43 times; GMAT Score:580

by codesnooker » Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:10 pm

(E) is wrong because you can not use the following form.

Main clause + COMMA + infinitive.

Rules of Infinitive:-

1. Infinitive phrase + COMMA + Main Clause
2. Start of Main clause + COMMA + Infinitive phrase + COMMA + End of Main clause
3. Main Clause + Infinitive phrase (without COMMA)

Option (E) breaks the third rule, hence INCORRECT option.

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gmat740: MBA Student; Posts: 1194; Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pm; Location: Paris, France; Thanked: 71 times; Followed by:17 members; GMAT Score:710

by gmat740 » Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:44 pm

Thanks a lot guys
It helped me to improve my concept

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Rashmi1804: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 139; Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:04 am; Thanked: 3 times; GMAT Score:620

by Rashmi1804 » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:53 pm

@codesnooker
Rules of Infinitive:-

1. Infinitive phrase + COMMA + Main Clause
2. Start of Main clause + COMMA + Infinitive phrase + COMMA + End of Main clause
3. Main Clause + Infinitive phrase (without COMMA)

Could you quote a couple of examples on these rules?? or cite a source that gives more information ??

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aniruddhkashyap: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:25 pm

by aniruddhkashyap » Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:05 pm

Another sentence correction question where i need a clarification......

Q32: To develop more accurate population forecasts, demographers have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economic determinants of fertility.

A. have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economic
B. have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economical
C. would have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economical
D. would have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economic
E. would have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economical

The answer for this question is given as E but I felt D is more appropriate

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GMAT/MBA Expert

arpita@gurome: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 91; Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:05 pm; Location: Mumbai, India; Thanked: 33 times; Followed by:42 members

by arpita@gurome » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:22 am

aniruddhkashyap wrote:Another sentence correction question where i need a clarification......

Q32: To develop more accurate population forecasts, demographers have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economic determinants of fertility.

A. have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economic
B. have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economical
C. would have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economical
D. would have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economic
E. would have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economical

The answer for this question is given as E but I felt D is more appropriate

(A) is incorrect because of the incorrect comparison. "Now" almost seems like a person in this sentence construction.
(B) is incorrect because "economical" and "economic" do not have the same connotation. Economical means "thrifty".
(C) fixes the error in comparison but retains the error in "economical".
(E) repeats the mistake in (A) by comparing the knowledge of social and economic determinants to "now".
(D) is the correct answer because it correctly conveys that demographers would have to know more than they presently know (do) about the social and economic determinants.

Arpita Sen
Verbal and Admissions Expert
Gurome, Inc.
www.GuroMe.com
Win a free MBA essay review: https://bit.ly/toZumc

1-800-566-4043
+91 99201 32411 (India)

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NIXBTG: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 31; Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 11:51 am; GMAT Score:760

by NIXBTG » Mon May 03, 2010 7:23 am

Thanks for the inifinitive rules!

Can someone plzzz post rules for participial pharases. I struggle to understand the difference betweem "comma" ing and not "comma" ing while using a participial pharse.

Thanks in advance,

Nix

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pm; Thanked: 18 times; Followed by:2 members

by tanviet » Wed May 05, 2010 1:53 am

Nidhs wrote:For members of the seventeenth-century Ashanti nation in Africa, animal-hide shields with wooden frames were essential items of military equipment, a method to protect warriors against enemy arrows and
spears.

(A) a method to protect

(B) as a method protecting

(C) protecting

(D) as a protection of

(E) to protect
OA is (C)...but i can't understand why. Can someone please explain