Sentence Correction

1.The period when the great painted caves at Lascaux
and Altamira were occupied by Upper Paleolithic
people has been established by carbon-14 dating, but
what is much more difficult to determine are the
reason for their decoration, the use to which primitive
people put the caves, and the meaning of the
magnificently depicted animals.
(A) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but
what is much more difficult to determine are
(B) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but
what is much more difficult to determine is
(C) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but
what is much more difficult to determine is
(D) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but
what is much more difficult to determine are
(E) are established by carbon-14 dating, but that
which is much more difficult to determine is
ans is b... why not a what about the flip ...inversion of the subject.y arent we using it here?




2.Teratomas are unusual form of cancer because they
are composed of tissues such as tooth and bone not
normally found in the organ in which the tumor
appears.
(A) because they are composed of tissues such as
tooth and bone
(B) because they are composed of tissues like tooth
and bone that are
(C) because they are composed of tissues, like tooth
and bone, tissues

(D) in that their composition, tissues such as tooth
and bone, is
(E) in that they are composed of tissues such tooth
and bone, tissues

ans is e
why is d wrong??




3.One view of the economy contends that a large drop
in oil prices should eventually lead to lowering
interest rates, as well as lowering fears about inflation
a rally in stocks and bonds, and a weakening of the
dollar.

(A) lowering interest rates, as well as lowering fears
about inflation,
(B) a lowering of interest rates and of fears about
inflation,
(C) a lowering of interest rates, along with fears
about inflation,
(D) interest rates being lowered, along with fears
about inflation,
(E) interest rates and fears about inflation being
lowered, with

ans is c..
what about b.. why is it wrong?






4.Because the Earth's crust is more solid there and thus
better able to transmit shock waves, an earthquake of
a given magnitude typically devastates an area 100
times greater in the eastern United States than it does
in the West.

(A) of a given magnitude typically devastates an area
100 times greater in the eastern United States
(B) of a given magnitude will typically devastate 100
times the area if it occurs in the eastern United
States instead of the West

(C) will typically devastate 100 times the area in the
eastern United States than one of comparable
magnitude occurring in the West

(D) in the eastern United States will typically
devastate an area 100 times greater than will a
quake of comparable magnitude occurring in the
West\
(E) that occurs in the eastern United States will
typically devastate 100 times more area than if it
occurred with comparable magnitude in the West


whats wrong with E? dont we use times and more together??




i am jus starting up with gmat thing ,so please dont expect intelligent questions..

Hi Abhishek,

You could post 1 question at a time and another question as a new topic. This would help you and others since you can follow up on further questions and others can get benefit as they are not confused with many explanations which would come up in future. As you are new, this tip could be helpful . You can post 2 questions if you are comparing particular usage in two questions .

For Q1: the sentence can be simplified as
1. The period has been established by carbon-14 dating
2. when the great painted caves at Lascaux and Altamira were occupied by Upper Paleolithic people -
defines the period which is being talked about

It means the period 'when great caves were occupied by some people' has been established.
They have used carbon 14 to establish the results

3. but what is much more difficult to determine are the reason for their decoration, the use to which primitive people put the caves, and the meaning of the magnificently depicted animals.
-- This means that somethings have been difficult to determine
x. reason for their decoration
y. why they put caves, for what use- purpose of putting caves
z. meaning of the animals depicted in caves
Original sentence has only one error

but what is much more difficult to determine are x,y, and z
'what is much more ...' is - singular verb 'is' is required
as when you have a clause acting as a subject then it is always Singular
clause- means you have a subject and verb .
say: pen is red in color - subject: pen , verb : is
most of them highly popular - subject: most of them , verb: no verb
most of them are highly popular - subject: most of them , verb: are

So here 'what is much more ...' is - singular verb 'is' is required -
subject: what
verb: is
this clause itself is acting as subject: singular (when clause acts as subject: its singular)
we need singual verb to match it: therefore we need 'is'

B : solves this issues
A- is wrong for reason above
C: have been is wrong- as the subject is period and needs has
D- same as C
E: are- we need singular verb
So B is the answer

Now answering your question: when there is nothing before the verb that can act as subject, only then you should flip else never flip them. since we have subject: 'what is ..' before verb 'are' (should be is), donot flip it
e.g: Near the building are 5 children - Near the buildig is preposition and cannot acts as subject. Therefore flip and the subject is five children
Building has 5 lifts that are painted red : Subject 'building' is before verb:'has' Therefore we should not flip. (so the verb has matches building and not lifts).

Also the OA for 3 question is B and not C

thanx a lot.....
now i understand it a lot better...
could u please help me with the other 3 questions as well.....

For question 2: I am bit confused as I could not eliminate A. I checked other forum
and they seem to doubt it.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/in- ... t9034.html

For Question 3: OA is B and not C, so you have chosen the right answer
For Quesion 4: IMO: D

The sentence means to say
1. Earth's crust is more solid
2. Because of this : Earth's crust is better able to transmit shock waves
3. an earthquake (of a given magnitude )typically devastates an area
4. The area that get devasted in Eastern US is 100 times greater than the area that gets devasted
due to earthquake in West.
Also Note: the sentence is a general statment that the statement is true in past, present and future
because of the simple present tense: 'devastates'
A: The sentence look ok
B: devaste - is plural and the subject is Earthquake(Singular)
C: changes meaning . it says it will devaste 100 times the area in Easter US means
if area of Easter US is : x km sq, it would devast 100x, that it would devast other than east US
but original sentence says : if the area devasted in west is say y, it will devast 100y in east.
D: looks OK
E: greater is better than more . we say digit 5 is greater than digit 3 in Maths.
We dont usually says 5 is more than 3.

This link describes better
'https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/sta ... t4000.html'
'https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/gre ... t6858.html'

Left is A and D
It more down to comparisions

D is more parallel than A

D: an earthquake in the eastern United States will typically devastate an area 100 times greater than will a quake (of comparable magnitude occurring) in the West
--an earthquake in the eastern United States will typically devastate an area 100 times greater than
a earthquake in the west

A: Does not say if the earthquake is actually happening in East US. We can assume the earth quake happens in center but devastes 100 sq km in east and 1 sq km in west. But the intention is to day

'if earthquake happens in East it will devaste 100 sq km ,if it happens in west earth quake will devaste 1 sq km'

Also 'there' refers to Eastern US and in D its closer to 'there' than in A.

So D is better than A (this part was confusing)