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Why is the sentence wrong - Semantically or Grammatically

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Why is the sentence wrong - Semantically or Grammatically

by vmahalin » Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:55 pm
Hello All,

Under the section of "Adverbial Modifiers" in the Manhattan GMATs book, the sentence .... "The group arrived in New Orleans and decided to stay in a fancy hotel a week before Mardi-Gras"

This sentence is rewritten correctly as, "The group arrived in new Orleans a week before Mardi-Gras and decided to stay in a fancy hotel".

I get the point here, but why is the original sentence even required to be modified. In other words, why would a statement like that seem wrong for me to correct it. In the context, which is unknown to the reader, the group probably arrived 2 weeks prior to Mardi-Gras and a week before Mardi-Gras they might have decided to stay in a fancy hotel.

Is the sentence grammatically wrong in the first place? If not why am I even thinking of correcting it as it is quite subjective to the context.

I might be completely mistaken here, can someone help me with his/her comments on the same.

Thank you
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by MBAnce » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:07 pm
vmahalin,

I agree with you that these kind of sentense structures are difficult to grasp completely!

A close look at it would reveal that it leads to two different meanings
1. The group arrived in New Orleans for Mardi-Gras a week earlier and then decided to stay in a hotel for the whole week.
2. The group arrived in New Orleans and stayed in a hotel for Mardi-Gras, which they had decided a week earlier.

I believe first one is the intended meaning.
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by vmahalin » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:41 pm
You did a good job of simplifying the meanings that the sentence could hold, the real question is why am I to assume it is the first meaning and not the second. Not that I can do anything about it, but testing against such sentences that are highly subjective does not seem fair.
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by rey.fernandez » Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:34 pm
You're right that either meaning could be the intended one. But the main point is that if the original sentence proposes one meaning, you should eliminate all answer choices that change that original meaning by moving the adverbial modifier to another location.

The only time to veer off from the original sentence's meaning is when it is obviously absurd.
Rey Fernandez
Instructor
Manhattan GMAT
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