700+ Sentence Correction

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700+ Sentence Correction

by voodoo_child » Thu May 26, 2011 7:31 pm
In a convincing test of Newtonian physics, it was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led astronomers to predict the discovery of Neptune.

it was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
it was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that
the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies was what
the orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what
anomalies in the orbit of Uranus

Why is A) wrong ?
OA E
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by irock » Thu May 26, 2011 8:23 pm
Option A is too wordy. When you remove the words: 'it was' and 'that', the meaning of the sentence is unchanged. GMAT always wants correct answer to be short but similar meaning, if the one given in question is wordy. Hence option E is the correct answer.

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by amar66 » Thu May 26, 2011 11:31 pm
A is wrong, because

1) The sentence should be

"it was the anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that"

2)"was anomalies" . Does it sound better? was--> singular & anomalies--> plural

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by itsmebharat » Fri May 27, 2011 12:08 am
Would it be right if the A says it was anomalies in the orbit of which



it was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
it was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies meaning changed
the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies was what meaning changed,wordy
the orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what
anomalies in the orbit of Uranus
I am not an Expert, please feel free to suggest if there is an error.

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by David@VeritasPrep » Fri May 27, 2011 5:36 pm
I got a PM on this one...

Irock has it quite right. A is wordy and E is much more efficient. If two answers have the same meaning, the more efficient always wins.
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by voodoo_child » Thu Jun 16, 2011 4:42 pm
David@VeritasPrep wrote:I got a PM on this one...

Irock has it quite right. A is wordy and E is much more efficient. If two answers have the same meaning, the more efficient always wins.
David - quick question -
Wouldnt we need a subject after the initial prepositional phrase? something like

In the latest scientific journal, it was concluded that life exists on Mars ? Essentially, I am using "it" as a placeholder for subject -- astronomers?

Any help is greatly appreciated

Thanks

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by voodoo_child » Thu Jun 16, 2011 4:56 pm
David, another point - recently lunarpower helped me with this post

https://www.beatthegmat.com/pronoun-ambi ... tml#312862

Do you think the reason is that a) is incorrect because a) doesnt fall into one of those types described on that link ?

Thanks
Voodoo

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by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:23 pm
Feel free to PM Ron to ask him about the stand alone pronouns and whether this fits his list.

Just to me, I really find the strategy behind sentence correction to be more interesting then the absolute quagmire of grammar details that people endlessly study. I just have this feeling that the people at GMAC are somewhere chuckling at how they have gotten people worldwide to study American English grammar in minute detail, when the questions are much more about logic and basic grammar and deciding between choices.

I swear to you that it will be my mission to make sentence correction fun again!

In terms of the process, there is no contest. E is shorter, too the point and it is more active as well.
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by irock » Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:34 pm
There is one other wrong element in option A. the word 'that' should come close to the word it is qualifying. in the original sentence, it qualifies Uranus, which is incorrect. it should be placed next to anomalies, if we want to use the word that/which.
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by rveeraga » Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:57 am
that can not always fit right next to the noun it modifies, especially if the modified noun has appending preposition, because not all noun + preposition phrases can be converted to possessives with the same meaning to place that next to the noun. In the answer choice A, we just can not write the orbit of Uranus's anomalies to place that next to anomalies.

The issue in the answer choice A is that the verb, was, does not agree in number with the subject noun, anomalies.

I think in placeholder it constructions, such as it is/was ... that, ... can be only adjective or adverb, but anomalies is a noun.

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by lunarpower » Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:32 am
the basic problem with (a), as david said above, is that it's weird/wordy/awkward.
i wouldn't really worry about this problem -- the real test isn't going to present you with a dichotomy like this one -- although david is right: probability-wise, the most concise version of something is more likely to be correct.
this is by no means a 100% reliable rule -- there are plenty of instances in which a sentence needs some extra words in order to make sense or to clear up some ambiguity -- but it's a "better than random chance" rule, at least.

--

as for the structure in (a) -- IT + was/were + NOUN + that + verb... -- no, this is not one of the two constructions given in my post about exceptional pronouns.
this construction is somewhat dubious (mostly for the reasons that david has cited), so, if you see it, you should probably stay away from it (and should probably look for the shorter alternative -- just NOUN + verb...)
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by Sanjay2706 » Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:27 pm
Great explanation.
and great question as well.
Nice. :)

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by tanviet » Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:35 am
lunarpower wrote:the basic problem with (a), as david said above, is that it's weird/wordy/awkward.
i wouldn't really worry about this problem -- the real test isn't going to present you with a dichotomy like this one -- although david is right: probability-wise, the most concise version of something is more likely to be correct.
this is by no means a 100% reliable rule -- there are plenty of instances in which a sentence needs some extra words in order to make sense or to clear up some ambiguity -- but it's a "better than random chance" rule, at least.

--

as for the structure in (a) -- IT + was/were + NOUN + that + verb... -- no, this is not one of the two constructions given in my post about exceptional pronouns.
this construction is somewhat dubious (mostly for the reasons that david has cited), so, if you see it, you should probably stay away from it (and should probably look for the shorter alternative -- just NOUN + verb...)
I agree with you Ron

I see the pattern IT IS NOUN THAT CLAUSE exists in general grammar. This pattern is used to emphasized.

but the matter is that in OG books I never see gmat makes us to choose between

IT IS THE NOUN THAT DO

and

THE NOUN DOSE.

we have to follow OG books. The maker of this question makes this question by applying the rule of wordiness/conciseness which is not declared but applied in OG books.

The rule of wordiness in OG books is applies clearly and differently when the emphasis is not changes. I can negate choice E for the reason that E change focus.

Of course, the rule of wordiness in OG book is not declared. There is not rule literature gmat makes in the OG books. In critical reasoning the rule of weakening and strengthening is also not declared by OG books. Other persons, though excellent ones, Princeton, Kaplan automatically write down the rules in their books by studying the questions in OG. We study to Princeton and Kaplan and think the writing in those book is right? The writing maybe not right. what is right is the questions in OG books.

GMAT IS STRANGE BECAUSE IT DOSE NOT DECLARE THE RULES.

So, I do not like this question.

Ron, please, give your idea on my thought. GMAT is so important that most top business schools used this the score for admission. IT IS VERY STRANGE THAT WE HAVE TO STUDY THE QUESTIONS AND APPLY THE QUESTION ON THE TEST DAY WHEN NO RULE IS DECLARED ONLY THE APPLICATION OF THE RULES IS APPLIED IN THE QUESTION OF OG BOOKS.

because the owner of the gmat dose not declared the rule, we have to understand the rule by studying the questions in OG10 and then apply the rule in the tests.

that is why we loose a lot of energy and time for study gmat.

before I study this question hard. Today I do not study this question. I do not know the maker of this question help us or not.

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by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:16 am
Ron is right that there are many instances where you do need to choose the longer choice. The GMAT is very high on "specificity" the test writers do like clarity and specificity above brevity.

My standard rule is "all other things being equal you are better off with the shorter choice." Of course in most cases all other things are not equal. One choice will have parallelism problems or one will will be passive or one will be unclear.

I like what Ron said, "choosing the shorter of the two is better than guessing" that is the proper place for this...when you do not have another way to make a choice. Of course you should use the other criteria first: Grammar, Logic, clarity, specificity, even style, but brevity does have its place.
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by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:18 am
By the way, how do you know this is a 700+ sentence correction?
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