OG 13 | Q51

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OG 13 | Q51

by [email protected] » Thu Oct 13, 2016 10:56 am

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A new study suggests that the conversational pace of everyday life may be so brisk it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make sense of speech.

A. it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make
B. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, to make
C. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, the result of this, they are unable to make
D. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words, and results in not making
E. as to hamper the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words, resulting in being unable to make

B

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by [email protected] » Thu Oct 13, 2016 10:58 am

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Please suggest why is C incorrect.

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by fiza gupta » Thu Oct 13, 2016 11:25 am

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Tested:
Idiom -ability to is correct not ability of
parallelism

C. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, the result of this, they are unable to make
usage of this is :incorrect
as a result is more concise than "the result of this"
the result of this form a noun and lacks a verb
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by [email protected] » Thu Oct 13, 2016 11:31 am

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Hi Fiza,

Appreciate your reply.

Below is my response:

the result of this form a noun and lacks a verb - The result of this is a modifier and is only showing transition to the next clause. It ain't the parallel element for the phrase some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words. I agree that it is wordy but I am particularly interested in learning about its usage as a modifier in comparison to as a result. :-)

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by sydneyuni2014 » Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:13 am

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[email protected] wrote:A new study suggests that the conversational pace of everyday life may be so brisk it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make sense of speech.

B. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, to make
C. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, the result of this, they are unable to make

B
1. The choice is wordy
2. What is 'they' referring to here? Sounds and words or children?

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:36 am

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[email protected] wrote:A new study suggests that the conversational pace of everyday life may be so brisk it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make sense of speech.

A. it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make
B. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, to make
C. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, the result of this, they are unable to make
D. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words, and results in not making
E. as to hamper the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words, resulting in being unable to make
A and E: ability...for distinguishing
Here, ability FOR is unidiomatic.
Correct: ability TO do X.
Eliminate A and E.

In C, this lacks a clear antecedent.
Since B avoids this ambiguity and is error-free, eliminate C.

D: the conversational pace may be so brisk that it...results in not making sense of everyday speech.
Here, the agent of making seems to be the conversational pace, implying that the PACE is not MAKING sense of everyday speech.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is B.

OA: It hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, [it hampers the ability of some children] to make sense of speech.
Here, the words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.
as a result is an adverb serving to modify the following clause, conveying that the clause in blue happens AS A RESULT of the clause in red.
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by victory » Fri Dec 30, 2016 3:48 am

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[email protected] wrote:A new study suggests that the conversational pace of everyday life may be so brisk it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make sense of speech.

A. it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make
B. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, to make
C. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, the result of this, they are unable to make
D. that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words, and results in not making
E. as to hamper the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words, resulting in being unable to make

B
in d, "making" grammatically refers to general action, no refering to any agent in the sentence grammatically. this is not logic because agent of "making" is agent of "hampers".

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by rsarashi » Fri Dec 30, 2016 8:57 am

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D: the conversational pace may be so brisk that it...results in not making sense of everyday speech.
Here, the agent of making seems to be the conversational pace, implying that the PACE is not MAKING sense of everyday speech.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate D.
Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Is there any other reason to eliminate option D? If so, then please explain.

OA: It hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, [it hampers the ability of some children] to make sense of speech.
Here, the words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.
as a result is an adverb serving to modify the following clause, conveying that the clause in blue happens AS A RESULT of the clause in red.
[/quote]

Can you please explain more about COMMA+AS?

In GMAT AS modifies the action right?

Please advise sir.

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by rsarashi » Sun Jan 01, 2017 5:52 am

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Hello GMATGuruNY ,

Please reply on my query.

Thanks,

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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Jan 01, 2017 11:23 pm

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rsarashi wrote:
D: the conversational pace may be so brisk that it...results in not making sense of everyday speech.
Here, the agent of making seems to be the conversational pace, implying that the PACE is not MAKING sense of everyday speech.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate D.
Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Is there any other reason to eliminate option D? If so, then please explain.
The comma before and is unnecessary, but this sort of punctuation issue does not justify eliminating an answer choice.
The best reason to eliminate D is offered in my post above.
OA: It hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, [it hampers the ability of some children] to make sense of speech.
Here, the words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.
as a result is an adverb serving to modify the following clause, conveying that the clause in blue happens AS A RESULT of the clause in red.
Can you please explain more about COMMA+AS?

In GMAT AS modifies the action right?

Please advise sir.
In this construction CLAUSE + COMMA + as, the as-modifier will generally serve to modify the verb in the preceding clause.
SC82 in the OG12:
Owning a house is still a goal of young adults, as it was of earlier generations.
Here, COMMA + as is an adverb serving to modify the is in blue, expressing HOW owning a house IS still a goal of young adults.
HOW IS owning a house still a goal of young adults?
The same way AS OWNING A HOUSE WAS A GOAL OF EARLIER GENERATIONS.

