Sentence Correction

Hmm.. interesting. It appears my understanding of the sentence was quite a bit off.

Given that the OA is B, it seems that flat is indeed modifying clothing and not how it is packed. The question then becomes why is this the case. I originally took the intention of the sentence to be that the way in which Japanese people pack their clothes is different, rendering elaborate closet facilities unnecessary. But it appears that the actual intention is to suggest that Japanese clothing is different, and as such can be packed flat. For instance, if I own a lot of suits I can't really pack them all flat, and I need to hang them up. Flat here appears to refer to horizontal vs. vertical rather than compressed. At least this is what seems to make sense given that the OA is B.

Another way to arrive at B would also have been to recognize that A and C were really not different. Neither is incorrect, and both convey the same meaning. D and E can be eliminated because they imply the wrong things. So this approach would only leave B as a logical answer, if you can reconcile the flat vs. flatly argument.

Apologies to anyone if I misunderstood earlier posts trying to explain the rationale above. Thanks for the great question!

Just out of curiosity, what is the source of the sentence?

aspirant2011 wrote:In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

(A) flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities
(B) flat, and so elaborate closet facilities were unnecessary
(C) flatly, and so there was no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(D) flat, there being no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(E) flatly, as no elaborate closet facilities were necessary

[spoiler]Any technical issues with the word "flatly" in the above sentence????[/spoiler]

I received a PM asking me to comment.

The SC above is using flat as resultative adjective. A resultative adjective appears after the noun that it modifies and indicates a change that occurs as a result of the verb:

Mary painted the wall yellow.

In the sentence above, the wall became yellow because Mary painted it.

The SC above is describing not the action of the packing but the result of the packing. Thus, the correct construction is most of the clothing could be packed flat, which means that most of the clothing could be packed so that it would become flat. Eliminate A, C and E.

Answer choice D uses there being, a construction to be avoided on the GMAT. Eliminate D.

The correct answer is B.

bubbliiiiiiii wrote:

In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

[spoiler]Any technical issues with the word "flatly" in the above sentence????[/spoiler]

The intention of the sentence is:

Since the Japaneese clothing could be packed flatly, it is not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

The word flatly, here sounds to be more of an adverb modifying packed, a verb without object, rather than modifying the clothing, a noun. Since, we need something to modify clothing, which I believe is the subject, an adverd cannot be used. An adjective, flat in this case, can be properly used to modify noun.

Thus not A, but B.

Hope it helps.

Why is it necessary for

Since, we need something to modify clothing,

Sorry i didnt get this

packed is the participle form of the verb pack.

"most clothing could be packed flatly" is in passive voice.

he can pack the clothes flat.
the clothes can be packed flat.

so flat is the adjective modifying the noun clothes. moreover is 'flatly' a word in real use?

Thanks...

GMATGuruNY wrote: I received a PM asking me to comment.

The SC above is using flat as resultative adjective. A resultative adjective appears after the noun that it modifies and indicates a change that occurs as a result of the verb:

Mary painted the wall yellow.

In the sentence above, the wall became yellow because Mary painted it.

The SC above is describing not the action of the packing but the result of the packing. Thus, the correct construction is most of the clothing could be packed flat, which means that most of the clothing could be packed so that it would become flat. Eliminate A, C and E.

Answer choice D uses there being, a construction to be avoided on the GMAT. Eliminate D.

The correct answer is B.

@Mitch

Thanks a lot..m a big fan of your posts...thanks for explaining the concept of resultative adjective...i have one more thing in my mind...please clear...???

Now i got the role of flat in this sentence, but what is actually wrong in using flatly???

Is it because if use adverb (flatly) here, the clause
"most clothing could be packed flatly"----> doesn't make any logical sense and hence will not act as an independent clause.
Or there is some other problem????

Thanks a lot again

IMO E

My biggest concern is ", and so"

According one of the leading prep courses this construction is correct

complete sentence+", FANBOYS (for,and,not,because,or,yet,so)"+ another complete sentence.

OA B has "and so" which is very confusing.

I find that E has a better construction, because it follows a different but correct construction.I do not find it a Run on (which some of you have mentioned,it is )

complete sentence, incomplete sentence

In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly (complete sentence), as no elaborate closet facilities were necessary (Incomplete sentence)

Experts, please comment!

mundasingh123 wrote:

bubbliiiiiiii wrote:

In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

[spoiler]Any technical issues with the word "flatly" in the above sentence????[/spoiler]

The intention of the sentence is:

Since the Japaneese clothing could be packed flatly, it is not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

The word flatly, here sounds to be more of an adverb modifying packed, a verb without object, rather than modifying the clothing, a noun. Since, we need something to modify clothing, which I believe is the subject, an adverd cannot be used. An adjective, flat in this case, can be properly used to modify noun.

