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Ex1: Mrs Merckel

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Ex1: Mrs Merckel

by e-GMAT » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:07 am
This question is the first practice problem of meaning based questions that tests proper placement of modifiers. Correct and best explanation will get a thanks from us and a free subscription for 1 month to our OG Verbal 2 solutions for Sentence Correction. OG Verbal 2 solutions contains solutions to all SC questions using e-GMAT 3 step process- amounting to 14 hrs of audio visual content.

For more details on the strategies that GMAT uses to distort meaning, refer to this article.


At the heart of euro crisis is Mrs. Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction, the reason for lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro.
  • A. Mrs. Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction, the reason for lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro
    B. Mrs. Merckel, whose lack of quick or bold reaction is the reason that the downward spiral of the euro has not halted
    C. the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs. Merckel, the reason that the downward spiral of the euro has not halted.
    D. Mrs. Merckel, whose lack of quick or bold reaction is the reason of lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro.
    E. the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs. Merckel, resulting in the downward spiral of the euro
The offical answer will be provided soon.
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by vk_vinayak » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:29 am
At the heart of crisis is NOT SOMEBODY, but SOMEBODY'S INABILITIES. That is the ground I used to eliminate B and D.

the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs. Merckel sounds awkward. Eliminate C and D.

Also, I believe reason of is not correct (Reason for, or reason that sounds ok).

E also illogically suggests that 'heart of euro crisis' has resulted in downward spiral of the euro.

A looks ok to me. Let me know if my reasoning is correct.
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by kartikshah » Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:27 am
The correct answer should be option A.

We first need to understand who/what is at the heart of the euro crisis? Is it Mrs, Merckel HERSELF? Certainly not.

We don't say: 'At the heart of Syria's problems is President Assad.' Instead, we say 'At the heart of Syria's problems is the failure of the government led by President Assad.'
(Disclaimer: This is neither my view nor opinion but rather a prevalent, general impression of the current Syrian government)

So, let's eliminate option B and D first. That leaves us with options A, C, and E.

We now need to understand what the sentence is trying to say: Lack of X on part of Y is at the heart of crisis AND Lack of X has resulted in Z.
X = Lack of bold and quick reactions
Y = Mrs Merckel
Z = Downward spiral of the euro

According to option C, the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs Merckel is at the heart of the euro crisis. But notice that the comma after Mrs Merckel almost makes HER the reason for the downward spiral of the euro. This is not true as per the meaning established above. So, C is out!

Similarly we can eliminate option E which also holds Mrs Merckel responsible for the fall in euro instead of holding responsible the lack of bold and quick reactions on her part.

This leaves us with answer choice A. This answer choice correctly tells us that Mrs's Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction is at the heart of the euro crisis. Furthermore, "the reason...." correctly modifies lack of quick and bold reaction and not Mrs Merckel.
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by patanjali.purpose » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:48 pm
e-GMAT wrote: At the heart of euro crisis is Mrs. Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction, the reason for lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro.
  • A. Mrs. Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction, the reason for lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro
    B. Mrs. Merckel, whose lack of quick or bold reaction is the reason that the downward spiral of the euro has not halted
    C. the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs. Merckel, the reason that the downward spiral of the euro has not halted.
    D. Mrs. Merckel, whose lack of quick or bold reaction is the reason of lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro.
    E. the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs. Merckel, resulting in the downward spiral of the euro
Lets reverse the sentence to understand the structure better:

Mrs. Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction IS at the heart of euro crisis, the reason for lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro.

"lack of quick or bold reaction" is the SUBJECT (not Merckel)

Original sentence intends to say two key things:
1) Lack of X is at the heart of Y (here X = quick or bold reaction; Y = Euro Crisis)
2) The lack of X is THE REASON for continued downward spiral of Euro

With this understanding, lets look at choices:
A - donot find much problem (we will come back)
B - distorts the meaning (Merckel IS AT THE HEART OF EURO CRISIS) - choice changes the subject from "lack of quick or bold reaction" to Merckel. Merckel is NOT AT THE HEART OF EURO CRISIS, ITS her lack of reaction DROP

C - donot find much problem (we will come back)
D - Same problem as B. DROP
E - it keep the doer same, but changes the 2nd key meaning of the original sentence. 2nd part of The original sentence says "The lack of X is THE REASON for continued downward spiral of Euro". But choice E says "Lack of X is at the heart of Y" IS RESULTING (LEADING)to downward spiral of Euro. DROP

