English Spelling

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 377
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:30 am
Thanked: 15 times
Followed by:2 members

English Spelling

by schumi_gmat » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:23 am
Columnist: The winner of this year's national spelling bee won by correctly spelling the spoken word Ursprache, which means "fame" in German. Given the richness of our language, why must we resort to words taken from modern foreign languages to challenge our best spellers? Ursprache is listed in our dictionary, as are words from many other foreign languages, but future spelling bees should limit themselves to words in our dictionary that have been anglicized in all aspects because spelling English words, not knowledge of linguistics and international phonetics, is the point of these contests.

Which of the following can most reasonably be inferred from the argument above?

The spelling contest winner knew how to spell most of the anglicized words in the dictionary.

Foreign words are more difficult than anglicized words for all contestants to spell.

Spelling contestant winners should be determined by their facility with all aspects of language.

To spell foreign words, contestants must recognize the language and know its pronunciation.

The English language contains more borrowed words than most other languages.

IMO A
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 280
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:18 am
Thanked: 5 times
GMAT Score:610

by Jatinder » Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:41 pm
a tough one...

Its B/w B and D

i choose D...As B is too strong (all contestants..)

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 267
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:20 am
Thanked: 4 times
Followed by:1 members

by Mani_mba » Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:40 pm
I think B can be inferred.

The passage says that, the words from foreign language are a big challenge to the best spellers. So that implies that Words from foreign language are more difficult to spell than anglicized words for all contestants.

What is the OA ?

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

by raunekk » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:41 pm
imo:D

B is not mentioned in the stimulus..

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:49 pm

by tallynik » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:55 pm
IMO: D.
The passage mentions that inorder to spell words not originally english, one needs to know the orginal language, which in turn should not be purpose of spelling be.
Refer last line of Question.
Thanks For Your Help

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 267
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:20 am
Thanked: 4 times
Followed by:1 members

by Mani_mba » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:43 pm
Yes D is right . I was wrong in choosing B first.

And as someone mentioned above, B is too strong.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 344
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:00 am
Location: USA
Thanked: 6 times
Followed by:1 members

by Bidisha800 » Fri Oct 24, 2008 11:56 pm
(D)
Drill baby drill !

GMATPowerPrep Test1= 740
GMATPowerPrep Test2= 760
Kaplan Diagnostic Test= 700
Kaplan Test1=600
Kalplan Test2=670
Kalplan Test3=570

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 2134
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:26 pm
Thanked: 237 times
Followed by:25 members
GMAT Score:730

by logitech » Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:12 am
Please do not take this personal Bidisha but just posting your choice really does not help anybody, other than fulfilling your ego. We all use this forum, to learn from each other. What is the point of putting a letter ?

WHY IS D ? But not A ?

Anyways, I hope I made a valid point for those who read this.

Bidisha800 wrote:(D)
Going back to question:

Columnist: The winner of this year's national spelling bee won by correctly spelling the spoken word Ursprache, which means "fame" in German. Given the richness of our language, why must we resort to words taken from modern foreign languages to challenge our best spellers? Ursprache is listed in our dictionary, as are words from many other foreign languages, but future spelling bees should limit themselves to words in our dictionary that have been anglicized in all aspects because spelling English words, not knowledge of linguistics and international phonetics, is the point of these contests.

Which of the following can most reasonably be inferred from the argument above?

The spelling contest winner knew how to spell most of the anglicized words in the dictionary.

Foreign words are more difficult than anglicized words for all contestants to spell.

Spelling contestant winners should be determined by their facility with all aspects of language.

To spell foreign words, contestants must recognize the language and know its pronunciation.

The English language contains more borrowed words than most other languages.

Nothing in BOLDs in the answer choices are mentioned in the stimulus. Remember, one word is WRONG, all of it is WRONG

But option D can be referred from the last part of the stimulus.

so I would go with D too.

Legendary Member
Posts: 541
Joined: Thu May 31, 2007 6:44 pm
Location: UK
Thanked: 21 times
Followed by:3 members
GMAT Score:680

by rohangupta83 » Sat Oct 25, 2008 3:13 am
I dont think B can be convincingly inferred from the argument given. All the argument is trying to point out is the fact that in spelling bees, competitors are being asked to spell words from foreign languages when there is abundance of words in proper English.

Authors main point is in the conclusion '' but future spelling bees should limit themselves to words in our dictionary that have been anglicized in all aspects because spelling English words, not knowledge of linguistics and international phonetics, is the point of these contests.''

or the key words to notice are ''English words, not knowledge of linguistics and international phonetics, is the point of these contests''

Hence, D can be convincingly inferred.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 377
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:30 am
Thanked: 15 times
Followed by:2 members

by schumi_gmat » Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:34 am
Thanks Guys.

OA D

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 871
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:48 am
Thanked: 48 times

by stop@800 » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:03 pm
How come pronunciation be part of the answer??

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 300
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:58 am

by peter.p.81 » Wed May 11, 2016 3:22 am
I'd say D but I'm afraid more because of my intuition than any logic.