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Hot sauce

by ssgmatter » Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:28 am
Besides adding complementary flavors to many foods, hot sauces
stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, just as exercise does, and these
have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's.A. hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, just as exercise does,
and these have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's
B. hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, like exercise, and they
have a pain-relieving effect that is like morphine
C. hot sauces and exercise both stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, and
they have a pain-relieving effect like morphine
D. the release of endorphins in the brain is stimulated both by hot sauces and
exercise, and they have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's
E. the release of endorphins in the brain is stimulated by hot sauces, just as with
exercise, and these have a pain-relieving effect like that of morphine

Any thoughts.....I am stuck between A B and C

Please explain with reasons?
Best-
Amit
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by shweta.aec » Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:47 am
I would like to go with A

B. hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, like exercise, and they
have a pain-relieving effect that is like morphine -
Its wrong because it uses LIKE - LIKE is used only when nouns are compared and not when verb or clauses

C. hot sauces and exercise both stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, and
they have a pain-relieving effect like morphine -
The pronoun THEY doesnot have a clear antecedent. Also, Excercises don't add complementary flavors to foods
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by ssgmatter » Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:49 am
shweta.aec wrote:I would like to go with A

B. hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, like exercise, and they
have a pain-relieving effect that is like morphine -
Its wrong because it uses LIKE - LIKE is used only when nouns are compared and not when verb or clauses

C. hot sauces and exercise both stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, and
they have a pain-relieving effect like morphine -
The pronoun THEY doesnot have a clear antecedent. Also, Excercises don't add complementary flavors to foods
Cool....makes some sense.....but why A is wrong/right option here?.....Please please explain....

Thanks in advance!
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by mohit11 » Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:04 am
Besides adding complementary flavors to many foods, hot sauces
stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, just as exercise does, and these
have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's .

A. hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, just as exercise does, and these have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's (A is correct because, a) all other options are wrong b) "just as exercise does" - rightly compares how both hot sauces and endorphins stimulate the release of endorphins.
B. hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, like exercise, and they
have a pain-relieving effect that is like morphine - Some one above has already pointed out, Like is used to compare nouns. effect like morphine's is succinct, and that is like morphine is wordy.
C. hot sauces and exercise both stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, and
they have a pain-relieving effect like morphine - usage of and and both is redundant here. "and" itself creates a plural subject no need of "both" here.
D. the release of endorphins in the brain is stimulated both by hot sauces and
exercise, and they have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's - , should be followed by hot sauses
E. the release of endorphins in the brain is stimulated by hot sauces, just as with
exercise, and these have a pain-relieving effect like that of morphine - , should be followed by hot sauses
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by kvcpk » Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:08 am
"Besides adding complementary flavors to many foods" doesnt have a subject. So the word following the comma should be the subject. Which leaves us with options A and B. I will not choose C because "hot sauces and exercise" is the subject in C.

B is wrong because of wrong comparison between noun and verb.

I also have some queries with regards to A.

"hot sauces" immediately follows the comma. Which is a good sign.
"just as exercise does" is an unnecessary appositive. Someone correct me if am wrong.
So we can remove it out of the sentence. Removing that we have,

hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, and these
have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's

HereI have a question. What is "these" referring to? "hot sauces" or "endorphins".
BTW what is the subject of the statement "hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain"
I believe that the subject is "hot sauces". In that case, is "these" referring to "hot sauces"?
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by gmatmachoman » Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:48 am
Thanks Phil bhai,

wonderful SC!!

Good explanation Mohit bhai & Shweta!
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by shweta.aec » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:32 pm
Hello Phil

Sorry was unable to reply back but Mohit's reply is quite impressive I guess that helped!

Also, someone asked about why A is correct although its not that perfect. Because all others are wrong hence A is right .GMAT test makers are not looking for the perfect sentence ,they are looking for one without flaws. In some sentences its really hard to phrase it the way we want, so better eliminate the options which are incorrect.

And yes the subject is HOT sauces


Hope that helps!

Thanks
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by kvcpk » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:39 pm
shweta.aec wrote: And yes the subject is HOT sauces
If the Subject is "Hot sauces", in "these have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's", these is referring to "Hot Sauces".

But logically "these" should refer to "endorphins" instead of "hotsauces"

Am i right in interpreting so?
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by amitu » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:56 pm
B hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, like exercise, and they


ome more reason why b is wrong is that hot sauces , should be as close to excercise for the comparison

the sentence should have been

hot sauces , like excercise , stimulate ......................
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by shweta.aec » Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:18 pm
kvcpk wrote:
shweta.aec wrote: And yes the subject is HOT sauces
If the Subject is "Hot sauces", in "these have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's", these is referring to "Hot Sauces".

