Sentence Correction

The 19-year-old pianist and composer performed his most recent work all over Europe, Asia, and North America last year, winning prestigious awards in both London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he is hoping to continue composing now that he has returned to Chicago.

A. winning prestigious awards in both London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he is hoping
B. winning prestigious awards both in London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and hoping
C. having won prestigious awards both in London and Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, hoping
D. winning prestigious awards in both London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and he hopes
E. having won prestigious awards both in London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he hopes
I have a quick question so and such.Do you think so and such can be interchanged here?

Yes..seems to be quite close. While "such" seems better here, but I would also like an explanation for this.

No, they cannot be interchanged, even though they mean the same. (The form with SO is a bit more rhetorical than the one with SUCH; perhaps that is why the latter appears in the correct option here.) They are two different idiomatic forms. In SO YOUNG AN AGE, the SO could never be replaced with SUCH, and in SUCH A YOUNG AGE, the SUCH could never be replaced with SO.

So heavy a burden ... such a heavy burden
So complicated a problem ... such a complicated problem
And so on ...

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Crystal W wrote:The 19-year-old pianist and composer performed his most recent work all over Europe, Asia, and North America last year, winning prestigious awards in both London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he is hoping to continue composing now that he has returned to Chicago.

A. winning prestigious awards in both London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he is hoping
B. winning prestigious awards both in London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and hoping
C. having won prestigious awards both in London and Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, hoping
D. winning prestigious awards in both London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and he hopes
E. having won prestigious awards both in London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he hopes

In A and E, both...as well as is unidiomatic.
The correct idiom is both X and Y.
Eliminate A and E.

Both X and Y must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
B and C: both IN and TOKYO
Here, in (preposition) and Tokyo (noun) are not parallel forms.
Eliminate B and C.

The correct answer is D.

I have a quick question so and such.Do you think so and such can be interchanged here?

The split between so young an age and such a young age is meant to distract us.
Either idiom is viable here.

Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Just a quick question.

Here, COMMA+WINNING modifies the 19 year old guy?

Conveyed meaning :

When 19 year old boy performed all over Europe, then at the same time he won the awards.

Is this making sense?

Please explain sir and correct me if got in other way.

Also can you please send me a link, where you have briefly explained about COMMA+VERBing. I really want to hold a grip on this topic.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin

Needgmat wrote:Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Just a quick question.

Here, COMMA+WINNING modifies the 19 year old guy?

Conveyed meaning :

When 19 year old boy performed all over Europe, then at the same time he won the awards.

Is this making sense?

Please explain sir and correct me if got in other way.

Also can you please send me a link, where you have briefly explained about COMMA+VERBing. I really want to hold a grip on this topic.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin

COMMA + VERBing expresses an action happening AT THE SAME TIME AS or AS A DIRECT RESULT OF the preceding action.
OA: The 19-year-old pianist performed his most recent work all over Europe, winning prestigious awards for his achievement.
Here, the 19-year-old pianist was WINNING awards as a direct result of his preceding action (he performed).

For other OAs with COMMA + VERBing modifiers, check my post here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/ing-verb-mod ... 14885.html

COMMA + VERBing expresses an action happening AT THE SAME TIME AS or AS A DIRECT RESULT OF the preceding action.
OA: The 19-year-old pianist performed his most recent work all over Europe, winning prestigious awards for his achievement.
Here, the 19-year-old pianist was WINNING awards as a direct result of his preceding action (he performed).

For other OAs with COMMA + VERBing modifiers, check my post here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/ing-verb-mod ... 14885.html

[/quote]

Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Thanks for your reply. It really helps.

Thanks,

Kavin

GMATGuruNY wrote: Both X and Y must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
B and C: both IN and TOKYO
Here, in (preposition) and Tokyo (noun) are not parallel forms.
Eliminate B and C.

The correct answer is D.

I heard that following construction is generally wrong on gmat.
John plays soccer in the afternoons and he swims in the evenings.

Instead, the construction should be:
John plays soccer in the afternoon and swims in the evenings.

this construction seems to be defied as per OA of the original SC. Could you explain if any rule exists ?

Hello Everyone!

Let's take a closer look at this question, one issue at a time, and narrow down the options quickly to get to the right answer! To begin, here is the original question with any major differences between the options highlighted in orange:

The 19-year-old pianist and composer performed his most recent work all over Europe, Asia, and North America last year, winning prestigious awards in both London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he is hoping to continue composing now that he has returned to Chicago.

A. winning prestigious awards in both London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he is hoping
B. winning prestigious awards both in London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and hoping
C. having won prestigious awards both in London and Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, hoping
D. winning prestigious awards in both London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and he hopes
E. having won prestigious awards both in London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he hopes

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

1. winning vs. having won
2. in both vs. both in
3. and vs. as well as
4. at so young an age vs. at such a young age
5. and he is hoping / and hoping / hoping / and he hopes

When there are so many differences, it's best to start with ones you are most comfortable dealing with. The one that jumps out the most to us is #4 on our list: at so young an age vs. at such a young age. This is an easy place for us to start because it's an idiom that we're familiar with. We know that the phrase "at such a young age" is the correct way to say that, so let's eliminate the other options that use the wrong format:

A. winning prestigious awards in both London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he is hoping
B. winning prestigious awards both in London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and hoping
C. having won prestigious awards both in London and Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, hoping
D. winning prestigious awards in both London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and he hopes
E. having won prestigious awards both in London as well as Tokyo for his achievement at so young an age, and he hopes

We can eliminate options A, C, & E because they use the phrase "as so young an age," which isn't idiomatically correct! If you begin your focus on issues you're most familiar with, you can eliminate options quickly and move on to more complicated issues.

Now that we're down to only 2 options, let's move on to #2 on our list: in both vs. both in. While both phrases can be used correctly in English, they need to use parallel structure. If the word "in" comes after "both," it needs to be included with both items. If the word "in" comes before "both," it doesn't go with both items:

both in X and in Y = PARALLEL
both in X and Y = NOT PARALLEL

in both X and Y = PARALLEL
in both X and in Y = NOT PARALLEL

Let's see how each option handles this:

B. winning prestigious awards both in London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and hoping --> both in X and Y = NOT PARALLEL
D. winning prestigious awards in both London and Tokyo for his achievement at such a young age, and he hopes --> in both X and Y = PARALLEL

There you go - option D is the correct choice! There are many different ways you can get to the correct option, depending on what grammar skills you're most comfortable with. When faced with several options, always start with the easiest ones for you to tackle!


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