health care company

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Wed Sep 16, 2009 7:12 am

There's more than one way to write a correct sentence - don't interpret one correct sentence to mean it can't be written another way. I could say:

She doesn't like playing sports but does like watching them on TV.

or

She doesn't like playing sports, but she does like watching them on TV.

Both versions are grammatically correct. It is not required to repeat the "she" in this construction, but you can repeat it if you want. So the correct answer could be written either way - you have to go check the choices and see what you are given. (And they wouldn't give you two totally grammatically correct options, one with "she" and one without "she" - then you'd have two right answers!)

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Wed Sep 16, 2009 7:16 am

Stacey Koprince wrote:There's more than one way to write a correct sentence - don't interpret one correct sentence to mean it can't be written another way. I could say:

She doesn't like playing sports but does like watching them on TV.

or

She doesn't like playing sports, but she does like watching them on TV.

Both versions are grammatically correct. It is not required to repeat the "she" in this construction, but you can repeat it if you want. So the correct answer could be written either way - you have to go check the choices and see what you are given. (And they wouldn't give you two totally grammatically correct options, one with "she" and one without "she" - then you'd have two right answers!)

Thanks a lot Stacey !

If we cannot kick out C on the basis of "it"..then can you please help tell what is the problem with C ?

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:30 pm

the culprit is the "its" not the "it."

"in its paying doctors..." is not idiomatic. Drop the "its" and it's okay.

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:02 am

Stacey Koprince wrote:Mohit asked me to address this one.

In this context, "while" = "at the same time as" but that's obviously NOT what's being described, so eliminate A and B.

Hi Stacey,

Can you please tell why "while" is not used as contrast here ?

I guess the following sentence is correct:

"Nikkei rose, while DJIA fell yesterday."

Please tell what I am missing here ?

Thanks
Mohit

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:04 am

Stacey Koprince wrote:the culprit is the "its" not the "it."

"in its paying doctors..." is not idiomatic. Drop the "its" and it's okay.

Hi Stacey,

Thanks. Can you please tell a bit more about this rule...so that we never got stuck in similar situations in future ?

Thanks
Mohit

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:54 pm

goelmohit2002 wrote:
Stacey Koprince wrote:Mohit asked me to address this one.

In this context, "while" = "at the same time as" but that's obviously NOT what's being described, so eliminate A and B.

Hi Stacey,

Can you please tell why "while" is not used as contrast here ?

I guess the following sentence is correct:

"Nikkei rose, while DJIA fell yesterday."

Please tell what I am missing here ?

Thanks
Mohit

Hi Stacey,

Can you please tell a bit more about the usage of "while" in GMAT? Does it signify both the following below based on context or only "at the same time"

a) at the same time as
b) contrast (like whereas, but, although, even though)

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:35 am

On "while"

You can use "while" to indicate a comparison or contrast, but when it is used to indicate a contrast, the meaning is something like this:

While <x is true>, <it is also true that Y>
While <x is generally true>, <sometimes X is not true>

"while" can also mean (essentially) "when" or "at the same time as."

In this sentence:

"Nikkei rose, while DJIA fell yesterday."

"while" isn't needed to indicate the contrast. "rose" and "fell" tell us the contrast already. Instead, "while" is telling us that, in the same time period, the Nikkei rose and the DJIA fell.

In this problem, we're talking about a sequence of events: first, something was good. Then, it lost ground. This meaning doesn't fit any of the scenarios discussed above.

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:38 am

On "its"

Know that the test-writers find the construction "possessive pronoun + noun" awkward and prefer not to use it. "Its payment" is an example of this. If there's another way to say this (another choice that's correct in every other way and avoids this construction), then choose that one.

This is kind of like "being" - the test writers also prefer not to use that construction if they can avoid it.

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crackgmat007: Legendary Member; Posts: 882; Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:57 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 15 times; GMAT Score:690

by crackgmat007 » Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:19 pm

Hi Stacey,

Can you let me know if the following constructions are correct? Thanks.

M's swimming is a sight to behold.

His swimming is a sight to behold. (assuming 'his' has an appropriate antecedent)

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kiennguyen: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 73; Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:37 pm

good question!

by kiennguyen » Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:46 am

i want to know that too!

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enniguy: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 156; Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:41 am; Thanked: 8 times

by enniguy » Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:52 am

goelmohit2002 wrote: She is not interested in sports, but she likes watching them on TV.

I dont think it's wrong but the pronoun is redundant. When we have a better alternative we can choose them instead of the ones with redundant pronouns.
So, this should also be fine and probably preferable:
"She is not interested in sports, but likes watching them on TV."

It's just my opinion, I'm waiting for Stacey's comments as well.

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crackgmat007: Legendary Member; Posts: 882; Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:57 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 15 times; GMAT Score:690

by crackgmat007 » Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:04 am

enniguy wrote:
goelmohit2002 wrote: She is not interested in sports, but she likes watching them on TV.
"She is not interested in sports, but likes watching them on TV."

It's just my opinion, I'm waiting for Stacey's comments as well.

Same here.

IMO the above sentence may be an incorrect coz comma & coordinating conjunction must be used to join two main clauses. The second clause doesnt have a subject. Not sure if 'SHE' applies to second clause.

I think if comma before BUT is not there, then sentence might be correct. Want to confirm my understanding though..

"She is not interested in sports but likes watching them on TV."

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A.Kiran: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 79; Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:03 am; Thanked: 1 times

by A.Kiran » Thu Nov 19, 2009 12:27 am

The 2 sentences are awkward sentences. once said by stacey.
possessive + gerunds are not good.

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OGMATTERS: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 43; Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 12:12 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by OGMATTERS » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:33 pm

After several years of rapid growth, the healthy care company became one of the largest health care providers in the metropolitan area, while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in its payment to doctors and hospitals.

A. while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in its payment to
B. while it then proved unable to handle the increase in business and fell months behind in its payment to
C. but then it proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in its paying
D. but then proving unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in paying
E. but then proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in paying

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finalbattle: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 7; Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:49 am; Thanked: 1 times

by finalbattle » Sat Aug 20, 2011 5:40 am

This question is crazy man...official question and pathetic....i mean in standard writing we use COMMA + BUT to introduce a new clause...even OG in some of their explanations mentioned the same...but here OE Op E is not following this rule...on the other hand Op C which looks correct wrong because of awkward construction.

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