But logically "these" should refer to "endorphins" instead of "hotsauces"

Am i right in interpreting so?

yes these refers logically to endorphins ..KV , I would like to know your choice of option then if you think A is incorrect please let me know which one you feel is correct
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by kvcpk » Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:26 pm
shweta.aec wrote: yes these refers logically to endorphins ..KV , I would like to know your choice of option then if you think A is incorrect please let me know which one you feel is correct
Definitely answer should be A. I also understand that A is the best possible answer. Just want to make sure that my interpretation is correct about the flaw in A.
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by mohit11 » Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:50 pm
kvcpk wrote:
shweta.aec wrote: yes these refers logically to endorphins ..KV , I would like to know your choice of option then if you think A is incorrect please let me know which one you feel is correct
Definitely answer should be A. I also understand that A is the best possible answer. Just want to make sure that my interpretation is correct about the flaw in A.
Besides adding complementary flavors to many foods, hot sauces
stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, just as exercise does, and these
have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's

Thanks Shweta and GmatMachoman

KV, here's a sample thought process that you can use to decipher the Subjects and referents in this sentence.

Besides adding complementary flavors to many foods --- What/Who adds complementary flavors to many foods? -- In this case the answer lies in answering "What" ---> Hot Sauces.. Correct ----> eliminate D and E.

Like i said before, both and and are redundant.. Eliminate C....

Now between A and B, A seems the better option because of the incorrect usage of "Like". a pain-relieving effect is compared directly to morphine, rather than to the pain-relieving effect of morphine as obviously intended. however, lets probe a little further to justify A. The doubt that I have is what does "These" refer to?

How to decide what these refers to? -- Go backwards and find the correct noun .. ..... first noun we come across is .. exercise (since exercise is singular and "these" refers to a plural subject, these cannot refer to exercise)

Exercise makes/make a man healthy. --- Makes -- Singular....

......next comes endorphins... ok.. this is plural.. now..lets check if it makes sense (i.e. does the meaning get altered if "these" refers to endorphins? .. Answer is No.. therefore "These" refers to Endorphins")

Hope it helps.

PS: "A" isnt exactly a great answer choice. Use of "these" as a standalone pronoun is usually avoided on GMAT.
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by kvcpk » Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:16 pm
mohit11 wrote: ......next comes endorphins... ok.. this is plural.. now..lets check if it makes sense (i.e. does the meaning get altered if "these" refers to endorphins? .. Answer is No.. therefore "These" refers to Endorphins")

Hope it helps.

PS: "A" isnt exactly a great answer choice. Use of "these" as a standalone pronoun is usually avoided on GMAT.
Your approach says that I should roll back until i find a meaningful subject.. That sounds odd to me..

But still as there is ambiguity in this question, I would put an end to this discussion here.

I would expect some experts to shed some light in case our approach is wrong.
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by mohit11 » Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:36 pm
kvcpk wrote:
mohit11 wrote: ......next comes endorphins... ok.. this is plural.. now..lets check if it makes sense (i.e. does the meaning get altered if "these" refers to endorphins? .. Answer is No.. therefore "These" refers to Endorphins")

Hope it helps.

PS: "A" isnt exactly a great answer choice. Use of "these" as a standalone pronoun is usually avoided on GMAT.
Your approach says that I should roll back until i find a meaningful subject.. That sounds odd to me..

But still as there is ambiguity in this question, I would put an end to this discussion here.

I would expect some experts to shed some light in case our approach is wrong.
Flip it - in this case Flipping does not really make a difference.

Roll Back - Sounds right to me in this case.

Then again. I ain't no expert.
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:58 am
Besides adding complementary flavors to many foods, hot sauces
stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, just as exercise does, and these
have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's.

A. hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, just as exercise does,
and these have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's

The correct answer, but the GMAT writers typically use the pronoun these not on its own but as the modifier of a noun, as in these endorphins. (The GMAT writers must hate when Paris Hilton says "That's hot!". She could be referring to anything.)

B. hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, like exercise, and they
have a pain-relieving effect that is like morphine

misplaced modifier: exercise is too far from hot sauces, to which it is being compared
incorrect comparison: a pain relieving effect that is like morphine is comparing apples to oranges: the pain relieving effect is not like morphine. The pain-relieving effect of endorphins is like the pain-relieving effect of morphine.
pronoun ambiguity: they could be referring to the hot sauces or to the endorphins

C. hot sauces and exercise both stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, and
they have a pain-relieving effect like morphine

misplaced modifier: Besides adding complementary flavors to many foods, hot sauces and exercise implies that exercise adds complementary flavors to foods. (Funny, my run this morning didn't seem to affect my Cheerios one way or the other.)
pronoun ambiguity: does they refer only to hot sauces or both to hot sauces AND to exercise?

D. the release of endorphins in the brain is stimulated both by hot sauces and
exercise, and they have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's

avoid passive voice: hot sauces stimulate is better than stimulated by hot sauces
parallelism: the GMAT writers likely would prefer both by hot sauces and BY exercise
pronoun ambiguity: they could be referring to the hot sauces or to the endorphins

E. the release of endorphins in the brain is stimulated by hot sauces, just as with
exercise, and these have a pain-relieving effect like that of morphine

misplaced modifier: what exactly is with exercise?
pronoun ambiguity: these is closer to hot sauces, suggesting that it's the hot sauces and not the endorphins that have the pain-relieving effect.
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