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Interesting SC

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by visjain » Sun May 24, 2009 4:59 am
Having been forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

a) Having been forbidden by society to marry it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

b) Forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during Middle Ages to sire a family.

c) Although they were forbidden by society law to marry, it was unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

d) Although a priest was forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

e) Although they were forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusal for priests during the Middle Ages to sire a family.
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IMO

by kc_raj » Sun May 24, 2009 5:40 am
IMO between D and E, D because it captures a priest which means for any priest you pick, whereas in E its priests does not mean for any priest you pick.
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by Mayur Sand » Sun May 24, 2009 7:05 pm
Can some one explain what is the problem with (E). In (D) we are repeating a priest twice, while in (E) we are using "they" to point to community whats wrong with that??

d) Although a priest was forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.
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by rohit9359 » Sun May 24, 2009 10:06 pm
I would choose (D) over (E), since "they" in (E) does not have a clear antecedent.

What is the OA?

Regards,
Rohit.
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by rameshthammanna » Sun May 24, 2009 10:17 pm
Whats wrong with (B)?
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by Domnu » Mon May 25, 2009 7:12 am
I would go with either (D) or (E) as well. The answer provided for (D) is slightly clumsy due to the two "priest"s being present, so I would most likely go for (E).
Have you wondered how you could have found such a treasure? -T
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by marshmallow » Mon May 25, 2009 7:25 am
I also believe that D is wordy because of the two repeating "priest".
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by Mayur Sand » Mon May 25, 2009 8:05 am
whats the OA???
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by paneer » Mon May 25, 2009 8:45 am
I choose D over E
Paneer!
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by rahulg83 » Mon May 25, 2009 9:43 am
IMO B
please provide the OA
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by tdadic84 » Mon May 25, 2009 9:46 am
imo D...

b is wrong because:

Forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during Middle Ages to sire a family.

after forbidden by society to marry, it should say Preists...not it was...
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Re: Interesting SC

by adityagarg999 » Wed May 27, 2009 9:07 pm
my answer is D.

Although "D" is a bit wordy, but it's grammatically correct.
Problem with "E" is that, "they" doesn't have clear precedent. We cann't assume "priests" to be the subject of "they".
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by shalinisingh » Thu May 28, 2009 3:49 am
my answer is E
d is using priests twice which can be avoided.
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by rahulsaroha » Fri May 29, 2009 2:59 am
hey shalini..

E) Although they were forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusual for priests during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

how can many priests can sire a single family.....
"D" is correct.....repetition is not changing the meaning of sentence..it's acceptable in some cases...
rahul
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Re: Interesting SC

by The GMAT Chef » Fri May 29, 2009 10:14 am
visjain wrote:Having been forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

a) Having been forbidden by society to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

b) Forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during Middle Ages to sire a family.

c) Although they were forbidden by society law to marry, it was unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

d) Although a priest was forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusual for a priest during the Middle Ages to sire a family.

e) Although they were forbidden by society law to marry, it was not unusal for priests during the Middle Ages to sire a family.
Hi guys,
Interesting discussion you have here.

This is my take on it and follow carefully:

a) is clearly wrong because "priests" must be placed right after the modifying phrase "Having been forbidden by society to marry" ("priests" placed after the comma).

b) same issue as in a).

c) "they" and "priest" do not agree.

d) Good but repetition of "priest" is awkward here and e) has a better way of conveying the same meaning.

e) Very good in every department. "They" can only refer to "priests".

This is the technique to convince yourself of this fact:
The clause introduced by "Although" is the subordinate clause and the clause after the comma is the main clause; now just switch their positions and drop the comma. If the resulting sentence is good, then you have just found the correct answer.

This is your new sentence:

"It was not unusual for priests during the Middle Ages to sire a family although they were forbidden by society law to marry."

Now, try to do the same for d).

e) is the correct answer.
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Dakar Azu is The GMAT Chef. He has sweet recipes for virtually every type of GMAT question, be it quantitative or verbal. Dakar has been teaching the GMAT since 2003 and is the founder of GMATLounge at https://gmatlounge.com , 700-GMAT Club at https://700gmatclub.com ,
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