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Comparing tensile strength - Mangoosh

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Comparing tensile strength - Mangoosh

by sparkles3144 » Mon May 05, 2014 2:03 pm
Comparing tensile strength, spider's silk is much better at holding its own weight than high-grade alloy steel, considerably lighter because the organic composition is less dense than the metallic elements.

A. Comparing tensile strength, spider's silk is much better at holding its own weight than high-grade alloy steel

B. Comparing tensile strength, spider's silk is much better than high-grade alloy steel at holding its own weight

C. Comparable in tensile strength, spider's silk is much better at holding its own weight than high-grade alloy steel

D. Comparable in tensile strength, spider's silk, much better than high-grade alloy steel at holding its own weight

E. Comparable in tensile strength, spider's silk is much better than high-grade alloy steel at holding its own weight

Answer E
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by AnjaliOberoi » Mon May 05, 2014 8:34 pm
A,B use comparing - which is wrong - correct usage - comparing x to y,the students.... (so here students are making comparison, something is ongoing), so if we look at the original sentence spider's silk is not making any comparison, hence A and B are wrong
C - If we look at the non underlying part "considerably lighter because the organic composition is less dense than the metallic elements. " bold part seems to modify spider's silk but just before comma we have high grade alloy steel - wrong
D- Missing verb
E- correct
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by aditya8062 » Mon May 05, 2014 9:03 pm
anjali wrote :C - If we look at the non underlying part "considerably lighter because the organic composition is less dense than the metallic elements. " bold part seems to modify spider's silk but just before comma we have high grade alloy steel - wrong
the reason C is wrong is not because of the above mentioned reason but because the comparison in C is ambiguous

C says : Comparable in tensile strength, spider's silk is much better at holding its own weight than high-grade alloy steel

meaning 1 : Comparable in tensile strength, spider's silk is much better at holding its own weight than is high-grade alloy steel

meaning 2 : Comparable in tensile strength, spider's silk is much better at holding its own weight than the weight of high-grade alloy steel
since both meanings are viable so there is an element of ambiguity in option C

also note that the construction comma + "considerably lighter because the organic composition is less dense than the metallic elements" is adverbial in nature and is modifying the previous clause so it does not matter as what noun comes before the comma
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by ilyana » Tue May 06, 2014 1:40 am
aditya8062 wrote:
anjali wrote :C - If we look at the non underlying part "considerably lighter because the organic composition is less dense than the metallic elements. " bold part seems to modify spider's silk but just before comma we have high grade alloy steel - wrong
the reason C is wrong is not because of the above mentioned reason but because the comparison in C is ambiguous
The reason pointed out by AnjaliOberoi is a valid one.
also note that the construction comma + "considerably lighter because the organic composition is less dense than the metallic elements" is adverbial in nature and is modifying the previous clause so it does not matter as what noun comes before the comma
Comma + "considerably lighter" is a noun-modifier and modifies the preceding noun. In the correct option it modifies "its own weight".

The word "light" is usually a noun/verb/adjective and rarely an adverb. Here we are interested in its adjective meaning. "Lighter" is a comparative form of the adjective "light". It is not adverbial in nature here.
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by aditya8062 » Tue May 06, 2014 2:08 am
good Day ilyana
the construction comma+ "considerably lighter because the organic composition is less dense than the metallic elements" answers as why "spider's silk is much better than high-grade alloy steel at holding its own weight"

to elaborate you can view the sentence as follows:
spider silk is considerably lighter because the organic composition [of spider silk] is less dense than[the organic composition of] the metallic elements hence spider's silk is much better than high-grade alloy steel at holding its own weight

having said this,i want to state that comparison in C is egregiously ambiguous
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by ilyana » Tue May 06, 2014 3:02 am
aditya8062 wrote:good Day ilyana
the construction comma+ "considerably lighter because the organic composition is less dense than the metallic elements" answers as why "spider's silk is much better than high-grade alloy steel at holding its own weight"

to elaborate you can view the sentence as follows:
spider silk is considerably lighter because the organic composition [of spider silk] is less dense than[the organic composition of] the metallic elements hence spider's silk is much better than high-grade alloy steel at holding its own weight

having said this,i want to state that comparison in C is egregiously ambiguous
Do you mean that "considerably lighter" describes here the subject of the preceding clause in the same way as in the following sentence:
Bob stood at the corner of the street, completely bedazzled.

