How does one handle questions like this?

It will be better if you post your own approach to the question first, so that others can analyze it and share their own approaches.

Well as far as these type of questions are concerned,I don't have a
proper approach, precisely the reason why I posted this topic.

Having said that, I approached this question eliminating the answers which had flaws.
I zeroed in on option A and it happens to be the right answer.
However, in the long run I need a proper approach to these questions.
Help me out.
Cheers.

b,c can be rejected because of If used repeatedly in the same place, one reason
(modifier modifies one reason which is incorrect)
e) 'those' pronoun reference error
IMO A[/b]

Thanks for the explanation cans.
Also,it would be helpful if you can tell me how to attack these kind of questions.

It took me almost 2:14 mins to solve this one.. I need to work more on my SC..

IMO A

while solving such where we have to correct the whole sentence, try to eliminate those sentences which distort the meaning of the original sentence and also GMATically correct.

Sanjay2706 wrote:Hello experts,
I am generally able to solve SC questions. However, I get stumped
by these type of questions where the entire sentence has to be corrected.
Do help me out.

205.Certain pesticides can become ineffective if used repeatedly in the same place; one reason is suggested by the finding that there are much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in soils that are free of such chemicals.
(A) Certain pesticides can become ineffective if used repeatedly in the same place; one reason is suggested by the finding that there are much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in soils that are free of such chemicals.
(B) If used repeatedly in the same place, one reason that certain pesticides can become ineffective is suggested by the finding that there are much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in soils that are free of such chemicals.
(C) If used repeatedly in the same place, one reason certain pesticides can become ineffective is suggested by the finding that much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes are found in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than those that are free of such chemicals.
(D) The finding that there are much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in soils that are free of such chemicals is suggestive of one reason, if used repeatedly in the same place, certain pesticides can become ineffective.
(E) The finding of much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in those that are free of such chemicals suggests one reason certain pesticides can become ineffective if used repeatedly in the same place.

Answer to follow.

Hi Sanjay,

This is a problem faced by most GMAT test-takers.
First, try and eliminate choices with obvious errors - B, C & D can be eliminated due to incorrect placement of the modifier.
This leaves us with two options, A & E. This is when you should look more closely at the options. The reasons discussed above lead us to A as the answer

Hey guys,

Great question - those entire-sentence-underlined questions can look pretty involved. A few strategies can really help to minimize your workload:

1) Scan for differences. If you see obvious differences between answer choices, you can then check the differences for errors. Anything that's repeated verbatim in all five can't be an error, so you're going to have to make your decision on differences; look for those initially to see if anything jumps out at you.

Here, A starts with a noun phrase "certain pesticides" while B and C start with a conditional modifier "If used repeatedly...". That's a major difference, and Modifiers are a major error category, so like cans and others did you probably want to check that modifier in B and C to see if you can eliminate those (and here you can).

2) Note the usual suspects. Like we saw here, Modifiers often start a sentence, and we know that they're popular "breeding ground" for errors, so if you're in doubt as to where to start, scan for Modifiers and eliminate incorrect options.

3) Look for places to lighten the load. Again, I'll talk about Modifiers - if a Modifier is CORRECT, then you can ignore it - it's no longer a decision point. Modifiers are either wrong, and therefore your reason for getting rid of an answer, or they're extra information that describes a noun phrase in more detail. But you're not really concerned with the detail - you're much more concerned with Subject-Verb Agreement, Verb Tense, etc. - the real skeleton of each sentence. So if a modifier is correct, then try reading the sentence without it. For example, in A, "if used repeatedly in the same place" is a modifying phrase, and we know that it's correct. So we can cut that out to read a shorter sentence:

Certain pesticides can become ineffective; one reason is...

My friend David@VeritasPrep calls this the "Use It or Lose It" method for modifiers; either "use it" as your decision point and reason to eliminate the choice, or "lose it" and read as though it weren't there so that you're able to better concentrate on the rest of the sentence.


Strategically, Modifiers will have a pretty big impact on how you read these long, mostly-underlined sentences, so get used to these three strategic points above and I think you'll find that you can make quicker work of these...

hello bro

whts the source of this question

regards nafi

nafiul9090 wrote:hello bro

whts the source of this question

regards nafi

Verbal Guide 1 question #59.