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California gold rush

by akhpad » Sun May 23, 2010 5:55 am
Source: Kaplan

During and immediately after the California gold rush, the way for a merchant to generate the most profit was to move a limited amount of scarce goods to San Francisco as quickly as possible, rather than to carry larger loads more slowly, determining the design of the clipper ship.
(A) to carry larger loads more slowly, determining
(B) to carry larger loads more slowly, a situation that determined
(C) carry larger loads more slowly, which determined => INCORRECT
(D) slowly carry larger loads which determined => INCORRECT
(E) carrying larger loads more slowly, and this was a situation in determining => INCORRECT

I am confused over A and B.

In A: "determining the design of the clipper ship" is an adverbial modifier.
In B: "a situation that determined the design of the clipper ship" is an absolute phrase act as adverbial modifier.

Can you explain that which one can fit and why?

OA: B
Last edited by akhpad on Sun May 23, 2010 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by deepak_free » Sun May 23, 2010 10:27 am
Once again .... please give some time to us also to eliminate the choices
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by sumanr84 » Sun May 23, 2010 10:35 am
akhp77 wrote:Source: Kaplan

During and immediately after the California gold rush, the way for a merchant to generate the most profit was to move a limited amount of scarce goods to San Francisco as quickly as possible, rather than to carry larger loads more slowly, determining the design of the clipper ship.
(A) to carry larger loads more slowly, determining
(B) to carry larger loads more slowly, a situation that determined
(C) carry larger loads more slowly, which determined => INCORRECT
(D) slowly carry larger loads which determined => INCORRECT
(E) carrying larger loads more slowly, and this was a situation in determining => INCORRECT

I am confused over A and B.

In A: "determining the design of the clipper ship" is an adverbial modifier.
In B: "a situation that determined the design of the clipper ship" is an absolute phrase act as adverbial modifier.

Can you explain that which one can fit and why?
If I have to choose one , I would go for A.
we need a semi-colon and not a comma in B to introduce a clause a situation that determined the design of the clipper ship.
I donot know what make you say, "a situation that determined the design of the clipper ship" is an absolute phrase.
determined is acting as a verb here, making this fragment as a Clause.
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by Reva » Sun May 23, 2010 10:36 am
i am also confused between A n B but i guess A is correct as B is wordy
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by sumanr84 » Sun May 23, 2010 10:39 am
I donot like any option here and waiting to see the official explanation.

determining does not sound right here

Pls post OA and OE.
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by sumanr84 » Sun May 23, 2010 10:45 am
deepak_free wrote:Once again .... please give some time to us also to eliminate the choices
+1 on this.

akhp77,
I know you are here just to clear your doubts but would you mind posting your explanations about eliminating choices below the options. Most people come to BTG to practise problem from a variety of sources, so if you want to extend your help to people like us then pls follow the style and help us.
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by loveusonu » Sun May 23, 2010 11:59 am
Should be B.

(A) to carry larger loads more slowly, determining
(B) to carry larger loads more slowly, a situation that determined

"a situation" is a proper noun to modify the earlier clause.
Though comma + VerbING also does the same thing, here there are 2 clauses before "determining", not sure for which "determining" will modify. Hence this option can be eliminated.
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by akhpad » Sun May 23, 2010 7:57 pm
sumanr84 wrote:
deepak_free wrote:Once again .... please give some time to us also to eliminate the choices
+1 on this.

akhp77,
I know you are here just to clear your doubts but would you mind posting your explanations about eliminating choices below the options. Most people come to BTG to practise problem from a variety of sources, so if you want to extend your help to people like us then pls follow the style and help us.

What do you want?

It is true that here I am to clear my doubt but I need explanation about correct answer. Usually, I post question with OA because I need explanation, but here I forgot accidentally.
You failed to give me correct explanation even I gave some grammar behind option A and B.
Last edited by akhpad on Sun May 23, 2010 8:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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by akhpad » Sun May 23, 2010 8:04 pm
sumanr84 wrote: If I have to choose one , I would go for A.
we need a semi-colon and not a comma in B to introduce a clause a situation that determined the design of the clipper ship.
I donot know what make you say, "a situation that determined the design of the clipper ship" is an absolute phrase.
determined is acting as a verb here, making this fragment as a Clause.
You could not understood what modifier it is.
I believe that both options A and B have correct grammar but there is a very minute difference in meaning that I need someone to explain me.

CORRECT - studies have shown that X is 60 percent of Y, a finding that has shocked most observers.
CORRECT - studies have shown that X is 60 percent of Y; this finding has shocked most observers.
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by akhpad » Sun May 23, 2010 8:25 pm
deepak_free wrote:Once again .... please give some time to us also to eliminate the choices
I could not understand what you mean.

I have seen all your posts what you have posted till now and I found that you are playing with forum.

I believe that you are unable to provide explanation even you know OA or narrow down the options.
Last edited by akhpad on Sun May 23, 2010 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by akhpad » Sun May 23, 2010 8:41 pm
loveusonu wrote:Should be B.

(A) to carry larger loads more slowly, determining
(B) to carry larger loads more slowly, a situation that determined

"a situation" is a proper noun to modify the earlier clause.
Though comma + VerbING also does the same thing, here there are 2 clauses before "determining", not sure for which "determining" will modify. Hence this option can be eliminated.
Your initiative forces me to think further about it.

Modifier suppose to modify
"the way for a merchant to generate the most profit was ...". It directly cannot determine the design.
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by sumanr84 » Sun May 23, 2010 8:53 pm
ok..so this is something new to me.

I just referred to one of old post where Ron has explained this concept.
This sort of modifier (COMMA + ABSTRACT NOUN) can be used to refer back to the WHOLE IDEA of the preceding clause.

Also, the example you quoted is present there. So, in case you have not seen that post below is the link,
https://www.beatthegmat.com/sc-with-surf ... 34-15.html
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by grockit_andrea » Mon May 24, 2010 7:05 am
loveusonu wrote:Should be B.

(A) to carry larger loads more slowly, determining
(B) to carry larger loads more slowly, a situation that determined

"a situation" is a proper noun to modify the earlier clause.
Though comma + VerbING also does the same thing, here there are 2 clauses before "determining", not sure for which "determining" will modify. Hence this option can be eliminated.
I concur with this explanation. "A situation that determined..." makes it clear what is being modified; it's the "situation," which includes the choice of a faster trip over a slower one. Just using "determining" makes it seems like it's "to carry larger loads more slowly" that is being modified, which is incorrect.
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by tyronetan82 » Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:49 pm
I'm trying to figure out, when it is deemed plausible to add another word (which is "situation" in this passage). Isn't GMAT's definition of best answer is to make the sentence as short and concise as possible?

My answer to this question was C, and it would be great to get an explanation as to why this is wrong.

Thanks!
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by sumanr84 » Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:00 pm
tyronetan82 wrote:I'm trying to figure out, when it is deemed plausible to add another word (which is "situation" in this passage). Isn't GMAT's definition of best answer is to make the sentence as short and concise as possible?

My answer to this question was C, and it would be great to get an explanation as to why this is wrong.

Thanks!
Tyrone
(C) carry larger loads more slowly, which determined => INCORRECT, for it uses "which". WHICH is generally used to refer back to noun immediately preceded by comma, but here it is trying to refer back to the complete idea.
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