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how to approach this question?

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by torofish » Tue Aug 03, 2010 9:19 am
Students in the metropolitan school


Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.

(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city's economy that becomes
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city's economy that becomes
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city's economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming

--------------------------------------------------------

For me, it seems like that split is not apparent.

I ended up reading one by one. -_-'

Please tell me how do you approach this question.
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by kvcpk » Tue Aug 03, 2010 9:32 am
IMO E

Correct Idiom is So X As to Y
only CDE have this.
in C, so large lack of math skills is wrong.
D is of the form " are X so much as to Y"

Pick E.
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by santoostar » Mon Aug 09, 2010 11:32 pm
I too go with the option E , but i dont see the Idiom format mentioned in E. IS that a typo because you dont see the word as in E. Can KVCPK or some one throw some light ?
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by zaaash » Sat Aug 14, 2010 3:30 am
IMO D
(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
such ... as to - wrong idiom
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city's economy that becomes
..that becomes ... (changes meaning)
enough X that Y (correct idiom)
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city's economy that becomes
..that becomes ... (changes meaning)
so....as to be (correct idiom)
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city's economy becoming
so....as to be (correct idiom)
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
so lacking ...that :( VS lacking so much .... that :)
--| Nothing in this world that is worth having comes easy |--
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by kvcpk » Sat Aug 14, 2010 5:01 am
santoostar wrote:I too go with the option E , but i dont see the Idiom format mentioned in E. IS that a typo because you dont see the word as in E. Can KVCPK or some one throw some light ?
I didnt get your question. Can you please rephrase it?
"Once you start working on something,
don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it.
People who work sincerely are the happiest."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275BC)
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by chris@veritasprep » Sat Aug 14, 2010 7:29 am
I think santoosar is confused because the idiom mentioned by kvpck - "So X as to Y" - is not in the correct answer E. Just want to make sure that everyone understands that, although kvpck is certainly correct about "So X as to Y" being idiomatic, it is a lesser used and tricky idiom. It is much more common and also correct to say : "so.....that"

Take this excerpt from an old and difficult GMAT Sentence Correction problem:

"the features are so unrealistic as to constitute....." To most people this structure sounds incorrect but it is indeed idiomatic.

The more common way to express this:

"the features are so unrealistic that they constitute...." This is also correct and much more common.

Arguments could be made that there are subtle changes in meaning with the two idioms, but not so much that it would ever be an issue on any GMAT problem.

In the correct answer choice E the more common idiomatic structure is used giving clear meaning without any grammatical errors:

the students are "so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult....."

Zaash: In answer choice D, the correct idiom is not used as the structure is "X so as to Y" not "so X as to Y". Also, the possessive with "a city's economy" is incorrect.

Hope this helps clarify those two important idioms.
Chris Kane
GMAT Instructor
Veritas Prep

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by kvcpk » Sat Aug 14, 2010 7:32 am
chris@veritasprep wrote:I think santoosar is confused because the idiom mentioned by kvpck - "So X as to Y" - is not in the correct answer E. Just want to make sure that everyone understands that, although kvpck is certainly correct about "So X as to Y" being idiomatic, it is a lesser used and tricky idiom. It is much more common and also correct to say : "so.....that"

Take this excerpt from an old and difficult GMAT Sentence Correction problem:

"the features are so unrealistic as to constitute....." To most people this structure sounds incorrect but it is indeed idiomatic.

The more common way to express this:

"the features are so unrealistic that they constitute...." This is also correct and much more common.

Arguments could be made that there are subtle changes in meaning with the two idioms, but not so much that it would ever be an issue on any GMAT problem.

In the correct answer choice E the more common idiomatic structure is used giving clear meaning without any grammatical errors:

the students are "so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult....."

Zaash: In answer choice D, the correct idiom is not used as the structure is "X so as to Y" not "so X as to Y". Also, the possessive with "a city's economy" is incorrect.

Hope this helps clarify those two important idioms.
Thanks Chris. You articulated it perfectly.
"Once you start working on something,
don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it.
People who work sincerely are the happiest."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275BC)
Join the discussion

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