Sentence Correction

844

The use of gravity waves, which do not interact with matter in the way electromagnetic waves do, hopefully will enable astronomers to study the actual formation of black holes and neutron stars.

(A) in the way electromagnetic waves do, hopefully will enable
(B) in the way electromagnetic waves do, will, it is hoped, enable
(C) like electromagnetic waves, hopefully will enable
(D) like electromagnetic waves, would enable, hopefully
(E) such as electromagnetic waves do, will, it is hoped, enable


[spoiler]OA-B
IMO-A[/spoiler](Is "hopefully" in A is making this Optio Incorrect?)

I have read somewhere (probably Princeton), that hopefully is wrong in GMAT...still need to make it sure...In speech, it is better to say as A does, but while answering the question, always be suspicious of hopefully..

Even I read it in many forums (dont know whether I can give the links here) that "Hopefully" is not used in GMAT.. "it is hoped" is better

"This once-useful adverb meaning "with hope" has been distorted and is now widely used to mean "I hope" or "it is to be hoped." Such use is not merely wrong, it is silly. To say, "Hopefully, I'll leave on the noon plane" is to talk nonsense. Do you mean you'll leave on the noon plane in a hopeful frame of mind? Or do you mean you hope you'll leave on the noon plane? Whichever you mean, you haven't said it clearly. Although the word in its new, free-floating capacity may be pleasurable and even useful to many, it offends the ear of many others, who do not like to see words dulled or eroded, particularly when the erosion leads to ambiguity, softness, or nonsense."

https://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/sentadvqa.htm

My answer: B

Why isn't the answer C?

Domnu wrote:Why isn't the answer C?

IMO....because it contains like....

like means similar to

C non sensically says that...."Matter similar to waves"

goelmohit2002 wrote:

Domnu wrote:Why isn't the answer C?

IMO....because it contains like....

like means similar to

C non sensically says that...."Matter similar to waves"

I'm still not that convinced... I'm pretty sure that it's because "like" is used, but I'm not convinced about the reason.

Domnu wrote:

goelmohit2002 wrote:

Domnu wrote:Why isn't the answer C?

IMO....because it contains like....

like means similar to

C non sensically says that...."Matter similar to waves"

I'm still not that convinced... I'm pretty sure that it's because "like" is used, but I'm not convinced about the reason.

the word "like" means similar to and is also used to make comparisons between two nouns.

In the above example, we are comparing an action - the way gravity waves interact - so it would be more appropriate to use the comparison word "as."

however, since "as" isn't one of the options, we can eliminate C and D

In addition Matter cannot be similar to Waves....

The use of gravity waves, which do not interact with matter in the way electromagnetic waves do, hopefully will enable astronomers to study the actual formation of black holes and neutron stars.

(A) in the way electromagnetic waves do, hopefully will enable
(B) in the way electromagnetic waves do, will, it is hoped, enable
(C) like electromagnetic waves, hopefully will enable
(D) like electromagnetic waves, would enable, hopefully
(E) such as electromagnetic waves do, will, it is hoped, enable

There is a 3/2 split between hopefully and hoped

In C and D the verb is missing so they are out , that leaves A, B and E

What does the sentence say ?

The use of gravity waves will enable astronomers to study the actual formation of black holes and neutron stars.

Other parts are modifiers so we can write

The use of gravity waves , which ( gravity waves) do not interact with matter in the sames way electromagnetic waves do (interact) ,will , it is hoped , enabled ................................................

So A is out for using the awkward construction hopefully

E is out because we don't want to give an example , what we want to say is " in the same way "

This leaves B

Hopefully is not wrong , but the problem lies in how its used in the sentence ( a sentence adverb ).It refers back to the whole sentence so its imprecise to use hopefully , better to use it is hoped (that the gravity waves )

goelmohit2002 wrote:In addition Matter cannot be similar to Waves....

In the quantum mechanical regime, matter can be represented as probabilistic wave functions, otherwise known as the wave-particle duality principle (look up de Broglie on wikipedia if you're so inclined).

In any case the "waves" being described here are distortions in the space-time fabric, analogous, but not identical to matter-waves. They do indeed interact with matter, albeit very weakly, and the statement does not state that they're the same, only that they interact with each other. Although I've come across some instances where GMAT questions make less than PC implications, I've yet to come across one that's an outright factual lie. So when it comes to fact checking, I think the people at GMAT do a pretty good job.