Sentence Correction

Boston_mba,

you are making great sense. I made the point of bringing up the idiom issue because I usually lose to an other wise correct answer choice. Practicing through the OG book, I noticed that if I ignore an idiom, I almost always get it wrong. THerefore, I am sticking to the IDIOM so x as to y. Your point is right too. SO now I am a bit confused on which one beats the other.

camitava wrote:

xeqtr wrote:In 1527 King Henry VIII sought to have his marriage to Queen Catherine annulled so as to marry Anne Boleyn.

A ...
B and so could be married to
C to be married to
D so that he could marry
E in order that he would marry

QA:D

So what is wrong with A? I think it sounds quite rite, since as to means in order to. one may say it is not clear who marry who, but I thin subject King Henry is clearly reffered to marry Anne Boleyn section. I though for a sec for the correct answer as well but thought A is clearer and shorter and went for it since I dont think there's a hard evidence for it to be wrong. Thnx in advance for your assistance!

OK! Got ur point, xeqtr! This is, u can say, some GMAT speciality. If u refer the first half of the sentence - In 1527 King Henry VIII sought to have his marriage - The king was looking for something about his marriage whereas in the last half - so as to marry Anne Boleyn.- is saying the king is doing something so as to marry. These two parts do not become parallel in action and meaning.

so is used to combined two independent clauses.
so that is used to introduce a subclause (subject + verb with incomplete thought)

so that..introduce a subclause that depends on the main clause. That why I picked D in second attempt

[/b]

COULD vs WOULD here in D and E

Any major difference that GMAT tests on ?

mmslf75 wrote:COULD vs WOULD here in D and E

Any major difference that GMAT tests on ?

I have not seen any kind of question that was based on the above difference. Yes, in GMAT, you definitely find "would" or "could" in answer choices, but it does not mean we should focus on these two things. There can be many more hint that will help us to cancel those choices. As in the above question: E "in order that" doesn't looks fine with the right answer.

Moreover, in GMAT we have to select best answer rather then the right answer. Especially in Verbal section we have to focus more on the best answer.

Verbal plays a critical role in GMAT score. And I believe RC is the key to break verbal section.

Good Luck. Hope my answer will help you to some extent.

Hi,

I still can NOT understand why "to be married to" is wrong.
The King sought to have his marriage annulled to be married to A.B. - why is this wrong.
Doesn't it mean the same as the following sentence:
The King sought to have his marriage annulled to get married to A.B. Is this sentence correct/better than the one above (to be married one)?

Thanks.

Guys, do you know any OG#Q# with "so ..as to" as the right choice? I think I've read that "so as to" construction is almost always wrong in gmatland.

Thanks.

farooq wrote:

mmslf75 wrote:COULD vs WOULD here in D and E

Any major difference that GMAT tests on ?

I have not seen any kind of question that was based on the above difference. Yes, in GMAT, you definitely find "would" or "could" in answer choices, but it does not mean we should focus on these two things. There can be many more hint that will help us to cancel those choices. As in the above question: E "in order that" doesn't looks fine with the right answer.

Moreover, in GMAT we have to select best answer rather then the right answer. Especially in Verbal section we have to focus more on the best answer.

Verbal plays a critical role in GMAT score. And I believe RC is the key to break verbal section.

Good Luck. Hope my answer will help you to some extent.

Hi,

I still can NOT understand why "to be married to" is wrong.
The King sought to have his marriage annulled to be married to A.B. - why is this wrong.
Doesn't it mean the same as the following sentence:
The King sought to have his marriage annulled to get married to A.B. Is this sentence correct/better than the one above (to be married one)?

Thanks.

Please reply or pls let me know if this forum is no more in use. Thank you.

nailGmat2012 wrote:Guys, do you know any OG#Q# with "so ..as to" as the right choice? I think I've read that "so as to" construction is almost always wrong in gmatland.
Thanks.

Nothing I can recollect from OG, but from GMATPrep:

Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuations in the financial markets.

EducationAisle wrote:

nailGmat2012 wrote:Guys, do you know any OG#Q# with "so ..as to" as the right choice? I think I've read that "so as to" construction is almost always wrong in gmatland.
Thanks.

Nothing I can recollect from OG, but from GMATPrep:

Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuations in the financial markets.

Hi,

I still can NOT understand why "to be married to" is wrong.
The King sought to have his marriage annulled to be married to A.B. - why is this wrong.
Doesn't it mean the same as the following sentence:
The King sought to have his marriage annulled to get married to A.B. Is this sentence correct/better than the one above (to be married one)?

Thanks
Divine

I see that "so as to" dose not appear on og books and gmatprep. This means gmat mayI not accept this phrase.

the problem tested in this question is meaning.

in E, "would do" means a certainty that he can marry
A means a certainty that he can marry

in D, "could do" mean a possiblity that he can marry. this is the logic meaning. D is correct.

"would do" means certainty. "could do" means possibility. these points is made clearly in grammar books

is my thinking correct? experts, please comme in to help us

Can any expert help to explain why A is incorrect?

GMATGuruNY wrote:

annays wrote:Can any expert help to explain why A is incorrect?

Correct:
X is so Y as to Z.
Conveyed meaning:
X is Y to SUCH A LARGE DEGREE that the UNINTENDED RESULT is Z.
SC88 in the OG10:
The features..are so unrealistic as to constitute what one scholar calls an "artificial face."
Here, the features are unrealistic to such a large degree that the unintended result is the portion in red.

Incorrect:
X does Y so as to Z.
Answer choice A in the SC above:
King Henry VIII sought to have his marriage to Queen Catherine annulled so as to marry Anne Boleyn.
Here, the portion in red is unidiomatic.
Also, so as to on the GMAT should NOT serve to express purpose.
In the correct idiom X is so Y as to Z, Z is an UNINTENDED result.

here comes the Mitch and the discussion culminates with nothing but kudos and thanks.
Respect

Mitch is wonderfu1!!

GMATGuruNY wrote:

annays wrote:Can any expert help to explain why A is incorrect?

Correct:
X is so Y as to Z.
Conveyed meaning:
X is Y to SUCH A LARGE DEGREE that the UNINTENDED RESULT is Z.
SC88 in the OG10:
The features..are so unrealistic as to constitute what one scholar calls an "artificial face."
Here, the features are unrealistic to such a large degree that the unintended result is the portion in red.

Incorrect:
X does Y so as to Z.
Answer choice A in the SC above:
King Henry VIII sought to have his marriage to Queen Catherine annulled so as to marry Anne Boleyn.
Here, the portion in red is unidiomatic.
Also, so as to on the GMAT should NOT serve to express purpose.
In the correct idiom X is so Y as to Z, Z is an UNINTENDED result.