Sentence Correction

papgust wrote:The pronoun governing a gerund should be put in the possessive case.

Examples:
Please excuse my being late. -- It must be the possessive case "my" and NOT "me".
It is of no use your saying so. -- "your" and NOT "you"

Wow !! I like this rule..thanks

You CANNOT use "When" unless you are literally talking about the timeframe in which an event takes place.

"Tell X and Y apart" is basically the same as "Distinguish X from Y".

"Seven-day Minimum" is awkward by GMAT Standards. Also, "two-year low level" is awkward.

"Minimum of seven days" is a better construction.

"X because of Y" means that action Y was the cause of action X.
Action Y is NOT the same as Action X.

"Even as":

"Even as" is a transition used to imply simultaneity and is usually used with parallel tenses (i.e. same tense in both parts of the parallel structure).

Example:
Even as his income has increased, Joe has continued to feel less satisfied. -- Maintains same tenses on both sides.

Courtesy: Ron Purewal, GMAT Expert.

"Namely":

"Namely" must be used either before a noun or before a noun phrase/clause.

You CANNOT use it directly before an independent clause such as "... namely they vary considerably..." -- which is absolutely WRONG!

However, ".. namely that they vary considerably .. " and "namely considerable variation" are both fine.


Courtesy: Ron Purewal, GMAT Expert.

Thanks a ton for such a nice collection of Verbal Flash Cards...

The Jock wrote:Thanks a ton for such a nice collection of Verbal Flash Cards...

Thank you once again..!

papgust wrote:"Even as":

"Even as" is a transition used to imply simultaneity and is usually used with parallel tenses (i.e. same tense in both parts of the parallel structure).

Example:
Even as his income has increased, Joe has continued to feel less satisfied. -- Maintains same tenses on both sides.

Courtesy: Ron Purewal, GMAT Expert.

Are "Even As" and "Even though" interchangeable in this case?

kvcpk wrote:

papgust wrote:"Even as":

"Even as" is a transition used to imply simultaneity and is usually used with parallel tenses (i.e. same tense in both parts of the parallel structure).

Example:
Even as his income has increased, Joe has continued to feel less satisfied. -- Maintains same tenses on both sides.

Courtesy: Ron Purewal, GMAT Expert.

Are "Even As" and "Even though" interchangeable in this case?

A very interesting question..! Thanks for coming up with this.

Have PM'ed Ron to help answer your query. Let's wait for him or some other expert who could clear your doubt.

"That X does Y" is a noun clause and can function as a noun.

Indeed, it is the SUBJECT of the sentence.

"twice as many as":


"..., twice as many as ..." is an APPOSITIVE modifier. Appositives must modify some noun that comes immediately before the comma.

NOTE:
If you have an appositive modifier as an ABSTRACT NOUN - such as "strategy", "figure", "statistic", "findings", "situation", "change", "difference" etc. - then such an appositive may be allowed to describe the entire situation described in the preceding clause.


Examples:
"... rose sharply in 1990, twice as many as ... " -- WRONG!!
"... rose sharply in 1990, doubling the increase of the previous year." -- RIGHT!!

"However", "Therefore", "Furthermore", "Nevertheless" etc. CANNOT be used as conjunctions in American English.


Examples:
X is Y, however A is B -- WRONG! It's a run-on sentence.
X is Y; However, A is B --RIGHT!

"The reason for X is that .. "
"The way to X is to VERB .. "
"The problem is that .. "
"Conceive of X as Y ... "

are ALL IDIOMATIC.