rtaha2412 wrote:Astronomers at the Palomar Observatory have discovered a distant supernova explosion, one that they believe is a type previously unknown to science.
(A) that they believe is
(B) that they believe it to be
(C) they believe that it is of
(D) they believe that is
(E) they believe to be of

Blindly striking out the wrong idiom then discard A, C, and D as believe to be is the correct idiom.

Between B and E, B has the following problems...
1. usage of IT: makes the mention of explosion Redundant
2. believe it to be a type: The explosion is a type of explosion not a type by itself.

IMO E

IMO E

Hey guys,

You're both right...but I definitely wouldn't call this an idiom problem. Word to the wise - the less you use the word "idiom" in your thought process, the better you'll do. By nature, idioms are one-time rules. It's that way because that's the way it is. Whereas the more systematic rules will help you in multiple situations.

Here, the supernova isn't the category...it's "of" a category (it belongs to a category). So Only C and E need apply - A, B, and D are immediately out.

In choice C, the pronoun "it" is redundant - you already have the pronoun "one" to start the sentence, so the introduction of the second pronoun is unnecessary and potentially confusing. All that's left is E.


My suggestion - as you study and jot down notes on why you eliminate answer choices, if you notice that you're using the word "idiom" in more than 10% of your answer choices (and even that's pretty high), go back and try to find more systematic reasons (modifiers, pronouns) so that you can train yourself to think that way. It's much easier to get really good at 8-10 systematic error categories than it is to become great at the thousands of idioms that you could theoretically use on this test.