colorization of black-and-white films

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Uri: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 229; Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:56 am; Thanked: 8 times; GMAT Score:700

colorization of black-and-white films

by Uri » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:07 pm

The colorization of black-and-white films by computers is defended by those who own the film rights, for the process can mean increased revenues for them; many others in the film industry, however, contend that the technique degrades major works of art, which they liken to putting lipstick on a Greek statue.
A) which they liken to putting lipstick on a Greek statue
B) which they liken to a Greek statue with lipstick put on it
C) which they liken to lipstick put on a Greek statue
D) likening it to a Greek statue with lipstick put on it
E) likening it to putting lipstick on a Greek statue

OA: [spoiler](E)[/spoiler]

Can you please justify the OA?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:07 pm

mike22629: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 322; Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 3:56 pm; Thanked: 24 times; GMAT Score:710

by mike22629 » Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:07 am

Eliminate A,B,C

when which is used it can not refer to a phrase, but only the word directly in front of it.

E is preferred over D because putting is preferred over put

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thetrystero: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 154; Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:57 pm; Thanked: 3 times

Re: colorization of black-and-white films

by thetrystero » Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:59 pm

Uri wrote:The colorization of black-and-white films by computers is defended by those who own the film rights, for the process can mean increased revenues for them; many others in the film industry, however, contend that the technique degrades major works of art, which they liken to putting lipstick on a Greek statue.
A) which they liken to putting lipstick on a Greek statue
B) which they liken to a Greek statue with lipstick put on it
C) which they liken to lipstick put on a Greek statue
D) likening it to a Greek statue with lipstick put on it
E) likening it to putting lipstick on a Greek statue

OA: [spoiler](E)[/spoiler]

Can you please justify the OA?

mike22629, I'm not sure that what you said regarding the usage of "which" is correct. IMO, "which" is the correct usage here (vs "that") since the subordinate clause "they liken ..." is nonessential.

The verb phrase that best brings out the parallelism to "colorization of" is "putting lipstick on". This narrows it down to (A) and (E). "they" in (A) is ambiguous as it can refer to "many others" or "works of art". Hence E.

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raunekk: Legendary Member; Posts: 1159; Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:35 pm; Thanked: 56 times

by raunekk » Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:31 pm

@Mike

I don't think that which can refer only to a word and not a phrase preceding it.

If you check the official guide you will find many sentences where which is modifying the whole phrase

Here, I think we need gerundial phrase that will modify the phrase "contend that the technique degrades major works of art"

thanks.

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Uri: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 229; Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:56 am; Thanked: 8 times; GMAT Score:700

by Uri » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:34 pm

thanks folks for the discussion. i was actually confused between (D) and (E). others are definitely out.

in "likening it to a Greek statue with lipstick put on it " or "likening it to putting lipstick on a Greek statue", what should "it" refer to? is it the colorization process or the work of arts? once that is clear, we can easily choose between (D) and (E). although all above has favoured the OA, i think the options make a subtle difference in meaning. and the original sentence does not conclusively say what "it" should refer to. can anyone help please?

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ketkoag: Legendary Member; Posts: 876; Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:14 am; Thanked: 13 times

by ketkoag » Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:26 am

Uri, could u please lemme know the source of the question!! so that i can practice such questions..

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necromancer_678: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 49; Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:07 pm

by necromancer_678 » Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:10 pm

Uri wrote:thanks folks for the discussion. i was actually confused between (D) and (E). others are definitely out.

in "likening it to a Greek statue with lipstick put on it " or "likening it to putting lipstick on a Greek statue", what should "it" refer to? is it the colorization process or the work of arts? once that is clear, we can easily choose between (D) and (E). although all above has favoured the OA, i think the options make a subtle difference in meaning. and the original sentence does not conclusively say what "it" should refer to. can anyone help please?

any inputs on this...wat does "it" refer to ...it could be film either industry or art ...

TIA

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rsadana1: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 119; Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2009 3:52 pm; Thanked: 16 times; Followed by:9 members

by rsadana1 » Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:49 pm

I will take a stab at comparing Choice D and E
The sentence is about the technique of colorization of black and white films.

First part of sentence is in favor of this technique.
"The colorization of black-and-white films by computers is defended by those who own the film rights, for the process can mean increased revenues for them; "

Second part of the sentence is against this technique (with correct choice E)
"Many others in the film industry, however, contend that the technique degrades major works of art, likening it to putting lipstick on a Greek statue."

This part can be further simplified into two parts-
1)Many others in the film industry, however, contend ____

2)that the technique degrades major works of art, likening it to putting lipstick on a Greek statue.

Since the work likening is used, it implies that there should be some comparison. Setting up the comparison:
technique degrades works of art
putting lipstick degrades Greek statue
=>"it" refers to the technique...

Makes perfect sense.

Now consider Part 2 with Choice D...
2)that the technique degrades major works of art, likening it to a Greek statue with lipstick put on it.

Here "it" refers to major works of art.
so the sentence now states that
technique degrades artwork
degraded artwork is like Greek statue with lipstick.

This does not appeal as much as choice E does. More importantly, it = works...so there is a number error...

So in a nutshell...

Choice D is grammatically incorrect due to noun-pronoun error.
Even if Choice D was correct, Choice E would be preferred answer choice since it is more concise and makes more sense.

I hope I have answered your question. Let me know if this makes sense.[/u]