Thus not A, but B.

Hope it helps.

Why is it necessary for

Since, we need something to modify clothing,

Sorry i didnt get this

I guess my previous post misinterpreted my intentions.

I wrote the statement 'we need something to modify clothing' keeping in mind that author of the sentence wanted to modify clothing. However, its not mandatory that the subject a sentence be always modified.

Hope this is what you were asking for? If not, please let me know how can I correct it.

I wonder why are those choices with the word 'flatly' even given a second thought.

The adverb of flat is 'flat' itself.. not flatLY.
& the adjectives degrees are flat, flatter, flattest.

here is an excerpt from the dictionary:

flat
adverb
"¢ 1 in or to a horizontal position:he was lying flat on his backshe had been knocked flat by the blast
"¢ lying in close juxtaposition, especially against another surface:his black curly hair was blown flat across his skull
"¢ so as to become smooth and even:I hammered the metal flat
"¢ 2 informal completely; absolutely:I'm turning you down flat[as submodifier] :she was going to be flat broke in a couple of days
"¢ after a phrase expressing a period of time to emphasize how quickly something can be done or has been done:you can prepare a healthy meal in ten minutes flat
"¢ 3 below the true or normal pitch of musical sound:it wasn't a question of singing flat, but of simply singing the wrong notes

bnair wrote:I wonder why are those choices with the word 'flatly' even given a second thought.

The adverb of flat is 'flat' itself.. not flatLY.
& the adjectives degrees are flat, flatter, flattest.

Some more info. just to add to the knowledge bank .

Googled flatly , got below results :-

flat·ly/ˈflatlē/Adverb
1. Showing little interest or emotion: ""You'd better go," she said flatly".
2. In a firm and unequivocal manner; absolutely: "they flatly refused to play".

Well refer below link ,you are right that flat is adj , adv as well as noun .But also flatly is adv and flatness is noun .

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/flat

The important take-away is that flat is not an adverb modifying packed but a resultative adjective modifying the noun clothing.

Another example:

The hungry child licked the plate clean.

In the sentence above, clean is a resultative adjective modifying the plate. It would be incorrect to say that the child licked the plate cleanly, because the sentence is trying to describe not the action (how the child licked) but the result of the action (that the plate became clean as a result of the licking).

thanks a lot mitch..........now I have got the concept

flat is adj , adv as well as noun .But also flatly is adv and flatness is noun .

@AIM

You are correct, even my Cambridge dictionary software is also showing the same thing...so its incorrect to say that flatly is not an adverb....in fact the software showing

14-types of FLAT, imagine...crazy...thing man...i don't wanna do PHD in English.

Confused with this quistion

GMATGuruNY wrote:

aspirant2011 wrote:In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.

(A) flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities
(B) flat, and so elaborate closet facilities were unnecessary
(C) flatly, and so there was no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(D) flat, there being no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(E) flatly, as no elaborate closet facilities were necessary

[spoiler]Any technical issues with the word "flatly" in the above sentence????[/spoiler]

I received a PM asking me to comment.

The SC above is using flat as resultative adjective. A resultative adjective appears after the noun that it modifies and indicates a change that occurs as a result of the verb:

Mary painted the wall yellow.

In the sentence above, the wall became yellow because Mary painted it.

The SC above is describing not the action of the packing but the result of the packing. Thus, the correct construction is most of the clothing could be packed flat, which means that most of the clothing could be packed so that it would become flat. Eliminate A, C and E.

Answer choice D uses there being, a construction to be avoided on the GMAT. Eliminate D.

The correct answer is B.

Hi Mitch,
I'd request a few clarifications on this SC qs. -

1. Is it an Official question ? (I guess, it's not an OG question!)

2. From your explanation, it seems that a resultative adjective doesn't ALWAYS appear IMMEDIATELY after the noun that it modifies, as it's in this case. Right ?

3. Even if we use 'flatly' here, then how it could be wrong grammatically(and logically as well) unless it's an official questions and GMAC wants B to be the OA ? It seems to have a bit debatable OA. Could you please explain this aspect!

It'd be really helpful if you could shed light on these.

Look forward to your reply.