Sentence Correction

moadhia,

please please please please always mark the underlined portion of the sentnece.

B and D - Incorrect because they do not include the "he" in the end. Without this subject, the rest of the sentence doesn't make much sense.

C - Incorrect because the primary clause is just a fragment:
* Remove the parenthetical phrases "even though...telescope", and "in 1609" and you will see that C is missing a verb as it reads: "Gallileo on hearing that such an optical instrument had been made, he quickly built his own"

E - Incorrect because of the double negative "Even though...but when he heard". Double negatives are a no-no on the test.


C, D, and E - Incorrect because "even though" is not appropriate in this case as it isn't consistent with the intended meaning of the sentence. "Even though" should be used to show mitigating circumstances, or to introduce a paradox as in the examples below:

(1) Even though John is sick, he showed up to work today
(2) I couldn't afford to keep my car, even though I received a pay raise last week.

In both cases (and in all correct "even though" cases) the two clauses are contradictory (offer a paradox) and "even though" is used to express that relationship. In our sentence, we have on one hand "Galileo did not invent the telescope" and on the other hand "on hearing/when he heard that it had been made, he built his own". These two facts do not have a paradoxical relationship. "even though" is not appropriate; "but" is sufficient ("but" could express either a simple contrast ie 'I asked for food but he turned me down' or a paradox 'I broke my arm but kept playing')


Take-Aways:
Temporarily ignore subordinate clauses and prepositional phrases to make sense of a long sentence

For verbal prep, I recommend OG, MGMAT SC and GMATFix Verbal