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Exam Pack 2--Unclear question --To GMATGuru

by Mo2men » Thu Sep 22, 2016 11:18 am
NASA's methodical approach to the exploration of Mars has not yet answered the questions of whether biological life forms ever emerged on Mars and whether, presuming such life forms having left fossil traces to begin with, those traces can still exist in some moist recesses of the cold and arid planet.


A.and whether, presuming such life forms having left fossil traces to begin with, those traces can
B.and whether, if it is presumed that such life forms left some fossil traces to begin with, can those traces
C.and whether, presuming such life forms left fossil traces to begin with, those traces
D.and, presuming such life forms did leave some fossil traces to begin with, if they can
E.and, presuming such life forms to have left fossil traces to begin with, if they

I do not know how [spoiler]OA: C[/spoiler]. is the right answer.

1- Does 'presuming' need 'that' or can be dropped?

2- Does modifier 'Comma + presuming'refer to 'Nasa's methodical approach?

3- Is 'left' a verb or modifier?

4- In the construction 'left fossil traces to begin with', does any word come after with?

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Sep 23, 2016 3:40 am
Mo2men wrote:NASA's methodical approach to the exploration of Mars has not yet answered the questions of whether biological life forms ever emerged on Mars and whether, presuming such life forms having left fossil traces to begin with, those traces can still exist in some moist recesses of the cold and arid planet.

A.and whether, presuming such life forms having left fossil traces to begin with, those traces can
B.and whether, if it is presumed that such life forms left some fossil traces to begin with, can those traces
C.and whether, presuming such life forms left fossil traces to begin with, those traces
D.and, presuming such life forms did leave some fossil traces to begin with, if they can
E.and, presuming such life forms to have left fossil traces to begin with, if they
A: life forms having
NOUN + having is always wrong.
Eliminate A.

B: whether can those traces still exist
Here, the portion in red is incorrectly phrased as a question, as follows:
Can those traces still exist?
whether must be followed by statement.
Eliminate B.

if must serve to introduce a CONDITION.
whether serves to introduce ALTERNATIVES.
D and E: the questions of...if they...still exist
Here, the portion in red serves to express two ALTERNATIVES:
They still exist or they DON'T still exist.
Since if cannot serve to introduce alternatives, eliminate D and E.

The correct answer is C.
Does 'presuming' need 'that' or can be dropped?

Does modifier 'Comma + presuming'refer to 'Nasa's methodical approach?
Here, COMMA + presuming is an adverbial modifier that means if it is presumed that.
In this context, COMMA + presuming seems to function almost as a preposition.
Like COMMA + including, COMMA + presuming is an exception to the normal rules about COMMA + VERBing modifiers.
As the OA illustrates, COMMA + presuming does not need to be followed by that.
Is 'left' a verb or modifier?


Here, left is a verb (the simple past tense form of to leave).
In the construction 'left fossil traces to begin with', does any word come after with?
Here, to begin with is an idiom that means in the first place.
This idiom is an adverb.
It CANNOT be followed by a noun.

The OA employs two colloquial constructions -- COMMA + presuming and to begin with -- that are exceptions to the normal rules of standard written English.
The take-away:
Eliminate answer choices for reasons that cannot be debated.
While the colloquialisms in the OA should make us skeptical, the errors in the remaining answer choices are crystal clear.
Thus, the OA is the best of the five options.
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by Needgmat » Fri Sep 23, 2016 8:27 am
A: life forms having
NOUN + having is always wrong.
Eliminate A.

B: whether can those traces still exist
Here, the portion in red is incorrectly phrased as a question, as follows:
Can those traces still exist?
whether must be followed by statement.
Eliminate B.

if must serve to introduce a CONDITION.
whether serves to introduce ALTERNATIVES.
D and E: the questions of...if they...still exist
Here, the portion in red serves to express two ALTERNATIVES:
They still exist or they DON'T still exist.
Since if cannot serve to introduce alternatives, eliminate D and E.

The correct answer is C.
Does 'presuming' need 'that' or can be dropped?

Does modifier 'Comma + presuming'refer to 'Nasa's methodical approach?
Here, COMMA + presuming is an adverbial modifier that means if it is presumed that.
In this context, COMMA + presuming seems to function almost as a preposition.
Like COMMA + including, COMMA + presuming is an exception to the normal rules about COMMA + VERBing modifiers.
As the OA illustrates, COMMA + presuming does not need to be followed by that.
Is 'left' a verb or modifier?


Here, left is a verb (the simple past tense form of to leave).
In the construction 'left fossil traces to begin with', does any word come after with?
Here, to begin with is an idiom that means in the first place.
This idiom is an adverb.
It CANNOT be followed by a noun.

The OA employs two colloquial constructions -- COMMA + presuming and to begin with -- that are exceptions to the normal rules of standard written English.
The take-away:
Eliminate answer choices for reasons that cannot be debated.
While the colloquialisms in the OA should make us skeptical, the errors in the remaining answer choices are crystal clear.
Thus, the OA is the best of the five options.
Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Can you please advise what second WEATHER indicates in OA?

Please explain.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Sep 24, 2016 2:52 am
Needgmat wrote:Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Can you please advise what second WEATHER indicates in OA?

Please explain.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin
The OA conveys the following meaning:
NASA's methodical approach...has not yet answered...whether...traces [left by life forms on Mars] still exist in some moist recesses of the cold and arid planet.
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by ngk4mba3236 » Tue May 09, 2017 9:49 pm
hi verbal experts,
i understand why B is wrong but curious to know the following concept -

as in B, can a IF-statement be nested inside a "Whether" in an OA ? I mean, is such construction grammatically viable on GMAT ?
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by ngk4mba3236 » Thu May 18, 2017 10:02 pm
hi verbal experts,
any update on the above concerns ?

thank you!
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Fri May 19, 2017 10:58 am
ngk4mba3236 wrote:hi verbal experts,
any update on the above concerns ?

thank you!
The most important thing to remember is that "if" is used in a conditional statement and "whether" is used when there are two discrete options. That's always your litmus test for correct usage.

(I suppose you could have a "whether" construction nested within an "if" conditional: "If I'm unable to decide whether to go to the party, my friends will be annoyed." So long as "if" expresses a conditional and "whether" expresses two discrete scenarios, there isn't a problem with the usage, but I can't recall offhand having encountered a construction like this on an official question.)
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