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Where to use "being"

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by hemant_rajput » Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:31 am
Hey guys,

I've seen lots of post on the web suggesting that usage of being is very rare in GMAT's question and if you see it, eliminate it instantly.

Can someone tell me where and how to use this word?
I'm no expert, just trying to work on my skills. If I've made any mistakes please bear with me.
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by e-GMAT » Sun Jan 27, 2013 7:20 am
Good question Hemant. I will state the main takeaway right away:

Typically usage of "being" makes the answer choice wordy and awkward. But there are two perfectly correct usages of this word. Being cognizant of these usages is important. And make sure you do not blindly eliminate an answer choice just because you see the word "being" in it.

Correct Usage 1 - When Being is used as a noun. For example:
Being disrespectful to her elders is not an acceptable behavior.
Notice the subject here - being disrespectful to her elders

Correct Usage 2 - When passive continuous verb tense is required to communicate the meaning. For example:
The residents of this 100-year old apartment complex are being evacuated because of structural instability of the building.
Notice the verb tense here - are being evacuated - present continuous written in passive voice.

So in the cases above, "being" is correct. Now there are only a handful of official questions in which "being" is correct. And in these sentences "being" is used in one of the two correct usages as detailed above. Here they are:

OG13 Q100
Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

GMAT Prep
Simply being genetically engineered does not make a plant any more likely to become an invasive according to a decade-long study published in the journal Nature.

GMAT Prep
The survival of coral colonies, which are composed of innumerable tiny polyps living in a symbiotic relationship with brilliantly colored algae, is being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants such as agricultural runoff, oil sticks, and trash, but also by dropped anchors, probing drivers, and global warming.

GMAT Prep
Performing a risky maneuver that required precision flying, space shuttle astronauts retrieved an orbiting satellite and simultaneously avoided being rear-ended by a passing ultraviolet telescope.

GMAT Prep
According to one expert, the cause of genetic irregularities in many breeds of dog is not so much that dogs are being bred for looks or to meet other narrow criteria as that the breeds have relatively few founding members.

A small exercise for you. In the 5 sentences above, indicate the role in which "being" has been used.

Now there are quite a few questions in which being is used incorrectly. Here are some official references from OG13: Q3, 4, 31, 49, 52, 63, 67, etc.

Hope this helps. I look forward to your classification of role of being.

Regards,

Payal
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by iongmat » Sun Jan 27, 2013 8:48 am
e-GMAT wrote:Good question Hemant. I will state the main takeaway right away:

Typically usage of "being" makes the answer choice wordy and awkward. But there are two perfectly correct usages of this word. Being cognizant of these usages is important. And make sure you do not blindly eliminate an answer choice just because you see the word "being" in it.

Correct Usage 1 - When Being is used as a noun. For example:
Being disrespectful to her elders is not an acceptable behavior.
Notice the subject here - being disrespectful to her elders

Correct Usage 2 - When passive continuous verb tense is required to communicate the meaning. For example:
The residents of this 100-year old apartment complex are being evacuated because of structural instability of the building.
Notice the verb tense here - are being evacuated - present continuous written in passive voice.
Hello e-gmat, can you suggest which of the above two does the following sentence use:

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American-the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
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by hemant_rajput » Sun Jan 27, 2013 9:28 am
iongmat wrote:
e-GMAT wrote:Good question Hemant. I will state the main takeaway right away:

Typically usage of "being" makes the answer choice wordy and awkward. But there are two perfectly correct usages of this word. Being cognizant of these usages is important. And make sure you do not blindly eliminate an answer choice just because you see the word "being" in it.

Correct Usage 1 - When Being is used as a noun. For example:
Being disrespectful to her elders is not an acceptable behavior.
Notice the subject here - being disrespectful to her elders

Correct Usage 2 - When passive continuous verb tense is required to communicate the meaning. For example:
The residents of this 100-year old apartment complex are being evacuated because of structural instability of the building.
Notice the verb tense here - are being evacuated - present continuous written in passive voice.
Hello e-gmat, can you suggest which of the above two does the following sentence use:

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American-the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
I think the usage of being over here is incorrect. One should use were in place of being.
I'm no expert, just trying to work on my skills. If I've made any mistakes please bear with me.
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by e-GMAT » Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:38 am
@iongmat, very interesting sentence indeed.

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American-the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

This is a correct sentence. It is from GMAT Prep. Here "being" does not directly play one of the two commonly played roles that I have outlined above. Its role in this sentence actually derives from its use as continuous verb tense of the verb - be. Here it forms verb-ing modifier for the noun - "the others".

If I were to write this modifier as a clause, I would write it as hemant_rajput wrote:
The others were Richard Wright's Native Son and...

But when I need to convert this into a modifier form, I would write it as in the official sentence above:
the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and...

Given this discussion, it would be best to try out this GMAT Prep question. It is a nice question and exemplifies the importance of following a structured approach to solving SC questions.