If so, then yes, it is a valid structure in English, but it is extremely unlikely to appear in the correct answer on the GMAT.
The GMAT doesn't like when ED-modifier somewhere at the end of the sentence jumps over the whole sentence and modifies the subject at the beginning.

I know only one problem in which such a structure (arguably) appeared in the correct answer: OG13, N6.
Diabetes, together with its serious complications, ranks as the nation's third leading cause of death, surpassed only by heart disease and cancer.
Yet still some people argue that "surpassed only" modifies "the third leading cause of death".

In this problem it makes perfect sense if "considerably lighter" modifies "its own weight". "Lighter" can be a characteristic of "weight". Then, when we noted that the weight (of spider's silk) is lighter, we can proceed with the reason why it is so: because the organic composition is less dense than the metallic elements.
spider silk is considerably lighter because the organic composition [of spider silk] is less dense than[the organic composition of] the metallic elements hence spider's silk is much better than high-grade alloy steel at holding its own weight
I know I'm being picky here, but metallic elements don't have the organic composition.
having said this,i want to state that comparison in C is egregiously ambiguous
I don't argue this point. Though, personally, I think that ambiguous comparison is less reliable reason for elimination.

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by aditya8062 » Tue May 06, 2014 4:07 am
Do you mean that "considerably lighter" describes here the subject of the preceding clause
all i mean is that the phrase after comma gives me an answer as why something is happening in the previous clause,a situation which tell us that the previous clause is actually getting modified
The GMAT doesn't like when ED-modifier somewhere at the end of the sentence jumps over the whole sentence and modifies the subject at the beginning.
i am not sure as why you are bringing comma +verb-ed modifiers .but i would like to add one point that this kind of modifier could refer either to the subject or to the noun before; you'll have to use context to figure it out.
Diabetes, together with its serious complications, ranks as the nation's third leading cause of death, surpassed only by heart disease and cancer.
Yet still some people argue that "surpassed only" modifies "the third leading cause of death
here Diabetes is parallel element to heart disease and cancer hence "surpassed" modifies diabetes
In this problem it makes perfect sense if "considerably lighter" modifies "its own weight". "Lighter" can be a characteristic of "weight"
just as height cannot be taller so weight cannot be lighter
I know I'm being picky here, but metallic elements don't have the organic composition.
i seriously like this one and may be while writing this i had MOF'S -metal organic frameworks- compounds in mind. i will rewrite it

spider silk is considerably lighter because the organic composition [of spider silk] is less dense than[composition of] the metallic elements hence spider's silk is much better than high-grade alloy steel at holding its own weight ----->the moot point is that the construction after comma gives me a reason to believe as why this is happening
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by ilyana » Tue May 06, 2014 5:00 am
all i mean is that the phrase after comma gives me an answer as why something is happening in the previous clause,a situation which tell us that the previous clause is actually getting modified
I hope you agree that "lighter" is an adjective here (I mean part of speech). Adjectives describe nouns; they don't directly answer any questions starting with "why".
i am not sure as why you are bringing comma +verb-ed modifiers .
Because ED-modifiers play more or less the same role as adjectives.
just as height cannot be taller so weight cannot be lighter
I found these sentences on the Internet:

RUF started with a bare 964 Carrera 3.2 shell purchased directly from Porsche, a narrow-body 911 chosen for its reduced drag and lighter weight. (https://driving.ca/porsche/reviews/road- ... ly-bonkers)

Light weight is pump's claim to fame. (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/busines ... 455527.php)

UN Certified 20 L Container combines light weight and durability. (https://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/UN- ... y-20026200)


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