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Shoppers

by AnjaliOberoi » Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:44 pm
Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, do very little impulse
shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a
basketball, but they leave with a basketball only.


A. in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a
boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only
B. in department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone who comes in for a
basketball will leave with a basketball only and not also buy a pair of skis and a
boomerang as well
C. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis
and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but leave with only a basketball
D. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping; someone who comes in
for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not buy a pair of skis and a
boomerang as well
E. department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone will not buy a pair of skis
and a boomerang

OA D, why not C
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:34 am
AnjaliOberoi wrote:Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, do very little impulse
shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a
basketball, but they leave with a basketball only.


A. in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a
boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only
B. in department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone who comes in for a
basketball will leave with a basketball only and not also buy a pair of skis and a
boomerang as well
C. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis
and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but leave with only a basketball
D. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping; someone who comes in
for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not buy a pair of skis and a
boomerang as well
E. department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone will not buy a pair of skis
and a boomerang

OA D, why not C
A and B: unlike in department stores.
Here, in department stores (modifier) cannot serve as the object of unlike (preposition).
The object of a preposition must be a NOUN.
Eliminate A and B.

C: do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but leave with only a basketball.
When actions appear in a LIST -- as they do here -- the implication is that the actions are DISTINCT.
But here, the actions in red are NOT distinct from the first action.
Rather, the actions in red -- that shoppers in sporting goods stores do not buy a pair of skis...but leave only with a basketball -- are EXAMPLES of the first action (that these shoppers do very little impulse shopping).
Since the list in C does not convey the intended meaning, eliminate C.

E: Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike department stores
Here, SHOPPERS are compared to DEPARTMENT STORES -- an illogical comparison.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Sun Feb 02, 2014 7:38 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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by AnjaliOberoi » Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:17 am
I am still not clear.....can you please elaborate more on C....Also in "D" use of as well sounds akward to me..can you please explain
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Feb 02, 2014 7:45 pm
AnjaliOberoi wrote:I am still not clear.....can you please elaborate more on C
Please check my amended post above, in which I've clarified the reasoning.
....Also in "D" use of as well sounds akward to me..can you please explain
Someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball ONLY and not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang AS WELL.
Here, as well (adverb) is parallel to only (adverb).
Conveyed meaning:
The shopper will leave with a basketball ONLY and not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang IN ADDITION TO THE BASKETBALL.
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by [email protected] » Mon Feb 03, 2014 12:48 am
Hi AnjaliOberoi,

In the early part of the sentence, you'll notice the word "unlike", which is a word that the GMAT commonly uses to present a Comparison. So, we'll first need to compare LIKE things. The first part of the comparison is "Shoppers in sporting goods stores....", so the second part of the comparison must be comparable to "shoppers...." Eliminate A, B and E.

Next, since the rest of the sentence is underlined, we have to take a good look at what exists in answers C and D.

Answer C uses a bunch of commas, which either means Parallelism or Modification rules. Unfortunately, neither set of rules is correctly followed in this answer. If it were parallelism, then each of the items in the list would need to be in the same "format", which they're not. If it were modification, then the last part of the sentence doesn't make sense because it neither modifies, nor is modified by, the prior part of the sentence.

Answer D uses a semi-colon, which breaks the sentence into "two parts"; the first part is fine (the comparison), the second part explains WHY the two types of shoppers are different. The phrase "as well" might sound odd at first, but it establishes that a shopper at a sporting goods store wouldn't buy random sports items as well as the original item that he was looking for. This option is correct.

Final Answer: D

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by bubbliiiiiiii » Mon Feb 03, 2014 1:25 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
A and B: unlike in department stores.
Here, in department stores (modifier) cannot serve as the object of unlike (preposition).
The object of a preposition must be a NOUN.
Eliminate A and B.
Hi GMATGuruNY,

I have eliminated A and B only after seeing options C and D. Earlier, I had assumed the sentence as under:

Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike <<shoppers>> in department stores, do very ..

I applied concept of ellipsis here. From your explanation I understand that such application of ellipsis is improper. Can you please advice on how to decide whether to apply ellipsis or not?
Regards,

Pranay
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:42 am
bubbliiiiiiii wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
A and B: unlike in department stores.
Here, in department stores (modifier) cannot serve as the object of unlike (preposition).
The object of a preposition must be a NOUN.
Eliminate A and B.
Hi GMATGuruNY,

I have eliminated A and B only after seeing options C and D. Earlier, I had assumed the sentence as under:

Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike <<shoppers>> in department stores, do very ..

I applied concept of ellipsis here. From your explanation I understand that such application of ellipsis is improper. Can you please advice on how to decide whether to apply ellipsis or not?
Ellipsis = the omission of words whose presence is understood.
Clause = subject + verb.
Ellipsis can be used when one clause is compared to another:
John runs as fast as Mary.
Implied comparison:
John runs as fast as Mary [RUNS].
The word in brackets is omitted, but its presence is understood.
Here, one clause (John runs) is compared to another (Mary runs), so the use of ellipsis is viable.

Unlike serves to compare two NOUNS, not two clauses.
Thus, the use of ellipsis in A and B is incorrect.
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