Official Question

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by Black Americans-the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man.
A. Black Americans-the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
B. Black Americans-including Native Son by Richard Wright and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
C. a Black American-including Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
D. a Black American-the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
E. a Black American-the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
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by rajathpanta » Thu Aug 08, 2013 7:18 am
e-GMAT wrote:Good question Hemant. I will state the main takeaway right away:

Typically usage of "being" makes the answer choice wordy and awkward. But there are two perfectly correct usages of this word. Being cognizant of these usages is important. And make sure you do not blindly eliminate an answer choice just because you see the word "being" in it.

Correct Usage 1 - When Being is used as a noun. For example:
Being disrespectful to her elders is not an acceptable behavior.
Notice the subject here - being disrespectful to her elders

Correct Usage 2 - When passive continuous verb tense is required to communicate the meaning. For example:
The residents of this 100-year old apartment complex are being evacuated because of structural instability of the building.
Notice the verb tense here - are being evacuated - present continuous written in passive voice.

So in the cases above, "being" is correct. Now there are only a handful of official questions in which "being" is correct. And in these sentences "being" is used in one of the two correct usages as detailed above. Here they are:

OG13 Q100
Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

GMAT Prep
Simply being genetically engineered does not make a plant any more likely to become an invasive according to a decade-long study published in the journal Nature.

GMAT Prep
The survival of coral colonies, which are composed of innumerable tiny polyps living in a symbiotic relationship with brilliantly colored algae, is being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants such as agricultural runoff, oil sticks, and trash, but also by dropped anchors, probing drivers, and global warming.

GMAT Prep
Performing a risky maneuver that required precision flying, space shuttle astronauts retrieved an orbiting satellite and simultaneously avoided being rear-ended by a passing ultraviolet telescope.

GMAT Prep
According to one expert, the cause of genetic irregularities in many breeds of dog is not so much that dogs are being bred for looks or to meet other narrow criteria as that the breeds have relatively few founding members.

A small exercise for you. In the 5 sentences above, indicate the role in which "being" has been used.

Now there are quite a few questions in which being is used incorrectly. Here are some official references from OG13: Q3, 4, 31, 49, 52, 63, 67, etc.

Hope this helps. I look forward to your classification of role of being.

Regards,

Payal

The 1st two sentences- being acts as a noun
the last 3- being is passive countinous
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by rajeshr » Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:03 pm
e-GMAT wrote:@iongmat, very interesting sentence indeed.

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American-the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

This is a correct sentence. It is from GMAT Prep. Here "being" does not directly play one of the two commonly played roles that I have outlined above. Its role in this sentence actually derives from its use as continuous verb tense of the verb - be. Here it forms verb-ing modifier for the noun - "the others".

If I were to write this modifier as a clause, I would write it as hemant_rajput wrote:
The others were Richard Wright's Native Son and...

But when I need to convert this into a modifier form, I would write it as in the official sentence above:
the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and...

Given this discussion, it would be best to try out this GMAT Prep question. It is a nice question and exemplifies the importance of following a structured approach to solving SC questions.

Official Question

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by Black Americans-the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man.
A. Black Americans-the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
B. Black Americans-including Native Son by Richard Wright and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
C. a Black American-including Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
D. a Black American-the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
E. a Black American-the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Meaning and EA:
Cane (by JT) has been called one of the three best novels by Black Americans
Other two are: Native Son (by Richard Wright) and Invisible Man (by Ralph Ellison)

In the original sentence
1)Cane (novel) has been equated with authors
2) "-"+verb-ing gives extra info. about the preceding clause (how the subject did the action, how the action in the clause happened..)
here Cane did not include two other novels.
neither did Cane has been called the best novel including X and Y... So use of -including is not correct

POE:
A) Error stated above
B) use of - including
C)use of - including and Cane (novel) has been equated with authors
D) Cane (novel) has been equated with authors
E) Both errors got corrected

Correct me please :)
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by divineacclivity » Sun Jul 06, 2014 7:52 am
e-GMAT wrote:@iongmat, very interesting sentence indeed.

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American-the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

This is a correct sentence. It is from GMAT Prep. Here "being" does not directly play one of the two commonly played roles that I have outlined above. Its role in this sentence actually derives from its use as continuous verb tense of the verb - be. Here it forms verb-ing modifier for the noun - "the others".

If I were to write this modifier as a clause, I would write it as hemant_rajput wrote:
The others were Richard Wright's Native Son and...

But when I need to convert this into a modifier form, I would write it as in the official sentence above:
the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and...

Given this discussion, it would be best to try out this GMAT Prep question. It is a nice question and exemplifies the importance of following a structured approach to solving SC questions.

Official Question

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by Black Americans-the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man.
A. Black Americans-the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
B. Black Americans-including Native Son by Richard Wright and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
C. a Black American-including Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
D. a Black American-the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
E. a Black American-the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Thank you e-Gmat. That's a v nic explanation.

Could you please tell me what kind of usage does "being" have in the following sentence?

A small celestial body may be captured by earth's gravitational pull, ultimately spiraling inward and being fully consumed during its descent through the atmosphere as a "falling star", or be redirected at high speeds along a new trajectory.

Thanks in advance.

D.A.
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