OA: It hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, [it hampers the ability of some children] to make sense of speech.

Here, COMMA + as follows not a clause but the conjunction and.
The purpose of and is to connect the independent red clause to the implied independent blue clause.
Since the as-modifier does not follow a clause, it does not serve to modify the preceding verb.
Rather, as a result is an INTRODUCTORY adverb serving to modify the implied verb in the FOLLOWING CLAUSE -- hampers -- expressing HOW the conversation pace HAMPERS the ability of some children to make sense of speech.
HOW does the conversational pace HAMPER the ability of some children to make sense of speech?
It hampers them AS A RESULT of their inability to distinguish discrete sounds and words.
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by rsarashi » Tue Jan 03, 2017 4:46 am

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GMATGuruNY wrote:
rsarashi wrote:
D: the conversational pace may be so brisk that it...results in not making sense of everyday speech.
Here, the agent of making seems to be the conversational pace, implying that the PACE is not MAKING sense of everyday speech.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate D.
Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Is there any other reason to eliminate option D? If so, then please explain.
The comma before and is unnecessary, but this sort of punctuation issue does not justify eliminating an answer choice.
The best reason to eliminate D is offered in my post above.
OA: It hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, [it hampers the ability of some children] to make sense of speech.
Here, the words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.
as a result is an adverb serving to modify the following clause, conveying that the clause in blue happens AS A RESULT of the clause in red.
Can you please explain more about COMMA+AS?

In GMAT AS modifies the action right?

Please advise sir.
In this construction CLAUSE + COMMA + as, the as-modifier will generally serve to modify the verb in the preceding clause.
SC82 in the OG12:
Owning a house is still a goal of young adults, as it was of earlier generations.
Here, COMMA + as is an adverb serving to modify the is in blue, expressing HOW owning a house IS still a goal of young adults.
HOW IS owning a house still a goal of young adults?
The same way AS OWNING A HOUSE WAS A GOAL OF EARLIER GENERATIONS.

OA: It hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, [it hampers the ability of some children] to make sense of speech.

Here, COMMA + as follows not a clause but the conjunction and.
The purpose of and is to connect the independent red clause to the implied independent blue clause.
Since the as-modifier does not follow a clause, it does not serve to modify the preceding verb.
Rather, as a result is an INTRODUCTORY adverb serving to modify the implied verb in the FOLLOWING CLAUSE -- hampers -- expressing HOW the conversation pace HAMPERS the ability of some children to make sense of speech.
HOW does the conversational pace HAMPER the ability of some children to make sense of speech?
It hampers them AS A RESULT of their inability to distinguish discrete sounds and words.
Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Thank you so much for your explanation.

Thanks,

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by [email protected] » Mon Apr 01, 2019 9:03 am

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Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one problem at a time, to narrow it down to the correct choice! First, here is the original question with any major differences between the options highlighted in orange:

A new study suggests that the conversational pace of everyday life may be so brisk it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make sense of speech.

(A) it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make
(B) that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, to make
(C) that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, the result of this, they are unable to make
(D) that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words, and results in not making
(E) as to hamper the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words, resulting in being unable to make

After a quick glance over the options, there are a few things we can focus on:

1. it hampers / that it hampers / as to hamper
2. for distinguishing / to distinguish
3. Their endings


Let's start with #1 on our list, which is an issue of idiom structure. The idiom we are trying to use here is this:

so X that Y

Here is how each option uses (or misuses) this idiom:

(A) it hampers the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words and, the result is, to make --> so X Y --> WRONG
(B) that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, to make --> so X that Y --> GOOD
(C) that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, the result of this, they are unable to make --> so X that Y --> GOOD
(D) that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words, and results in not making --> so X that Y --> GOOD
(E) as to hamper the ability of some children for distinguishing discrete sounds and words, resulting in being unable to make --> so X as to Y --> WRONG

We can eliminate options A & E because they don't adhere to the idiom structure "so X that Y."

(It turns out we could also eliminate options A & E because they also incorrectly use the "for verb+ing" structure instead of the correct "to verb" in this sentence.)

Now that we've narrowed it down to 3 options, let's take a closer look at how each option ends, and look for any glaring issues. I'll give you a hint: it has something to do with parallelism!

(B) that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, as a result, to make

This is our CORRECT option! It uses parallel structure with "to distinguish" and "to make!" It also uses the correct idiom structure "so X that Y."

(C) that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words and, the result of this, they are unable to make

This is INCORRECT because it doesn't use parallel structure to describe the two things that are hampered in the sentence. Because of this, we can rule this option out.

(D) that it hampers the ability of some children to distinguish discrete sounds and words, and results in not making

This is also INCORRECT because it doesn't use parallel structure to describe the two things being hampered in the sentence!


There you have it - option B is the correct choice because it follows the "so X that Y" idiom structure and uses parallelism correctly!


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