BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Classic one by Veritas !

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 345
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:57 pm
Thanked: 6 times
Followed by:3 members

Classic one by Veritas !

by himu » Thu Mar 14, 2013 6:59 am
The data being collected in the current geological survey are providing a strong warning for engineers as they consider the new dam project, but their greatest importance might lie in how they influence the upcoming decision by those same engineers on whether to retrofit 75 bridges in the survey zone.

The data being collected in the current geological survey are providing a strong warning for engineers as they consider the new dam project, but their greatest importance

The data being collected in the current geological survey provide a strong warning for engineers as they consider the new dam project, but its greatest importance

The data collected in the current geological survey is providing a strong warning for engineers as they consider the new dam project, but their greatest importance

The data collected in the current geological survey provides a strong warning for engineers in consideration of the new dam project, but its greatest importance

The data collected in the current geological survey provide a strong warning for engineers in consideration for the new dam project, but the greatest importance
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
User avatar
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed May 23, 2012 12:18 pm
GMAT Score:590

by gmatpart2 » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:31 am
"A" and "B" can be eliminated because of the usage of "being".
"Data" is plural. So on that basis we can eliminate "C" and "D" as the verbs "is providing" and "provides" do not agree with the plural noun "Data" in the respective options.
Hence we are left with "E" by POE.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:23 pm
Location: Malibu, CA
Thanked: 716 times
Followed by:255 members
GMAT Score:750

by Brian@VeritasPrep » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:40 am
Careful! "Being" ain't "ain't" - being is a legitimate word with legitimate usages...it highly correlated with incorrect answers on the GMAT but it's not always wrong (which is part of the lesson in this particular question).

I'll tell you why E is wrong - "in consideration for the new dam project" is some pretty awful diction, but more concretely look at "they" just outside the underlined portion. With the phrasing of E, it's unclear whether "they" refers to "data" or "engineers".

Don't want to give away too much too soon since this is a great problem to have to think your way through, but E is incorrect and I'll be back later on with more hints and takeaways from this one.
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep

Looking for GMAT practice questions? Try out the Veritas Prep Question Bank. Learn More.
Top
User avatar
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed May 23, 2012 12:18 pm
GMAT Score:590

by gmatpart2 » Thu Mar 14, 2013 10:01 am
Careful! "Being" ain't "ain't" - being is a legitimate word with legitimate usages...it highly correlated with incorrect answers on the GMAT but it's not always wrong (which is part of the lesson in this particular question).

I'll tell you why E is wrong - "in consideration for the new dam project" is some pretty awful diction, but more concretely look at "they" just outside the underlined portion. With the phrasing of E, it's unclear whether "they" refers to "data" or "engineers".

Don't want to give away too much too soon since this is a great problem to have to think your way through, but E is incorrect and I'll be back later on with more hints and takeaways from this one.
Thanks Brian for sharing your insights. It has almost become a habit of ruling out options with "being" in them.

Although I myself was not quite convinced with "E", I thought options with a "being" in them would be wrong. Can you please explain in detail when the usage of "being" is correct?

Thanks in advance.[/quote]
Top
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:32 am
Location: Bangalore, India
Thanked: 2 times
Followed by:1 members

by vabhs192003 » Thu Mar 14, 2013 10:51 am
I was stuck with A or E. But since A has clear antecedent of "...they influence the upcoming...", IMO A is the answer.[/u]
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:23 pm
Location: Malibu, CA
Thanked: 716 times
Followed by:255 members
GMAT Score:750

by Brian@VeritasPrep » Thu Mar 14, 2013 10:58 am
Don't get me wrong - if you eliminate "being" every time you'll be right on well over 90% of SC questions when you do so. But I know there are questions out there where it's used correctly, and they're bound to be among the more difficult since most students know the "being is wrong!" principle. So having that extra moment of caution when, like in this case, you don't like the other answer choices...that's a nice competitive advantage.

"Being" is properly used to express a temporary state. It's often used hideously on the GMAT as a modifier for something that isn't at all temporary:

Being the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong...

"Being" is wrong there - he wasn't "being" the first man on the moon...that's just who he is.

But you could correctly say:

While being driven to the shuttle launch, Neil Armstrong remarked to his chauffeur that...

Because "being driven" is a temporary state.

So in this question, which clearly denotes the "current geological survey", "being collected" is a temporary state. The data won't always be collected, but currently for a temporary period of time the data are being collected, so "being" is used properly here.

_______________________________________

Strategically for your GMAT, if you're down between a couple of answers and one of them uses "being" that's not a bad reason to eliminate it. But I wouldn't make "being" your primary decision point - it's much better as a "you've eliminated a couple answers because of (S/V agreement, modifier, whatever) and now you don't see a major difference other than 'being'" elimination point. Almost precisely because it's become just such common 'wisdom' that being should be eliminated, GMAT SC writers have a right (if not responsibility) to throw out some hard questions in which "being" is the trap. And as you see here, it's the third word of the first two answer choices, so it's in perfect trap mode on this question.
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep

Looking for GMAT practice questions? Try out the Veritas Prep Question Bank. Learn More.
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 184
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2012 10:04 pm
Thanked: 10 times
Followed by:2 members

by Mission2012 » Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:40 am
I have couple of questions -

1. Is the antecedent of "their" is "Data" or "Engineers"?
2. Shouldn't "Data" when used as collective noun considered singular?

