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by hrishi19884 » Sat Dec 26, 2009 5:54 am
mmslf75 wrote:
maihuna wrote:For many revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus has come to Personify devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

A. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
B. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress by
which native peoples of the Western Hemisphere have been
decimated
C. devastating and enslaving in the name of progress those native
peoples of the Western Hemisphere that have been decimated
D. devastating and enslaving those native peoples of the Western
hemisphere which in the name of progress are decimated.
E. the devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
have decimated the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
[spoiler]Answer:A/E[/spoiler]

In contructions such as,

X of Y that

That may refer to X or X(of y) depending on context
For sure, THAT is not referring to PROGRESS ...
As PROGRESS cannot decimate
Then why Ans is A it should have been E

Is it that devastation and enslavement "are"... oops (is) ... ;-) a single unit here

?????
A looks good to me.

devastation and enslavement ............. has looks better than using have.
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by mmslf75 » Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:25 am
mmslf75 wrote:
maihuna wrote:For many revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus has come to Personify devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

A. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
B. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress by
which native peoples of the Western Hemisphere have been
decimated
C. devastating and enslaving in the name of progress those native
peoples of the Western Hemisphere that have been decimated
D. devastating and enslaving those native peoples of the Western
hemisphere which in the name of progress are decimated.
E. the devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
have decimated the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
[spoiler]Answer:A/E[/spoiler]

In contructions such as,

X of Y that

That may refer to X or X(of y) depending on context
For sure, THAT is not referring to PROGRESS ...
As PROGRESS cannot decimate
Then why Ans is A it should have been E

Is it that devastation and enslavement "are"... oops (is) ... ;-) a single unit here

?????
Any1 anyhelp
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by CaptainM » Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:47 am
mmslf75 wrote:
mmslf75 wrote:
maihuna wrote:For many revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus has come to Personify devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

A. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
B. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress by
which native peoples of the Western Hemisphere have been
decimated
C. devastating and enslaving in the name of progress those native
peoples of the Western Hemisphere that have been decimated
D. devastating and enslaving those native peoples of the Western
hemisphere which in the name of progress are decimated.
E. the devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
have decimated the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
[spoiler]Answer:A/E[/spoiler]

In contructions such as,

X of Y that

That may refer to X or X(of y) depending on context
For sure, THAT is not referring to PROGRESS ...
As PROGRESS cannot decimate
Then why Ans is A it should have been E

Is it that devastation and enslavement "are"... oops (is) ... ;-) a single unit here

?????
Any1 anyhelp
Same Confusion....
Instructors plzzz Help
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by CaptainM » Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:47 am
mmslf75 wrote:
mmslf75 wrote:
maihuna wrote:For many revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus has come to Personify devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

A. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
has decimated native peoples of the Western Hemisphere
B. devastation and enslavement in the name of progress by
which native peoples of the Western Hemisphere have been
decimated
C. devastating and enslaving in the name of progress those native
peoples of the Western Hemisphere that have been decimated
D. devastating and enslaving those native peoples of the Western
hemisphere which in the name of progress are decimated.
E. the devastation and enslavement in the name of progress that
have decimated the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
[spoiler]Answer:A/E[/spoiler]

In contructions such as,

X of Y that

That may refer to X or X(of y) depending on context
For sure, THAT is not referring to PROGRESS ...
As PROGRESS cannot decimate
Then why Ans is A it should have been E

Is it that devastation and enslavement "are"... oops (is) ... ;-) a single unit here

?????
Any1 anyhelp
Same Confusion....
Instructors plzzz Help

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/pos ... 36-->Ron's Gr8 explanation on the topic(no comma+that)!!!

Someone could explain how the the usage is different in this problem.
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by Kajiabeat » Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:51 pm
same confusion!

the first major difference between A and E are two "the" ---before"devastation and enslavement" and before"native peoples", any difference in meaning?

the second difference is the "have/has" used for the "that" clause, which decide what part this clause is modifying. To be honest, I see both way are OK. How can we make judgement here?

Thank you for any instructors to step in(is "step in" here right?).
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by lunarpower » Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:40 am
Kajiabeat wrote:same confusion!

the first major difference between A and E are two "the" ---before"devastation and enslavement" and before"native peoples", any difference in meaning?

the second difference is the "have/has" used for the "that" clause, which decide what part this clause is modifying. To be honest, I see both way are OK. How can we make judgement here?