Now, A vs C - in both choices THE REASON...EURO acts as an ABSTRACT MODIFIER and therefore modifies the entire PREVIOUS CLAUSE

A - attractive choice as there is no passive element, but IMO, it has THREE key problems:
(a) LACK OF QUICK..., the reason for LACK OF.. (presence of LACK twice makes it awkward)
(b) lack of HALTING OF THE DOWNWARD (LACK OF VERBING OF = bit awkward)
(c) ABSTRACT MODIFIER (THE REASON...EURO) takes the time (verb) from TIME PERIOD of preceding clause ie IS (present simple) - this signifies that DOWNWARD SPIRAL HAS STARTED NOW

C - presence of BY MERCKEL does not make it grammatically incorrect , the modifiers contains PRESENT PERFECT to clearly signify that DOWNWARD SPIRAL STARTED EARLIER and continues even today.

IMO C
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by geekforu » Mon Jul 16, 2012 8:43 pm
A - lack OF...halting OF...downward spiral OF... - wordy and awkward
B - Mrs Merckel is not the reason for downward spiral of euro, but her lack of quick reaction is. This option incorrectly states that Mrs. Merckel is the reason (meaning distortion). - wrong
C - this option correctly states that lack of quick decision is the reason that the euro spiral did not halt
D - same as B
E - Meaning distortion. Mrs Merckel's lack of quick decision resulted in the slowdown/halt in the downward spiral. Mrs. Merckel was not responsible for the creation of downward spiral in the first place. The downward spiral had already started. This option incorrectly states that Mrs. Merckel was responsible for the downward spiral,which is not the meaning of the original sentence. It is just that her lack of quick decision was not able to slowdown/halt the spiral. .

My option would be C
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Ex1: Mrs Merckel

by e-GMAT » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:16 am
egmat wrote:
At the heart of euro crisis is Mrs. Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction, the reason for lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro.

A. Mrs. Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction, the reason for lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro
B. Mrs. Merckel, whose lack of quick or bold reaction is the reason that the downward spiral of the euro has not halted
C. the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs. Merckel, the reason that the downward spiral of the euro has not halted.
D. Mrs. Merckel, whose lack of quick or bold reaction is the reason of lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro.
E. the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs. Merckel, resulting in the downward spiral of the euro.
Here is the official explanation for this question:
Image
Understand the Meaning of the Original Sentence
The sentence presents a few facts
1. Mrs. Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction is at the heart of euro crisis.
2. Her lack of bold reaction is the reason for lack of halting of the downward spiral of the Euro
a. This is rather confusing expression. It intends to say that her lack of bold reaction is the reason why downward spiral of Euro has not halted or stopped.

Find the Errors in the Original Sentence
"¢ At the heart of euro crisis is Mrs. Merckel's lack of quick or bold reaction, the reason for lack of halting of the downward spiral of the euro.

This sentence has only 1 clause with inverted SV order. Grammatically this sentence appears to be ok but it is not written in concise manner. The expression - "lack of halting of ..." is overly complicated and confusing as discussed in meaning analysis.

Review Answer Choices to do POE
Choice B - This choice changes the meaning of the sentence. It now states that Mrs. Merckel is at the heart of Euro crisis. Per the original sentence, her lack of quick or bold decision is at the heart of Euro crisis.

Choice C - Correct Choice.

Choice D - This choice repeats the errors of Choice B

Choice E - This choice is grammatically correct. But it changes the intended meaning of the sentence. Now it implies that lack of bold reaction is the reason behind the downward spiral of the Euro. This is not correct. Note that per the intended meaning - downward spiral of Euro is already happening. Mrs. Merckel is not taking a quick or bold decision. This indecisiveness results in continuation of the downward spiral. Thus, its not like this indecisiveness results in the downward spiral of Euro. It results in not being able to stop this downward spiral.

TAKE AWAYS
1. Understand the intended meaning of the sentence and then select the choice that correctly communicates that meaning. Understand the role of each modifier in the sentence and note for any changes in the placement of these modifiers.
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by vk_vinayak » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:29 am
e-GMAT wrote: egmat wrote:

Review Answer Choices to do POE
Choice B - This choice changes the meaning of the sentence. It now states that Mrs. Merckel is at the heart of Euro crisis. Per the original sentence, her lack of quick or bold decision is at the heart of Euro crisis.

Choice C - Correct Choice.