Kindly help.
If you find my post useful -> please click on "Thanks"
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:23 pm
Location: Malibu, CA
Thanked: 716 times
Followed by:255 members
GMAT Score:750

by Brian@VeritasPrep » Thu Mar 14, 2013 2:35 pm
Hey Mission,

Your questions are crucial to this problem - at its heart it's a pronoun question. Data can be singular or plural, but the outside-the-underline "they" is a big clue - as is the fact that the sentence uses "...they influence the upcoming decision by those same engineers", meaning that "they" can only refer to data, not engineers. The sentence indicates that it's treating "data" as plural, so B and D are incorrect.

B also uses the plural verb "provide", so its is wrong for both reasons there.

C commits a pronoun error in that the pronoun "their" is right, but the verb "is providing" is singular and therefore doesn't agree with how the sentence is treating data.

And E is wrong as I mentioned above.

So A is correct, and what can you learn from this question?

*Being isn't ALWAYS wrong. It has a legitimate usage.
*When you're dealing with singular/plural designations, look outside the underlined portion for clues. Difficult questions tend to masterfully hide the singular/plural controller somewhere far enough away from the underline - often at the end of the sentence - that people just never get that far to see it.
*When you're dealing with a noun that could be singular or plural (data, fish, deer), look for fixed pronouns or verbs outside the underline that indicate how the sentence is treating that noun.
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep

Looking for GMAT practice questions? Try out the Veritas Prep Question Bank. Learn More.
Top
Legendary Member
Posts: 774
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:32 am
Thanked: 46 times
Followed by:14 members

by aditya8062 » Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:33 pm
Good day Brian
i agree that like all collective nouns ,data can be singular or plural .but there is rule that these collective nouns follow in being singular or plural .for example jury,a collective noun, is singular when its action are collectively directed in one direction but when the jury is divided and its action are not taken as one unit then it is taken as plural
my question is why aren't we following the same rule for data in this question
in fact the fact that data is going to influence the upcoming decision is something that data will do in unison !!
i feel that the non underlined part sud have treated data singular considering the rule that i have mentioned
Brian plz provide inputs .i am not intending to question OA
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 15539
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: New York, NY
Thanked: 13060 times
Followed by:1906 members
GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:20 pm
aditya8062 wrote:data can be singular or plural.
Technically, data is the PLURAL form of datum.
Examples of data in the OG12:

SC36, p. 40:
New DATA from United States Forest Service ecologists SHOW that for every dollar spent on controlled small- scale burning, forest thinning, and the training of fire-management personnel, seven dollars are saved that would have been spent on extinguishing big fires.

p. 115:
The degree to which numerical DATA ARE SPREAD OUT or dispersed can be measured in many ways.

PS81, p. 163:
DATA for a certain biology experiment ARE given in the table above.

p. 360:
They ruled out local bias because breakage DATA obtained from other Pleistocene sites WERE similar to the La Brea data.

p. 366:
These DATA HAVE ESTABLISHED a strong connection between variations in the Earth's orbit and the periodicity of the ice ages.

p. 501:
Presenting DATA that EXTEND further into the past than the journalist's data.

In every case, data is given a PLURAL verb.
Private tutor exclusively for the GMAT and GRE, with over 20 years of experience.
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.

As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.

For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3
Top
Legendary Member
Posts: 774
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:32 am
Thanked: 46 times
Followed by:14 members

by aditya8062 » Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:31 pm
wow !! thanks mitch but plz confirm is data a collective noun ? after reading ur post i am doubting if data is a collective noun
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 15539
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: New York, NY
Thanked: 13060 times
Followed by:1906 members
GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:51 pm
aditya8062 wrote:wow !! thanks mitch but plz confirm is data a collective noun ? after reading ur post i am doubting if data is a collective noun
Outside the GMAT, data is often treated as a synonym for information.
In such cases, data will take a singular verb.
In fact, data + singular verb has become so common in conversational speech that most people now find data + plural verb a bit odd-sounding.
However -- as the examples in my post above show -- GMAC seems to favor treating data as a plural noun.
Private tutor exclusively for the GMAT and GRE, with over 20 years of experience.
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.

As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.

For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 345
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:57 pm
Thanked: 6 times
Followed by:3 members

by himu » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:20 pm
Wow !

Thanks experts for enlightening us ....that was some great advice....

this place is way way better than where most people waste their time.....fb !...& we all have a mission...

A Sincere thanks to all of U !! I learnt so much :))

Regards,
~Himu.
Top
User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2014 4:16 am

by aashuaki » Wed Sep 21, 2016 4:07 pm
in option A they refers to data as well as engineers.is not that incorrect.the problem of pronoun ambiguity
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1