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The Western world's love affair with chocolate

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The Western world's love affair with chocolate

by senthil » Fri Jun 13, 2008 5:31 pm
The Western world's love affair with chocolate is well-documented: few people have been known to have tasted it for the first time without requesting more.
(A) few people have been known to have tasted it
(B) few having been known to taste it
(C) it has been tasted by few people
(D) few people have been known to taste it
(E) few people having tasted it

I chose E , if you feel the answer is not E then please let me know what is the correct answer and why ?

Thanks
Senthil
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by sulabh » Sat Jun 14, 2008 9:49 am
I think the answer is A.I don't know how to explain it but still giving it a try.I hope it makes sense.
The sentence needs present perfect tense rather than present continous.That leaves us with A,C,D.Now is is passive.Betwwen A & D,
'have tasted ' in A is correct as it suggest that people have tasted it(the chocolate).
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by senthil » Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:08 am
The OA is D.. But I am not convinced with the OA
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by kiranlegend » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:37 am
can someone pls explain why D is preffered over A? and also what is 'it' referring to here?

thanks!
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by raunekk » Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:46 am
i will go with E 2..
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by iwill » Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:15 am
Use POE.

having is almost always wrong in GMAT. So eliminate B and E
Eliminate C, coz its passive.

So we have A n D..

A is wordy..So eliminate .
So my pick is D

Thanks,
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by amitansu » Fri Aug 08, 2008 2:20 am
'D' is the correct ans here.

"B" doesn't specify FEW means who !!
"C" is of course passive
"E" changes the meaning
"A" is wordy and awkward.

Only "D" says it correctly.It says few popple who have been know to taste it.So another form of past-participle of teste is not needed here.That eliminates "A".

Amit
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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:15 am
The Western world's love affair with chocolate is well-documented: few people have been known to have tasted it for the first time without requesting more.

(A) few people have been known to have tasted it
(B) few having been known to taste it
(C) it has been tasted by few people
(D) few people have been known to taste it
(E) few people having tasted it

Colons typically are used either TO INTRODUCE A LIST (not the case here) or TO CONNECT TWO INDEPENDENT CLAUSES (as is the case here). An independent clause contains both a subject and a verb and could stand on its own as a complete sentence.

In B and E, a complete sentence doesn't follow the colon. Eliminate B and E.

In C, the pronoun it is ambiguous: it could refer to the love affair or to chocolate. Also, has been tasted is passive. It's better to say few people have tasted it (active) than to say it has been tasted by few people (passive). Eliminate C.

When you have a choice, avoid the passive voice.

Now we're down to A and D. According to the sentence, what have few people been able to do? They have been unable to taste chocolate for the first time without requesting more. Eliminate A.

The correct answer is D.

In A, the use of the perfect infinitive (to have tasted) is incorrect and awkward. The correct construction is been known + infinitive:

People have been known to ace the GMAT.

Hope this helps!
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by paes » Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:22 pm
Nice explanation Guru.

But can you please address my following concern, between C and D

C :

it has been tasted by few people without requesting more.

I agree that it is ambiguous here.
But clearly the preposition phrase 'without requesting more' is modifying to people.

While in D :

few people have been known to taste it without requesting more.

the preposition phrase 'without requesting more' is not modifying to people clearly.
It seems that it is attached to chocolate.
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Jul 07, 2010 1:53 am
paes wrote:Nice explanation Guru.

But can you please address my following concern, between C and D

C :

it has been tasted by few people without requesting more.

I agree that it is ambiguous here.
But clearly the preposition phrase 'without requesting more' is modifying to people.

While in D :

few people have been known to taste it without requesting more.

the preposition phrase 'without requesting more' is not modifying to people clearly.
It seems that it is attached to chocolate.
(C) it has been tasted by few people without requesting more
(D) few people have been known to taste it without requesting more

The phrase without requesting more is not an adjective modifying the noun people. (What kind of people? They are people without requesting more. This sentence doesn't make sense. So without requesting more is not modifying people.)

The phrase without requesting more is an adverb modifying the verb taste. (How were the people unable to taste the chocolate? They were unable to taste it without requesting more. This sentence works. So without requesting more is modifying taste.)

Since a modifier should be as close as possible to what it's modifying, D is better than C, because in D without requesting more is closer to the verb taste.
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by paes » Wed Jul 07, 2010 7:02 am
thanks Guru.
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by yyz5028 » Wed Aug 04, 2010 4:02 am
Hi Guru,

You mentioned that the usage of to have tasted is awkward and that we should use to taste. However, in the following sentence from an old version of OG, the correct choice B) makes the use of this construction. Could you explain why in this case we use to have recovered instead of to recover? Thanks.

