GMAT Sentence Correction: How To Find the Core Sentence - Part 5
A while back, I wrote a series on how to strip a Sentence Correction (SC) problem down to its core. A lot of my students have told me that this series really helped them to get better and faster at SC, so Im picking up the discussion again.
First, if youd like to start at the beginning, heres the first article in the series.
Today, I want to talk about how this technique can be very useful even with a short underline in the original sentence. A short underline (and, therefore, short answer choices) does not mean that this problem is easy.
In fact, shorter underlines can sometimes be quite tricky! Its harder for them to hide things from you, so the material tested is likely to be on the harder side, and its more likely that theres something important going on in the non-underlined portion. Miss that clue and you may just fall into a trap.
Try out this GMATPrep problem from the free practice questions that come with the software. (Note: in the solution, Im going to discuss aspects of our SC Process; if you havent learned it already, go read about it right now, then come back and try this problem.)
* While larger banks can afford to maintain their own data-processing operations, many smaller regional and community banks are finding that the cost associated with upgrading data-processing equipment and with the development and maintenance of new products and technical staff are prohibitive.(A) cost associated with
(B) costs associated with
(C) costs arising from
(D) cost of
(E) costs of
The underline is super short, so you may want to compare everything in your First Glance. The first split is between cost and costs. Clearly, something is going on with singular and plural. Note: cost/costs could be nouns or verbs; you dont necessarily know yet, because you havent read the sentence (though, if you really know a ton about sentence structure, the words just after costs are a clue). Just keep in mind that you still need to see whether cost/costs is a noun or verb.
Next, there are different prepositional openers: associated with, arising from, or of. A modifier is coming; the question is just which structure is most appropriate.
And thats it! Theres not much to work with in the underline, so make sure to read the full sentence carefully, all the way to the period.
Okay, lets strip this sentence down:
I greyed out the portions that are not part of the core. Heres how to determine this:
The opening part, up to the comma, is not a complete sentence by itself (you cant start a complete sentence with the word while). Its extra; if you strip it out, you should still have a complete sentence after it (assuming that that's not the error in this problem!).
Smaller regional and community describes the many banks. Ignore it; its just cluttering up the sentence.
The key modifier to strip out is the last one. While associated can be a verb (She is associated with the chamber of commerce), it is not a verb in this sentence. If youre not sure, try it as a verb to see whether you have a complete sentence: The cost associated with upgrading equipment. The cost associated with buying ice cream. These are not complete sentences.
Therefore associated with and the parallel portion starting with with the development are not part of the core. The core doesnt pick up again until the verb, are.
Okay, how does the core look to you?
Theres a problem. The cost is singular but are is plural. Which one do you want to fix?
Actually, thats a trick questionyou dont have a choice! The verb, are, is not underlined, so the sentence has to have a plural subject. Answers (A) and (D) are both incorrect.
That takes care of the singular / plural issue. What about the other differences in the answers?
These are all prepositions, so the question is whether we want to talk about costs associated with, costs arising from, or costs of.
It turns out that all are generally acceptable versions. You can have costs associated with upgrading equipment, costs arising from upgrading equipment, or costs of upgrading equipment. How to decide?
Take a look at that non-underlined portion again. The sentence talks about two sets of costs: upgrading equipment and the development and maintenance of some things. The second one starts with the word with:
the costs [???] upgrading equipment and with the development and maintenance
The word and demands parallelism. Because the second one starts with a preposition (with), the first one must, too. Hmm, but they all do! (It isnt necessarily a requirement that they must start with the same preposition.)
It is a requirement, though, that the sentence make sense with each parallel item separately. You cant say:
the costs with the development and maintenance
So answer (E) cant be correct. You also cant say the costs arising with the development. The idiom is arising from, so answer (C) cant be correct. Therefore, the correct answer must be associated with, so that the word associated can go with the second parallel item as well as the first.
the costs associated with upgrading equipment and [associated] with the development and maintenance
The correct answer is (B).
If you got this one right, thats great! Make sure that you got it right for the right reasons. Ive taught this problem many times over the years and have had many students tell me that the word costs needs to be plural because there are two costs (upgrading equipment and the development). But that information is just a modifier describing the subject furtherthose modifiers dont determine whether the subject is singular or plural.
Try it: the cost associated with buying a car and with the maintenance of that car
That is perfectly fine (as long as the eventual verb is singular).
I have also had many students tell me that associated with is correct because both halves should start with the same preposition. Careful! Parallelism doesnt automatically demand that level of agreement. You could say: I like to travel on a skateboard and in planes. In this case, the repetition of with was required because of the full idiom, associated with.
Join us next time for another installment of this series.
Key Takeaways: Strip the sentence to the Core
(1) Generally, this is a process of elimination: youre removing the things that cannot be part of the core sentence. Your goal is not to find a correct sentence. Your goal is to strip the sentence as it is, so that you notice if theres an error with the core.
(2) Non-core-sentence clues include: prepositional phrases; phrases or clauses set off by two commas; relative pronouns such as which and who; comma + -ed or comma + ing modifiers; -ed or ing words that cannot function as the main verb.
(3) A complete sentence on the GMAT must have a subject and a working verb, at a minimum. You may have multiple subjects or working verbs. You could also have two complete sentences connected by a comma and conjunction (such as comma and) or a semi-colon. See the earlier articles in this series for examples of other types of structures.
* GMATPrep questions courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. Usage of this question does not imply endorsement by GMAC.