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SC Question : Neuroscientists

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SC Question : Neuroscientists

by psm12se » Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:13 am
Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about the brain
and its development from birth to adulthood, are now
drawing solid conclusions about how the human brain
grows and how babies acquire language.
(A) Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about
the brain and its development from birth to
adulthood, are
(B) Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge about the brain and its development
from birth to adulthood over the past twenty
years, and are
(C) Neuroscientists amassing a wealth of knowledge
about the brain and its development from birth
to adulthood over the past twenty years, and are
(D) Neuroscientists have amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about
the brain and its development from birth to
adulthood,
(E) Neuroscientists have amassed, over the past
twenty years, a wealth of knowledge about the
brain and its development from birth to
adulthood,
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by patanjali.purpose » Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:20 pm
psm12se wrote:Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of knowledge over the past twenty years about the brain and its development from birth to adulthood, are now drawing solid conclusions about how the human brain grows and how babies acquire language.
(A) Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of knowledge over the past twenty years about the brain and its development from birth to adulthood, are
(B) Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of knowledge about the brain and its development from birth to adulthood over the past twenty years, and are
(C) Neuroscientists amassing a wealth of knowledge about the brain and its development from birth to adulthood over the past twenty years, and are
(D) Neuroscientists have amassed a wealth of knowledge over the past twenty years about the brain and its development from birth to adulthood,
(E) Neuroscientists have amassed, over the past twenty years, a wealth of knowledge about the brain and its development from birth to adulthood,
B / C - run on sentence; no main verb attached with subject Neuroscientists.

D / E - original sentence says Neuroscientists are now drawing solid conclusions. This is being done AFTER they have acquired a wealth of knowledge. But the use of HAVE AMASSED suggests Neuroscientists are still acquiring the knowledge. Secondly, NOW DRAWING...modifies the entire preceding clause "Neuroscientists have amassed...adulthood", but ideally it should modify only the subject Neuroscientists.

IMO A
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by bpolley00 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:32 pm
Hey Psm12Se,
I believe the answer would be A. Here is how I came to that conclusion:

Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about the brain
and its development from birth to adulthood, are now
drawing solid conclusions about how the human brain
grows and how babies acquire language.


(A) Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about
the brain and its development from birth to
adulthood, are
This is correct. The phrase having amassed a wealth of knowledge over the past twenty ears about the brain and its development from birht to adulthood describes neuroscientists and it is because of that they are now drawing solid conclusions etc.

(B) Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge about the brain and its development
from birth to adulthood over the past twenty
years, and are

having amassed a wealth of knowledge etc etc ..... , is describing Neuroscientists, thus and are is incorrect as you would not start a sentence with Neuroscientists and are having a good day, for example. This is incorret


(C) Neuroscientists amassing a wealth of knowledge
about the brain and its development from birth
to adulthood over the past twenty years, and are

This is incorrect as the first part isn't even a complete thought.

(D) Neuroscientists have amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about
the brain and its development from birth to
adulthood,

This is incorrect as the whole sentence is basically nonsensical because of my explanation for A

(E) Neuroscientists have amassed, over the past
twenty years, a wealth of knowledge about the
brain and its development from birth to
adulthood,

This isn't correct sentence structure.

I know my explanations are rough and I am sure an expert will touch on this more thoroughly, as some of these I know aren't correct just because it isn't correct sentence structure or they just don't make sense.

If you have any questions or would like me to elaborate please let me know. Thanks!
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by Tommy Wallach » Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:03 pm
Hey Friend Bpolley and others. Let's do the same thing, but replace Bpolley's totally correct comments with another set of totally correct comments, only with a tad more vocabulary. : )

Hey Psm12Se,
I believe the answer would be A. Here is how I came to that conclusion:

Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about the brain
and its development from birth to adulthood, are now
drawing solid conclusions about how the human brain
grows and how babies acquire language.


(A) Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about
the brain and its development from birth to
adulthood, are

A perfect participial modifier on neuroscientists, then on to the main sentence.

(B) Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge about the brain and its development
from birth to adulthood over the past twenty
years, and are

The word "and" signals parallel structure. Something needs to be parallel with the word that FOLLOWS that parallel marker. In this case, that word is "are," which is a verb. Unfortunately, the sentence up to this point hasn't had a verb yet (all it has is the modifier on neuroscientists).

(C) Neuroscientists amassing a wealth of knowledge
about the brain and its development from birth
to adulthood over the past twenty years, and are

Makes the same parallel error as answer choice (B), and in this case, the participial modifier on neuroscientists is incorrect. It's a present participle, which implies the action is ongoing. But the meaning of sentence implies they've already done it (hence the correct past participle in (A)).

(D) Neuroscientists have amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about
the brain and its development from birth to
adulthood,

The first half of this sentence is fantastic, but then after the comma we get "now drawing." The subject of the sentence is neuroscientists, so we'd need to say, "and are now drawing." We're missing the verb AND the parallel marker that would make this fly.

(E) Neuroscientists have amassed, over the past
twenty years, a wealth of knowledge about the
brain and its development from birth to
adulthood,

This makes the same mistakes as (D). The internal commas aren't great, but they wouldn't be reason enough to knock this one out (though you'd be unlikely to see something that clunky in a correct answer).

Hope that helps!

-t
Tommy Wallach, Company Expert
ManhattanGMAT

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by bpolley00 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:08 pm
Tommy,

haha thanks for the backup. I was just trying to really dumb it down :).
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by psm12se » Sat Feb 02, 2013 6:14 am
thanks for replies
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