Experts, please help!

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gmat_perfect: Legendary Member; Posts: 1083; Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:38 pmFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 127 times

by gmat_perfect » Wed Sep 01, 2010 11:18 am

Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only.

A.in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only

B.in department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not also buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

C.those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but leave with only a basketball

D.those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

E.department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone will not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball but will leave with only a basketball

[spoiler]OA: D[/spoiler]

I can answer this question correctly, but I am not convinced with the logics that are coming to my mind. I was fighting with D and C.

Why should we choice D and why should we eliminate C?

Please don't say just "awkward".

My analogy:

C:

Shoppers in sporting goods stores do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but leave with only a basketball.

Here, we can say a same sentence in the following way:

I go to the pizza hut, eat pizza, but leave without taking some of pizza.

Since it is a list of three activities, we should use "AND" in place of "but". I think that option c is wrong due to the use of "but" in place of "AND".

Guys, do you have any other explanation about C?\

Thanks.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Wed Sep 01, 2010 11:18 am

BastiG: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 146; Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2010 5:05 am; Thanked: 7 times

by BastiG » Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:29 pm

What is the source of the questions because the question is really weird.

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reply2spg: Legendary Member; Posts: 1261; Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:46 am; Thanked: 27 times; GMAT Score:570

by reply2spg » Wed Sep 01, 2010 2:59 pm

are you sure about OA?

Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)

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Brian@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1031; Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:23 pmFollowed by: 255 members; Location: Malibu, CA; Thanked: 716 times; GMAT Score:750

by Brian@VeritasPrep » Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:16 pm

Hey gmat_perfect:

Please don't say just "awkward".

I love that line - and you're exactly right...there should always be a concrete reason that an answer is right or wrong!

C is a run-on sentence...if you break this sentence down to its core elements, you have:

Shoppers do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis, but leave with only a basketball.

There's nothing to connect the list of verbs: Shoppers do x, do not y, but z. We'd need it to say that shoppers do very little shopping and do not buy skis, but leave with only a ball. Even that would be "awkward" (sorry) as the meaning of the sentence isn't logical, so you'd probably have to rule that out, too.

D corrects that with a semicolon to set up two separate thoughts (that's the connector that we need), so that's why it's correct as opposed to C.

EDIT: Quick follow-up since I didn't directly address it before. In your example, you really would need to link the similar events with "and" even before the "but". "I went to Pizza Hut and ate pizza, but left without paying." "But" is simply a transition, not a combination of continuation-and-transition. If two things are alike and the third is opposite, you need to link the like events before transitioning to the third.

Last edited by Brian@VeritasPrep on Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Gurpinder: Legendary Member; Posts: 659; Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:12 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 32 times

by Gurpinder » Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:19 pm

D conveys the most clear meaning!

"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress."
- Alfred A. Montapert, Philosopher.

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reply2spg: Legendary Member; Posts: 1261; Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:46 am; Thanked: 27 times; GMAT Score:570

by reply2spg » Wed Sep 01, 2010 4:24 pm

Thanks Brian, it clears up now.

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Hey gmat_perfect:

Please don't say just "awkward".
I love that line - and you're exactly right...there should always be a concrete reason that an answer is right or wrong!

C is a run-on sentence...if you break this sentence down to its core elements, you have:

Shoppers do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis, but leave with only a basketball.

There's nothing to connect the list of verbs: Shoppers do x, do not y, but z. We'd need it to say that shoppers do very little shopping and do not buy skis, but leave with only a ball. Even that would be "awkward" (sorry) as the meaning of the sentence isn't logical, so you'd probably have to rule that out, too.

D corrects that with a semicolon to set up two separate thoughts (that's the connector that we need), so that's why it's correct as opposed to C.

EDIT: Quick follow-up since I didn't directly address it before. In your example, you really would need to link the similar events with "and" even before the "but". "I went to Pizza Hut and ate pizza, but left without paying." "But" is simply a transition, not a combination of continuation-and-transition. If two things are alike and the third is opposite, you need to link the like events before transitioning to the third.

Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)

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gmat_perfect: Legendary Member; Posts: 1083; Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:38 pmFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 127 times

by gmat_perfect » Thu Sep 02, 2010 8:09 am

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Hey gmat_perfect:

Please don't say just "awkward".
I love that line - and you're exactly right...there should always be a concrete reason that an answer is right or wrong!

C is a run-on sentence...if you break this sentence down to its core elements, you have:

Shoppers do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis, but leave with only a basketball.

There's nothing to connect the list of verbs: Shoppers do x, do not y, but z. We'd need it to say that shoppers do very little shopping and do not buy skis, but leave with only a ball. Even that would be "awkward" (sorry) as the meaning of the sentence isn't logical, so you'd probably have to rule that out, too.

D corrects that with a semicolon to set up two separate thoughts (that's the connector that we need), so that's why it's correct as opposed to C.

EDIT: Quick follow-up since I didn't directly address it before. In your example, you really would need to link the similar events with "and" even before the "but". "I went to Pizza Hut and ate pizza, but left without paying." "But" is simply a transition, not a combination of continuation-and-transition. If two things are alike and the third is opposite, you need to link the like events before transitioning to the third.

Thanks boss.
You are really helping us.

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apex231: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 127; Joined: Mon May 11, 2009 10:04 am; Thanked: 5 times

by apex231 » Thu Sep 02, 2010 9:21 pm

D.those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

I have couple of questions about option D.

To what "someone" refers to? Does it refer to shoppers in department stores or shoppers in sporting goods stores?

Also, isn't "as well" un-required in the sentence?

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