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A recent poll!

by gmat_perfect » Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:04 am
A recent poll indicates that many people in the United States hold a combination of conservative and liberal political views; i.e., they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting many specific government programs for health care, education, and the environment.

(A) they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting
(B) they denounce big government--they say that government is doing too much and has become too powerful--but supporting at the same time
(C) they denounce big government, they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful, while they support at the same time
(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting
(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time

I can eliminate the options B and C easily.

I am unable to figure the actual problems in the options D and E.

Would any one explain in detail what is/are the problems in the options D and E?

Thanks.
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by kvcpk » Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:17 am
Option D says:

(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting

The phrase "saying that..." is just additional information. Let us get rid of it.
while they denounce big government, at the same time supporting
Does this make sense? Its not meaning ful and also not parallel.

Option E says:

(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time

In"They say that government" , "they" is redundant. "it" is unnecessary. Sentence looks awkward and wordy.

Hope this helps!!
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by jathin12 » Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:19 am
I guess there is something to do with the pronoun "that". Though i dont have an explanation.
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by gmat_perfect » Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:13 am
kvcpk wrote:Option D says:

(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting

The phrase "saying that..." is just additional information. Let us get rid of it.
while they denounce big government, at the same time supporting
Does this make sense? Its not meaning ful and also not parallel.

Option E says:

(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time

In"They say that government" , "they" is redundant. "it" is unnecessary. Sentence looks awkward and wordy.

Hope this helps!!

I have analyzed this question for a long time, and I got the answer why D and E are wrong.

Rule#1: We should use the subordinate clause in the following ways:
=> Subordinate clause + Comma + Independent clause.
=> Independent clause + (Comma or No comma-Both are seen in GMAT land) + Subordinate clause.
NOTE: No sentence can be correct unless there is an independent clause.

Now look at the option D.
(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting

If we make the skull of this option, we can see the following:

D) while they denounce big government, at the same time supporting..

=> There is no independent clause. So it is out.

Now look at the option E.
(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time

Make the skull.

(E) while they are denouncing big government- supporting at the same time

=> There is no independent clause. So it is out.

Am I right?

Thanks for the efforts.
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by gmat_perfect » Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:13 am
kvcpk wrote:Option D says:

(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting

The phrase "saying that..." is just additional information. Let us get rid of it.
while they denounce big government, at the same time supporting
Does this make sense? Its not meaning ful and also not parallel.

Option E says:

(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time

In"They say that government" , "they" is redundant. "it" is unnecessary. Sentence looks awkward and wordy.

Hope this helps!!

I have analyzed this question for a long time, and I got the answer why D and E are wrong.

Rule#1: We should use the subordinate clause in the following ways:
=> Subordinate clause + Comma + Independent clause.
=> Independent clause + (Comma or No comma-Both are seen in GMAT land) + Subordinate clause.
NOTE: No sentence can be correct unless there is an independent clause.

Now look at the option D.
(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting

If we make the skull of this option, we can see the following:

D) while they denounce big government, at the same time supporting..

=> There is no independent clause. So it is out.

Now look at the option E.
(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time

Make the skull.

(E) while they are denouncing big government- supporting at the same time

=> There is no independent clause. So it is out.

Am I right?

Thanks for the efforts.
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by samarpan_bschool » Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:22 am
gmat_perfect wrote:A recent poll indicates that many people in the United States hold a combination of conservative and liberal political views; i.e., they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting many specific government programs for health care, education, and the environment.

(A) they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting
(B) they denounce big government--they say that government is doing too much and has become too powerful--but supporting at the same time
(C) they denounce big government, they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful, while they support at the same time
(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting
(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time

I can eliminate the options B and C easily.

I am unable to figure the actual problems in the options D and E.

Would any one explain in detail what is/are the problems in the options D and E?

Thanks.
@gmat+perfect: none of the options seems correct to me!

'while' 'at the same time' will create redundancy.

C is a run on sentence.

D is not parallel.

What is the source? Whatever may be the correct answer, i am going to have a hard time convincing myself!!
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by tomada » Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:31 am
What's the OA?
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by fitzgerald23 » Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:42 am
If the question is from a good source was there a mistake in re-typing it? If not this is the case where you just pick the best of the worst answers.

To me D & E are clearly incorrect. Neither completes a sentence.

B is not parallel nor is it proper grammar.

That leaves A & C. C is parallel (they denounce...while they support), but the placement of the commas after big government seems to change the sentence by introducing all kinds of things they dislike (they denounce big government, they say government is doing too much, and government has become too powerful) which to me seems redundant. The placement of "at the same time" also seems incorrect.

So I guess A should be the answer, though it seems like it should read they denounce... while, at the same time, they support. The only other thought I could have as to A being the answer is if denouncing big government is the overall thought and the differing political views are "saying...while supporting" which would be parallel.

Any idea what the OA is?
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by loveusonu » Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:52 am
Testing parallelism, where 2 clauses are of opposite meaning i.e though people denounce big government, they also support.., which is also he intended meaning of the sentence.

First of all E is preety simple to eliminate to lets analyze the mistakes.

(E) while they are denouncing big government--they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful-- supporting at the same time -->INCORRECT : redundant 'it' as government is subject and we are describing its two action, government is doing... and has become...

Apart from the above, "are denouncing", a progressive action is not there. Hence Eliminated.

D is difficult to explain but let me try:

(D) while they denounce big government, saying that government is doing too much and has become too powerful, at the same time supporting

For D to be correct, it should be re-written as " while they denounce big government, ..., they also support."

To explain further, while shows contrast, hence "while X happens, Y also happens"-->Moral: You can't share the subject in while clause as adding 'while' in a clause means you are contrasting in the next clause. But we don't have subject in next clause. One may ask "supporting"??? Who??

In A this mistake is corrected and subject "they" is shared i.e They denounce..., while supporting.
Who support?? Ans: They

Hence A prefferred over D.

hope that helps!
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by gmat_perfect » Mon Jul 12, 2010 11:03 am
fitzgerald23 wrote:If the question is from a good source was there a mistake in re-typing it? If not this is the case where you just pick the best of the worst answers.

To me D & E are clearly incorrect. Neither completes a sentence.

B is not parallel nor is it proper grammar.

That leaves A & C. C is parallel (they denounce...while they support), but the placement of the commas after big government seems to change the sentence by introducing all kinds of things they dislike (they denounce big government, they say government is doing too much, and government has become too powerful) which to me seems redundant. The placement of "at the same time" also seems incorrect.

So I guess A should be the answer, though it seems like it should read they denounce... while, at the same time, they support. The only other thought I could have as to A being the answer is if denouncing big government is the overall thought and the differing political views are "saying...while supporting" which would be parallel.

Any idea what the OA is?

This is a GMATPREP question, and the OA is A.

"While at the same time + VerbING" is the accepted form in GMAT land. We should just memorize this one.
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Thanks.
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