Thank you for any instructors to step in(is "step in" here right?).
hi --

the "a/an/the" difference has never been explicitly tested on the gmat -- and is almost impossibly difficult for non-native speakers to understand fully -- so you shouldn't worry about that difference.

choice (a) is incorrect because of the singular verb "has", whose only legitimate antecedent is "progress". that doesn't make sense; progress is not what decimated native peoples. the native peoples were decimated by devastation and enslavement, so you need a plural verb.
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by hitsak » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:11 pm
can the phrase "X in the name of Y" could mean that Y will give opposite result of X and could be true and so the option A is correct?
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by lunarpower » Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:20 pm
hitsak wrote:can the phrase "X in the name of Y" could mean that Y will give opposite result of X and could be true and so the option A is correct?
see above; (a) has singular/plural disagreement, so there's no need to consider these kinds of subtleties.
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by sachindia » Sun Jan 20, 2013 3:10 am
lunarpower wrote:
Kajiabeat wrote:same confusion!

the first major difference between A and E are two "the" ---before"devastation and enslavement" and before"native peoples", any difference in meaning?

the second difference is the "have/has" used for the "that" clause, which decide what part this clause is modifying. To be honest, I see both way are OK. How can we make judgement here?

Thank you for any instructors to step in(is "step in" here right?).
hi --

the "a/an/the" difference has never been explicitly tested on the gmat -- and is almost impossibly difficult for non-native speakers to understand fully -- so you shouldn't worry about that difference.

choice (a) is incorrect because of the singular verb "has", whose only legitimate antecedent is "progress". that doesn't make sense; progress is not what decimated native peoples. the native peoples were decimated by devastation and enslavement, so you need a plural verb.
Sir Ron,
This is one of the questions I have come across in which there are splits between 'a' and 'the' ,'the' and nothing as in this case, etc..

I am a non native speaker and it is true that I have difficulty , though not most of the times, in knowing what is right.

I would request you to enlighten us on how to recognize the correct article.
Regards,
Sach
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by lunarpower » Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:54 am
sachindia wrote:I would request you to enlighten us on how to recognize the correct article.
if you see this on the gmat, it's almost certainly there to distract you from what really matters in the problem. therefore -- especially considering that no official problem has ever depended on this distinction -- a detailed discussion of this topic would likely have negative utility.
the best advice is "if you see a split between 'a' and 'the', ignore it and look for something else."

it's also a virtual certainty that the gmat will not test this distinction anytime soon, as doing so would unfairly benefit speakers of certain european/romance languages (whose use of articles is very close to english usage) while unfairly disadvantaging speakers of most asian and slavic languages (which generally don't use articles at all).
gmac works very hard to eliminate linguistic bias -- even going so far as to eliminate everything that differs between american and british usage -- so you needn't worry about this.

on the other hand, if you want to know more about articles for the sake of becoming a better writer in general, you should just go ahead and google the topic; you'll find pages that go into a lot more detail than any of us could here.
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by e-GMAT » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:39 am
Interesting discussion indeed. In addition to what Ron has mentioned above, also make sure that you do not ignore the use of articles when the use in fact changes the meaning. Case in point is the difference in meaning of the following two phrases:

A number of...
The number of...

Here is one of the questions that tests this difference in meaning. Source - GMAT Prep.

Part of the proposed increase in state education spending is due to higher enrollment, since the number of students in public schools have grown steadily since the mid-1980's and, at nearly 47 million, are at a record high.

A) enrollment, since the number of students in public schools have grown steadily since the mid-1980's and, at nearly 47 million, are at

B) enrollment, with a number of students in public schools growing steadily since the mid-1980'and, at nearly 47 million, reaching

C) enrollment: since students in public schools have grown steadily in number since the mid-1980's and, at nearly 47 million, have reached

D) enrollment: the number of students in public schools has grown steadily since the mid-1980's and, at nearly 47 million, has reached

E) enrollment: students in public schools have grown steadily in number since the mid-1980's and, at nearly 47 million, are at

Regards,

Payal
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by sachindia » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:58 am
Thanks Payal..

Its about 'the number' here and not about the students.. so a number of students is incorrect..

Please correct me in case I am wrong..

Though most of the times I can identify the right usage of the article, I do get stuck sometimes..
Regards,
Sach
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by e-GMAT » Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:21 am
Yes Sachin,

You are correct. As you could decipher correctly, use of a and the emphasize two different things here. But beyond this as Ron has already noted above, you do not need to worry about the usage of a and the.

Regards,

Payal
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by namans » Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:55 am
@ Payal / Ron

In this sentence can we not say that 'the devastation and enslavement' works as a compound subject and is hence singular (for eg. - THe Chairman and CEO has arrived -- as both refer to the same person).

While in retrospect it might make sense that progress is not the subject, it can be very easy to mistake 'progress' as the subject (also the that follows progress without any comma,and thus can seem to refer to the preceding noun). How can one distinguish in this particular case?
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:23 am
namans wrote:@ Payal / Ron

In this sentence can we not say that 'the devastation and enslavement' works as a compound subject and is hence singular (for eg. - THe Chairman and CEO has arrived -- as both refer to the same person).

While in retrospect it might make sense that progress is not the subject, it can be very easy to mistake 'progress' as the subject (also the that follows progress without any comma,and thus can seem to refer to the preceding noun). How can one distinguish in this particular case?
Compound subjects are plural (except as in your example). Devastation and enslavement are different things, so they don't fall into that exception.

The way to avoid picking 'progress' as the subject is to think logically. What has caused the decimation? It's not progress itself; it's the devastation and enslavement.
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