MGMAT SC

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CaptainM: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 46; Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:54 amFollowed by: 1 member

by CaptainM » Wed Sep 29, 2010 10:16 am

In the options A and C the usage of "the" is wrong because the term- "pension liabilities"- is not stated earlier in the sentence.("the growing pension liabilities")

(A)the growing pension liabilities; this leads

(C)the growth in their pension liabilities, which leads

So Why the usage of "the" is right in the OA(E) of a different question:

Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth,
nearly 99 percent of them vanishing.

D. Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on
Earth, nearly 99 percent of them have vanished.

E. Of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on
Earth, nearly 99 percent have vanished.(OA)

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by lunarpower » Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:47 am

CaptainM wrote:In the options A and C the usage of "the" is wrong because the term- "pension liabilities"- is not stated earlier in the sentence.("the growing pension liabilities")

(A)the growing pension liabilities; this leads

(C)the growth in their pension liabilities, which leads

So Why the usage of "the" is right in the OA(E) of a different question:

Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth,
nearly 99 percent of them vanishing.

D. Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on
Earth, nearly 99 percent of them have vanished.

E. Of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on
Earth, nearly 99 percent have vanished.(OA)

first, before we start this discussion:
i've NEVER seen an official problem on which the word "the" was explicitly tested.
in other words, in all the hundreds and hundreds of official problems that i've seen for this test, not a single one has required the student to master the uses of articles. in fact, now that i think about it, i don't think i've seen any of the articles (a, an, the) tested in official problems.
therefore, all of the following discussion should be regarded as "enrichment topics".

Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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On peut poser des questions Ã Ron en franÃ§ais
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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:47 am

(continued from above)

--

in general, there's not going to be any sort of simple rule for the use of articles. in fact, there is a whole host of different reasons why articles might be used:

* Idiom
some articles are idiomatically required to be placed in front of certain nouns. as is the case for other idioms, this usage is highly unpredictable and tends to defy any sort of simple pattern recognition.
for instance, the Philippines, an island nation, idiomatically requires the use of the article "the"; however, Seychelles, another island nation with a plural name -- just like the philippines -- takes no such article.

* Meaning
there are many aspects of the english language in which the use of an article can clarify meaning. here are two:

(1) if you place "the" in front of a numerical quantity, then you are implying exclusivity. for instance, Here are three witnesses to the crime just means that i am presenting you with three witnesses; there may well have been others. however, Here are the three witnesses to the crime means that these are the only three people who witnessed the crime.

(2) the use of "the", as opposed to the indefinite article "a/an", can indicate that you are talking about a noun that was previously mentioned in the sentence.
for instance,
I gave a book to my sister, after which she gave a book to James --> we have no information about which books were given, although it is almost certain that the book given by my sister to james is not the same book that i gave to her.
I gave a book to my sister, after which she gave the book to James --> after i gave my sister the book, she gave the same book to james.

there are lots and lots of others; the use of articles is generally so complicated that only lifelong native speakers truly have it mastered. (in fact, the misuse of articles is probably the single most conspicuous hallmark of a non-native speaker of english; the only other aspect of the language that's mangled as often by non-native speakers, because it is so difficult, is verb tense.)

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CaptainM: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 46; Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:54 amFollowed by: 1 member

by CaptainM » Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:26 am

lunarpower wrote:
CaptainM wrote:In the options A and C the usage of "the" is wrong because the term- "pension liabilities"- is not stated earlier in the sentence.("the growing pension liabilities")

(A)the growing pension liabilities; this leads

(C)the growth in their pension liabilities, which leads

So Why the usage of "the" is right in the OA(E) of a different question:

Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth,
nearly 99 percent of them vanishing.

D. Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on
Earth, nearly 99 percent of them have vanished.

E. Of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on
Earth, nearly 99 percent have vanished.(OA)
first, before we start this discussion:
i've NEVER seen an official problem on which the word "the" was explicitly tested.
in other words, in all the hundreds and hundreds of official problems that i've seen for this test, not a single one has required the student to master the uses of articles. in fact, now that i think about it, i don't think i've seen any of the articles (a, an, the) tested in official problems.
therefore, all of the following discussion should be regarded as "enrichment topics".