Choice D - This choice repeats the errors of Choice B

Choice E - This choice is grammatically correct. But it changes the intended meaning of the sentence. Now it implies that lack of bold reaction is the reason behind the downward spiral of the Euro. This is not correct. Note that per the intended meaning - downward spiral of Euro is already happening. Mrs. Merckel is not taking a quick or bold decision. This indecisiveness results in continuation of the downward spiral. Thus, its not like this indecisiveness results in the downward spiral of Euro. It results in not being able to stop this downward spiral.

TAKE AWAYS
1. Understand the intended meaning of the sentence and then select the choice that correctly communicates that meaning. Understand the role of each modifier in the sentence and note for any changes in the placement of these modifiers.
Can you tell me how in the choice c, the usage of by is correct? Shouldn't it be 'of'?

the lack of quick or bold reaction BY Mrs. Merckel
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by mv12 » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:45 am
I picked C.
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by e-GMAT » Tue Jul 17, 2012 9:08 am
vk_vinayak wrote: Can you tell me how in the choice c, the usage of by is correct? Shouldn't it be 'of'?

the lack of quick or bold reaction BY Mrs. Merckel
Hi Vinayak,

The usage of "by" is correct in the sentence because it is saying that because Mrs. Merckel could not take a decision on time, this delay led to something. So who failed to take the bold decision? Mrs. Merckel did. The quick and bold decision was not taken by Mrs. Merckel.

Let's take a simple example here:

The company bore a huge loss because of the CEO's lack of improvisation.

We can rewrite this sentence as:

The lack of improvisation by the CEO is the reason why the company bore a huge a loss.

In this sentence, it is clear that showed lack of improvisation. It is the CEO. In the same way, the decision was delayed by Mrs. Merckel. Hence, use of "by" is correct in the sentence.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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by geekforu » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:25 pm
Can you please announce the winners ?
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by bubbliiiiiiii » Wed Jul 18, 2012 12:10 am
Hi e-GMAT,

Firstly, thank you for posting such a nice article and sample questions.

Query:

Doesn't option C imply that Mrs. Merckel is the reason behind continuous downward spiral of euro?
At the heart of euro crisis is the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs. Merckel, the reason that the downward spiral of the euro has not halted.
Could you please help me understand what am I missing?
Regards,

Pranay
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by ashishjolly86 » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:06 am
c) the lack of quick or bold reaction by Mrs. Merckel, the reason that the downward spiral on the euro has not halted.

"Mrs. Merkel" cannot be the object of the sentence or the logic of the sentence is affected . So eliminate B and D
"the reason...." is the object of the subject " the heart of the eurocrisis.." for A E and C. So let's keep those for now.

"Mrs. Merkel's lack of..." maintains an object in A, but "lack of halting of downward spiral" is not grammatical. So that leaves us E and C.

E alters the meaning of the sentence to "Causation" rather than preventing the further deterioration of the Euro.

That leaves us with our answer C.

Now give me that month's Verbal freebie! I really need it.
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by e-GMAT » Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:40 am
geekforu wrote:A - lack OF...halting OF...downward spiral OF... - wordy and awkward
B - Mrs Merckel is not the reason for downward spiral of euro, but her lack of quick reaction is. This option incorrectly states that Mrs. Merckel is the reason (meaning distortion). - wrong
C - this option correctly states that lack of quick decision is the reason that the euro spiral did not halt
D - same as B
E - Meaning distortion. Mrs Merckel's lack of quick decision resulted in the slowdown/halt in the downward spiral. Mrs. Merckel was not responsible for the creation of downward spiral in the first place. The downward spiral had already started. This option incorrectly states that Mrs. Merckel was responsible for the downward spiral,which is not the meaning of the original sentence. It is just that her lack of quick decision was not able to slowdown/halt the spiral. .

My option would be C
Great job at this analysis. It is absolutely correct!! Congratulations - you are the winner for this question!! As promised you will get a "thanks" from us and free subscription for 1 month to our OG SC VR2 solutions course. Please register at e-gmat and send me an email at [email protected] so that we can enable your account with the subscription.

Regards,

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by geekforu » Wed Jul 18, 2012 8:14 pm
Thank you so much for the encouragement.

I have sent an email as you had said.
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by ashishjolly86 » Thu Jul 19, 2012 12:19 am
Hi e-gmat.

Isn't my solution also correct.

I also need 1 months access to e-gmat OG v2 solutions...I have ran out of cash..and now couldn't afford a single penny on gmat material.

In case u find my solution appropriate, please consider my request.
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