The fear of rabies is well founded; few people are known to recover from the disease after the appearance of the clinical symptoms.
(A) few people are known to recover from the disease after the appearance of the clinical symptoms
(B) few people are known to have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared
(C) there are few known people who have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared
(D) after the clinical symptoms appear, there are few known people who have recovered from the disease
(E) recovery from the disease is known for only a few people after the clinical symptoms appear
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:42 am
yyz5028 wrote:Hi Guru,

You mentioned that the usage of to have tasted is awkward and that we should use to taste. However, in the following sentence from an old version of OG, the correct choice B) makes the use of this construction. Could you explain why in this case we use to have recovered instead of to recover? Thanks.

The fear of rabies is well founded; few people are known to recover from the disease after the appearance of the clinical symptoms.
(A) few people are known to recover from the disease after the appearance of the clinical symptoms
(B) few people are known to have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared
(C) there are few known people who have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared
(D) after the clinical symptoms appear, there are few known people who have recovered from the disease
(E) recovery from the disease is known for only a few people after the clinical symptoms appear
When a verb changes tense, the meaning changes. Consider the following:

John is known to study every day. John is known now (in the present) as someone who studies every day (also in the present).

John is known to have studied every day. John is known now (in the present) as someone who has studied (in the past) every day.

John has been known to study every day. John has been known (in the past) as someone who studies every day.

Now let's look at answer choice B:

...few people are known to have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared.

The sentence above means that few people are known now (in the present) to have recovered (in the past) from the disease.

Does this help?
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by yyz5028 » Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:15 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
yyz5028 wrote:Hi Guru,

You mentioned that the usage of to have tasted is awkward and that we should use to taste. However, in the following sentence from an old version of OG, the correct choice B) makes the use of this construction. Could you explain why in this case we use to have recovered instead of to recover? Thanks.

The fear of rabies is well founded; few people are known to recover from the disease after the appearance of the clinical symptoms.
(A) few people are known to recover from the disease after the appearance of the clinical symptoms
(B) few people are known to have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared
(C) there are few known people who have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared
(D) after the clinical symptoms appear, there are few known people who have recovered from the disease
(E) recovery from the disease is known for only a few people after the clinical symptoms appear
When a verb changes tense, the meaning changes. Consider the following:

John is known to study every day. John is known now (in the present) as someone who studies every day (also in the present).

John is known to have studied every day. John is known now (in the present) as someone who has studied (in the past) every day.

John has been known to study every day. John has been known (in the past) as someone who studies every day.

Now let's look at answer choice B:

...few people are known to have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared.

The sentence above means that few people are known now (in the present) to have recovered (in the past) from the disease.

Does this help?
Hi Guru,
I guess that I'm still a little bit confused.

In the original sentence of this post, in D) few people have been known (in the past) to taste (in the present) it, how do these two different tenses fit together? It seems to me that the action "have been known" should happen after the action "taste", so why do we use taste instead of have taste in this case?

Thank you!
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:56 am
yyz5028 wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
yyz5028 wrote:Hi Guru,

You mentioned that the usage of to have tasted is awkward and that we should use to taste. However, in the following sentence from an old version of OG, the correct choice B) makes the use of this construction. Could you explain why in this case we use to have recovered instead of to recover? Thanks.

The fear of rabies is well founded; few people are known to recover from the disease after the appearance of the clinical symptoms.
(A) few people are known to recover from the disease after the appearance of the clinical symptoms
(B) few people are known to have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared
(C) there are few known people who have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared
(D) after the clinical symptoms appear, there are few known people who have recovered from the disease
(E) recovery from the disease is known for only a few people after the clinical symptoms appear
When a verb changes tense, the meaning changes. Consider the following:

John is known to study every day. John is known now (in the present) as someone who studies every day (also in the present).

John is known to have studied every day. John is known now (in the present) as someone who has studied (in the past) every day.

John has been known to study every day. John has been known (in the past) as someone who studies every day.

Now let's look at answer choice B:

...few people are known to have recovered from the disease once the clinical symptoms have appeared.

The sentence above means that few people are known now (in the present) to have recovered (in the past) from the disease.

Does this help?
Hi Guru,
I guess that I'm still a little bit confused.

In the original sentence of this post, in D) few people have been known (in the past) to taste (in the present) it, how do these two different tenses fit together? It seems to me that the action "have been known" should happen after the action "taste", so why do we use taste instead of have taste in this case?

Thank you!
Here's the rule:

The present infinitive indicates contemporaneous action (an action happening at the same time as another action); the present perfect infinitive indicates prior action.

Looking at D:

Few people have been known to taste it.

The present perfect verb have been known indicates that the knowing has happened sometime in the past.
The present infinitive to taste indicates that the tasting has happened at the same time as the knowing.
Both actions have happened contemporaneously (at the same time) sometime in the past.

Using the present perfect infinitive in this sentence would would make the timeline unclear:

Few people have been known to have tasted it.

Did the knowing and the tasting happen at the same time in the past, or did the tasting happen before the knowing? Using the present perfect for both verbs makes the timeline unclear.

Hope this helps! Please remember that you don't need to understand every rule of grammar in order to ace Sentence Corrections. There usually are far easier and more obvious reasons to eliminate answer choices.
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