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New SC QBank Q # 8

by miteshsholay » Thu Sep 27, 2012 9:30 pm
Some critics have deemed the musician's new composition confusing, because of its unusual structure, and its melodious final movement makes it elegant
(A) structure, and its melodious final movement makes it elegant
(B) structure, although elegant by having its melodious final movement
(C) structure, and it is elegant with its melodious final movement
(D) structure while having a melodious final movement that makes it elegant
(E) structure yet elegant because of its melodious final movement
OA-E
Should'nt there be a comma before 'yet' ? We should place a sub-clause 'because of its unusual structure' within commas right?
Some critics have deemed the musician's new composition confusing, because of X, yet elegant because of Y
or remove the comma after 'confusing' ?
Last edited by miteshsholay on Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by Kasia@EconomistGMAT » Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:07 am
Could you please post this question with underlining?
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by miteshsholay » Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:46 am
Kasia@MasterGMAT wrote:Could you please post this question with underlining?
Edited the post and underlined.
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by EricJA » Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:23 pm
You're right. I agree with removing the comma after confusing. I think you can justify a comma before yet because of the contrast. Leaving out the comma after confusing makes it read more smoothly and makes you consistent in punctuating the because clauses.

Some critics have deemed the musician's new composition confusing, because of X, yet elegant, because of Y. That seems like too many commas to me. The sentence just crawls.

Even setting off the because clause in the middle of the sentence needlessly delays the reader.

Just my two cents. ;-)
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by miteshsholay » Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:10 pm
I think we get pretty clearly that the point this sentence is trying to make is:
The new composition is
1)confusing because of X.
2)elegant because of Y.
since these are opposing views, they are joined by a 'yet'.

Now if we put just one comma after 'confusing', it seems something like :
The new composition is
1)confusing, because of X yet elegant because of Y.

It seems either it has a comma or couple of commas less,
The new composition is
1)confusing, because of X, yet elegant because of Y.

or
The new composition is
confusing because of X, yet elegant because of Y.

or it should have no comma at all.
The new composition is
1)confusing because of X yet elegant because of Y.

Is this just a silly doubt or significant enough to make choose wrong ans?
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by EricJA » Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:33 pm
You're right that the sentence could be written any of the ways you suggest. All of them are fine, except for this one: confusing, because of X yet elegant because of Y.

Your goal is always to choose the best answer from among those presented. Even though E is not perfect, it is the best answer.

While you are preparing for the GMAT, it's worthwhile to take a few minutes to consider if the right answer to a SC could be better. You're building awareness of how English is styled, and that's worthwhile for the rest of your career as a writer and helpful in scoring well on SC questions on the GMAT.

On test day,however,just pick the best of what is there and move on. There may be small inconsistencies like this one in a correct answer.

If you can see the small difference in comma placement on this question, I would bet that you can also see that E is the right answer because it's a lot better than the other choices.

Was it easy for you to pick E?

If it was, you're doing fine. ;-)
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