financial review

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vishalwin: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 274; Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:58 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 12 times; GMAT Score:530

by vishalwin » Mon Sep 28, 2015 10:46 am

Because the financial review covered only the fiscal years of July 1992 through June 1994, so the investigators were unable to determine the extent of possibly earlier overpayments.

(A) 1994, so the investigators were unable to determine the extent of possibly
(B) 1994, and the investigators were unable to determine the extent of possibly
(C) 1994, the investigators were unable to determine the extent of possible
(D) 1994, therefore the investigators were unable to determine the extent of possibly.
(E) 1994; therefore, the investigators were unable to determine the extent of possible

I marked E.

Reason: extent of possible is needed (do not know reason but it sounded good to me)

so A,B and D are out.

so/ therefore is needed that's why C is wrong. Please correct my reasoning.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Sep 28, 2015 10:46 am

GMAT/MBA Expert

ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Tue Sep 29, 2015 5:01 am

There are several possible sentence structures to express causation in English:

A word/phrase such as "because of," "since," or "due to" will make the first clause dependent and the second independent:
BECAUSE x happened, y happened.
DUE TO x, y happened.

Using "so" or "therefore" will make the second clause dependent:
X happened, THEREFORE y happened.
X happened, SO y happened.

We cannot use both BECAUSE and THEREFORE in the same sentence. It's redundant (we imply causation twice), and it creates a sentence fragment (two dependent clauses, but no independent clause).

The correct answer is C.

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

vishalwin: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 274; Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:58 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 12 times; GMAT Score:530

by vishalwin » Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:39 am

Hi,

Can you please explain why extent of possible is preferred over extent of possibly.

I choose "extent of possible" because that sounded good to me. I want to know grammatical reason so that I can remember it when I encounter a questions using same concept.

Thanks & Regards,
Vishal

GMAT/MBA Expert

ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:47 am

It's dangerous to just rely on what "sounds good" on SC. If we want to determine whether to use an adjective or adverb ("possible" or "possibly"), it has nothing to do with the phrase that comes before it ("extent of"). It depends on what the word is MODIFYING.

If we use the adjective "possible," then it's modifying "overpayments." In other words, it's possible that there were overpayments at an earlier date.

If we use the adverb "possibly," though, then it's modifying the adjective "earlier." In other words, possibly the overpayments were earlier, possibly they were later. This meaning makes a lot less sense.

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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