because (phrase) vs because of (clause)

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jihoonshim: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Sun May 18, 2008 10:11 pmFollowed by: 1 member

by jihoonshim » Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:18 am

Dear all.

Here is the question.

Q) Paletologist Jay Gould has argued that many biological traits are not the products of natural selection, favored due to their enhancement of reproduction or survival, but that they are simply random by-products of other evolutionary developments.

A.
B. due to the reproduction or survival they enhance, but they are
C. because they enhance reproduction or survival, but
D. because they enhance reproduction or survival, but are
E. because of enhancing reproduction or survival, but are.

OA is D.

but I'm confusing D or E.

whereas "D" uses 'because phrase' (because they enhance),
"E" uses 'because clause' (because of enhancing).

Can u let me know the correct usage and give me the tip how

choose the right answer if I meet the similar type of question
(phrase vs clause type such as "possibility that" or "possibility of" )?

I'm non-native, and it kills me..

Thanks.~`

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:18 am

kiranlegend: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 340; Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:09 am; Location: India; Thanked: 6 times

Re: because (phrase) vs because of (clause)

by kiranlegend » Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:12 am

jihoonshim wrote:Dear all.

Here is the question.

Q) Paletologist Jay Gould has argued that many biological traits are not the products of natural selection, favored due to their enhancement of reproduction or survival, but that they are simply random by-products of other evolutionary developments.

A.
B. due to the reproduction or survival they enhance, but they are
C. because they enhance reproduction or survival, but
D. because they enhance reproduction or survival, but are
E. because of enhancing reproduction or survival, but are.

OA is D.

but I'm confusing D or E.

whereas "D" uses 'because phrase' (because they enhance),
"E" uses 'because clause' (because of enhancing).

Can u let me know the correct usage and give me the tip how

choose the right answer if I meet the similar type of question
(phrase vs clause type such as "possibility that" or "possibility of" )?

I'm non-native, and it kills me..

Thanks.~`

because of takes a phrase whereas because takes clause..

C and D gone because of an ambigous 'they'.

Why E is wrong?: the products of natural selection are favored due to (not because of.. here due to is a complement for the subject products and not modifying any verb.. use this link to understand more.. https://tianlong-gmat.blocked/2006/ ... cause.html)

between A and B: hehe A is obviously better:)

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kris610: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 198; Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:40 pm; Thanked: 7 times

by kris610 » Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:37 am

It has to be D. 'due to' is always used as an adjective to modify a noun. That is not the case, and so 'because' is more appropriate. Also, 'they' is not ambiguous.

I would go with D.

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Aldiablo: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 76; Joined: Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:31 am; Location: India; Thanked: 2 times

by Aldiablo » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:36 am

It is between E and D,

I think E loses out, because it is using 'enhancing' which cannot take -ing form in GMAT lang.

When you think you can or you cannot, you are generally correct.

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jackiechan: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 2; Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:58 am

by jackiechan » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:22 am

IMHO it would be D

Reason : Once we have eliminated A,B and C..

E: ,favored because of enhancing reproduction or survival, is modifier and will result in dangling modifier since it is not modifying "products of natural selection"

hence D..

Can someone confirm this logic

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nox104: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 69; Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:18 pm; Thanked: 3 times

by nox104 » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:58 pm

D over E because D has a pronoun "they" that refers to biological traits, thus making it correctly modify "enhance reproduction or survival"

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jackiechan: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 2; Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:58 am

What about the dangling modifier thing i wrote about

by jackiechan » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:13 pm

What about the dangling modifier thing i wrote about..do you guys think that it is correct reasoning??

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hamxa: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 45; Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:17 am; Location: lahore, pakistan

by hamxa » Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:36 am

A due to = wrong (I have collected some details on my blog: https://muhammadhamza.wordpress.com/2009 ... ause-of-2/)
B wrong, same reason.
C non parallel, ...many biological traits are..., hence are should also succeed but (in the underlined part)
D right, inclusion of they eliminates misplaced modifier, but are is in parallel construction

E wrong, dangling modifier, referring to either "biological traits" or "natural selection" ?

I hope it helped

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[email protected]: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 29; Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:42 pm

by [email protected] » Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:40 pm

Is it safe to say that "because" modifies a verb & "due to" modifies a noun. Sorry, I can't seem to find the verb being modified? Is it "favored"?

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Jim@Grockit: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:07 pmFollowed by: 45 members; Location: Madison, WI; Thanked: 162 times; GMAT Score:760

by Jim@Grockit » Mon Dec 27, 2010 11:12 am

[email protected] wrote:Is it safe to say that "because" modifies a verb & "due to" modifies a noun. Sorry, I can't seem to find the verb being modified? Is it "favored"?

"because" is a conjunction and doesn't modify anything -- it joins a clause with a verb ("enhance").

You would use "because of" in the same places as "due to", before a noun phrase. You can say I can't attend because of my work schedule but not I can't attend because my work schedule.

Conversely, you say I can't attend because I have to work that evening but not I can't attend because of I have to work that evening.

Also (posted before), -ing is not ALWAYS wrong on the GMAT. In fact, it's the only way you can say certain things, for example in negative constructions: It is hard to express certain ideas concisely without using -ing words.

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