Ron
Thanks for your quick reply.Your explanation is gr8.
One doubt:
I got the following problem in MGMAT test. I chose B and the explanation says
Public-access cable television was created in the 1970s as a means to derive public benefit from the laying of private television cables on public land.

A)from the laying of private television cables on public land

B)from laying private television cables on the public land

C)by the laying of private television cables on the public's land

D)from private television cables being laid on public land

E)by laying private television cables on land that was public
OA:A

(B) "The public land" is not idiomatic, because there is no previous reference to a particular section of public land; the wording should be "public land." Incidentally, although the phrase "from laying private television cables" may sound preferable to the phrase "from THE laying OF private television cables" in the original sentence, there is actually no grammatical reason to prefer one or the other in this context; both are gerund phrases (in which an "ing" form is used as a noun).

To me it looks like the usage of "the" is being tested in the question typed above.
Please clarify.

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:50 pm

captainM, nice find. i'll go have a look at that question and revise it if necessary.
thanks.

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:54 pm

incidentally, the word "the" has been explicitly tested in exactly one way: when placed in front of an -ING form, it automatically makes that form into a gerund (noun-form -ING).
it's possible to have gerunds without the in front of them, too, but this piece of knowledge (the VERBing is automatically a noun form) is especially useful because of the huge number of other uses of -ING.
for an official reference, see OG12 problem 119 -- unfortunately, i'm not allowed to reproduce that problem here.

by the way, don't confuse the VERBing (noun / gerund form) with constructions in which VERBing is used as an adjective, e.g. the increasing interest rates.

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CaptainM: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 46; Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:54 amFollowed by: 1 member

by CaptainM » Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:05 am

lunarpower wrote:
papgust wrote:I'm not sure what exactly you are asking, but iamcste has stated the correct reason in my opinion.

actually it's possible for "which" in (c) to refer to the noun phrase "growth in their pension liabilities".

here's the basic summary:
if you have "X + preposition + Y, which..."
then:
* if Y works (in terms of both grammar and common sense) as the antecedent of "which", then "which" should stand for Y.
* if Y doesn't work as the antecedent, but "X + prep + Y" DOES work, then "which" can stand for "X (+ prep + Y)".

see this problem for an example of the latter.

this problem fits the same template, so it's quite possible that this "which" would be allowed. (that answer choice still has other issues, though.)
Hi Ron,

Got your point.Gr8 Explanation!!!
Please explain the role of "Which" in the following MGMAT question

The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage, as in the case of green insects that spend their lives in or near foliage, or to warn predators, as in the case of insects colored in yellow and black, which often signals that it is poisonous.

(c)or as a warning to predators, as in the case of insects bearing a combination of yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous. (OA)

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:01 am

CaptainM wrote:
lunarpower wrote:
papgust wrote:I'm not sure what exactly you are asking, but iamcste has stated the correct reason in my opinion.

actually it's possible for "which" in (c) to refer to the noun phrase "growth in their pension liabilities".

here's the basic summary:
if you have "X + preposition + Y, which..."
then:
* if Y works (in terms of both grammar and common sense) as the antecedent of "which", then "which" should stand for Y.
* if Y doesn't work as the antecedent, but "X + prep + Y" DOES work, then "which" can stand for "X (+ prep + Y)".

see this problem for an example of the latter.

this problem fits the same template, so it's quite possible that this "which" would be allowed. (that answer choice still has other issues, though.)
Hi Ron,

Got your point.Gr8 Explanation!!!
Please explain the role of "Which" in the following MGMAT question

The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage, as in the case of green insects that spend their lives in or near foliage, or to warn predators, as in the case of insects colored in yellow and black, which often signals that it is poisonous.

(c)or as a warning to predators, as in the case of insects bearing a combination of yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous. (OA)
follows exactly the same rule.
"yellow and black" can't be the antecedent (because "which ... signals" is singular). therefore, the antecedent is "a combination of yellow and black", i.e., noun1 + prep + noun2.

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