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Scholars n Critics

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by komal » Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:38 am
Although various eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American poets had professed an interest in Native American poetry and had pretended to imitate Native American forms in their own works, until almost 1900. scholars and critics did not begin seriously to study traditional Native American poetry in native languages.

(A) until almost 1900, scholars and critics did not begin seriously to study

(8) until almost 1900 scholars and critics had not begun seriously studying

(e) not until almost 1900 were scholars and critics to begin seriously to study

(D) it was not almost until 1900 when scholars and critics began to seriously study

(E) it was not until almost 1900 that scholars and critics seriously began studying

OA [spoiler](E)[/spoiler]
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:07 am
I would choose B

a- the infinitive "to study" is incorrect here

B- Correct

C- "to begin" and "to study" are both incorrect

D- "almost until" is incorrect. The adverb "almost" is in the wrong place

E- this changes the meaning of the original sentence
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by kaulnikhil » Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:05 am
can someone shed more light on this question...know the underlined part has to be in past tense but what is the issue with D. ?
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:09 am
kaulnikhil wrote:can someone shed more light on this question...know the underlined part has to be in past tense but what is the issue with D. ?
An adverb should go next to the word it is modifying. "almost" is modifying 1900 not "until"
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by bhumika.k.shah » Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:34 am
I would still go with D .

The sentence is trying to say that although they had interest in ... and pretended to imitate .... BUT from 1900 they began to seriously study... simple past tense is required here.

Its showing a series of tenses - from past perfect to simple past.

When should be used when we are taking about a time period.

I'd go with D
osirus0830 wrote:
kaulnikhil wrote:can someone shed more light on this question...know the underlined part has to be in past tense but
what is the issue with D. ?
An adverb should go next to the word it is modifying. "almost" is modifying 1900 not "until"
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by mgmt_gmat » Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:19 am
it was not .... is the correct usage....


began to seriously study is wrong here..

no separation is acceptable between to and verb.
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:54 pm
Hi, guys, received a PM asking me to discuss this one. Can you please post the source of the problem? We're not supposed to discuss problems unless the source (author) has been cited properly. Thanks!
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

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by sallespadua » Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:45 pm
that one gave me crazy doubts between D and E. I would go with D, tough. Can someone please clarify?
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by sallespadua » Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:47 pm
the place of "seriously" must calibrate the answer, IMO D.
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by kaulnikhil » Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:39 pm
Stacey Koprince wrote:Hi, guys, received a PM asking me to discuss this one. Can you please post the source of the problem? We're not supposed to discuss problems unless the source (author) has been cited properly. Thanks!

Hi Stacey
The Source is OG 12
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by Stacey Koprince » Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:16 am
OG12. Interesting. Okay, so we're not supposed to discuss OG questions online. In general, which has nothing to do with this particular problem of course, I will mention that GMAC doesn't like "split infinitives" - which is what occurs when you take an infinitive verb and split it to put some other word in the middle.

"To run" is an infinitive. "To swiftly run" is a split infinitive.
"To sing" is an infinitive. "To loudly sing" is a split infinitive.

So, generally speaking, if you can avoid a split infinitive, do so.

Also the word "almost" (still not discussing this problem! la la la) is a modifier. It can modify both verbs and nouns, so we have to be really careful to place it as closely as possible to whatever it's modifying.
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by tomada » Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:04 pm
Stacey, thank you for the insight. I eliminated 'D' because of the placement of "almost" with respect to "until". I asked myself if the sentence would make sense if I removed the word "until", which would leave me with "almost 1900". I didn't think this made sense, so I flipped those two words, removed the word "almost", and saw that "until 1900" does make sense.
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by sumanr84 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:45 am
tomada wrote:Stacey, thank you for the insight. I eliminated 'D' because of the placement of "almost" with respect to "until". I asked myself if the sentence would make sense if I removed the word "until", which would leave me with "almost 1900". I didn't think this made sense, so I flipped those two words, removed the word "almost", and saw that "until 1900" does make sense.
make sense to me..keeping apart all other rule..blah blah..
I am on a break !!
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by A.Kiran » Sun Feb 21, 2010 2:00 am
Where is the TO INFINITIVE in the given question ??


It was not...............

Subject = It
Verb = Was

Was is not a " To infinitive " here


.
Almost is a modifier ... Thats right.


I am not able to understand the difference between the D and E.
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Feb 22, 2010 12:02 pm
answer choice D has a split infinitive in the underlined portion
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