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Student election

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by gmatblood » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:35 am
Some mathematicians argue that to permit a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality vote is like ranking a student who earned three A's and two F's higher than one who got two A's and three B's

to permit a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality vote is like ranking a student
permitting a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking a student
permitting candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like to rank a student
permitting a candidate to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking a student
to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking students

Between E and C!
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by saketk » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:42 am
gmatblood wrote:Some mathematicians argue that to permit a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality vote is like ranking a student who earned three A's and two F's higher than one who got two A's and three B's

to permit a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality vote is like ranking a student
permitting a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking a student
permitting candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like to rank a student
permitting a candidate to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking a student
to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking students

Between E and C!
I would rather choose OPTION D

for the skeptics -- there is no pronoun ambiguity here with 'they'
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by throughmba » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:42 am
subject verb agreement (Candidate and They)
parallelism

A better explanation I had read earlier on BTG only.
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by indi » Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:05 pm
What is OA...IMO E..
Candidates...they, Ranking requires students..
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by sam2304 » Fri Oct 21, 2011 1:33 am
Mixed between C/D. D seems more clear with meaning but there is a pronoun issue.
C is lacking parallelism.
E uses plural students - higher than one who got should have singular student.

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by throughmba » Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:09 am
Mixed between C/D. D seems more clear with meaning but there is a pronoun issue.
C is lacking parallelism.
E uses plural students - higher than one who got should have singular student.

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by rohangupta83 » Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:18 am
IMO C

plural candidates for "they"
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by mankey » Sat Oct 22, 2011 11:40 am
Some expert please reply on this. Can 'student' and 'they' go together?

Thanks.
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by throughmba » Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:10 pm
mankey wrote:Some expert please reply on this. Can 'student' and 'they' go together?

Thanks.
Hi

Candidate is being linked to they here and not student.

This is an inappropriate use of a pronoun: "they". "they" is never used to refer to a third-person singular noun ("candidate") on the GMAT.
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by rohit_gmat » Sat Oct 22, 2011 10:10 pm
wait a min.. none of these make sense.. i checked the post that throughmba was talking abt and that says :

"
Thus, the sentence should read:
Some mathematicians argue that permitting candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking a student who earned three A's and two F's higher than one who got two A's and three B's.
" .. but this isnt there in any of the ACs....

@ saketk - and they say " You may see an inappropriate use of a pronoun: "they". Never use "they" to refer to a third-person singular noun ("candidate") on the GMAT"

@ gmatblood - r u sure the AC have been copied correctly?
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by smackmartine » Sat Oct 22, 2011 11:22 pm
IMO E

A) to permit a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality vote is like ranking a student
B) permitting a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking a student
C) permitting candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like to rank a student (weird construction)
D) permitting a candidate to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking a student
E) to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking students
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by patanjali.purpose » Sun Oct 23, 2011 12:13 am
smackmartine wrote:IMO E

C) permitting candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like to rank a student (weird construction)
E) to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking students
Hi Smack,

I agree that C is weird: permitting candidates TO WIN...IS LIKE permitting candidates TO RANK (1st and 2nd part are different elements but the sentence tries to refer 'permitting students' to both part of the sentence).

My confusion is in E: do you think we need to have ||llel phrase before IS - that is 'TO PERMIT CANDIDATES....IS LIKE TO RANK...' instead of 'TO PERMIT CANDIDATES....IS LIKE RANKing...'

Thanks
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by aspirant2011 » Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:31 am
gmatblood wrote:Some mathematicians argue that to permit a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality vote is like ranking a student who earned three A's and two F's higher than one who got two A's and three B's

to permit a candidate to win an election because theyhave won a plurality vote is like ranking a student
permitting a candidate to win an election because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking a student
permitting candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like to rank a student
permitting a candidate to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking a student
to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking students

Between E and C!
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by smackmartine » Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:38 am
patanjali.purpose wrote:
smackmartine wrote:IMO E

C) permitting candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like to rank a student (weird construction)
E) to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking students
Hi Smack,

I agree that C is weird: permitting candidates TO WIN...IS LIKE permitting candidates TO RANK (1st and 2nd part are different elements but the sentence tries to refer 'permitting students' to both part of the sentence).

My confusion is in E: do you think we need to have ||llel phrase before IS - that is 'TO PERMIT CANDIDATES....IS LIKE TO RANK...' instead of 'TO PERMIT CANDIDATES....IS LIKE RANKing...'

Thanks
Hi Patanjali,

In Option E


Here to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is a noun phrase.
A noun phrase can be parallel to a gerund(ranking students in this case).

Note: to permit in this context is not an infinitive. Only if "TO+Verb" indicates INTENTION, we consider it infinitive. However, that is not the case here.The whole part acts as a noun phrase.

Also, Like must be followed /used to compare nouns,pronouns and noun phrases(See MGMT Comparison chapter ). So, your example doesn't fit in because of this restriction.

Hope it helps!
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by patanjali.purpose » Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:27 am
smackmartine wrote:
patanjali.purpose wrote:
smackmartine wrote:IMO E

C) permitting candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like to rank a student (weird construction)
E) to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is like ranking students
Hi Smack,

I agree that C is weird: permitting candidates TO WIN...IS LIKE permitting candidates TO RANK (1st and 2nd part are different elements but the sentence tries to refer 'permitting students' to both part of the sentence).

My confusion is in E: do you think we need to have ||llel phrase before IS - that is 'TO PERMIT CANDIDATES....IS LIKE TO RANK...' instead of 'TO PERMIT CANDIDATES....IS LIKE RANKing...'

Thanks
Hi Patanjali,

In Option E


Here to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes is a noun phrase.
A noun phrase can be parallel to a gerund(ranking students in this case).

Note: to permit in this context is not an infinitive. Only if "TO+Verb" indicates INTENTION, we consider it infinitive. However, that is not the case here.The whole part acts as a noun phrase.

Also, Like must be followed /used to compare nouns,pronouns and noun phrases(See MGMT Comparison chapter ). So, your example doesn't fit in because of this restriction.

Hope it helps!
Hi Smack,

Very impressive explanation. I did not realize "to permit candidates to win elections because they have won a plurality of votes" is a noun phrase till you told me. Thanks, I missed that completely.

Thanks
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