BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Confusing SC question

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:06 am
Thanked: 2 times
Followed by:1 members

Confusing SC question

by saurabh2525_gupta » Thu Nov 04, 2010 1:45 am
Many athletes develop poor fundamentals when trying to compensate from an injury, but they can correct these fundamentals with hard work and dedication.

(A) but they can correct these fundamentals
(B) but are correctable
(C) but they can correct them
(D) which can be corrected
(E) but these fundamentals can be corrected

Hey folks, can you please advice me on this one. Which is the right answer? Thanks in advance
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 2:44 am
Location: Athens, Greece
GMAT Score:520

by v@g » Thu Nov 04, 2010 2:40 am
I would say (C).

Eliminating B, D, E, it sounds better to me...

Anyone else?
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 286
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:36 pm
Location: Kolkata, India
Thanked: 11 times
Followed by:5 members

by pesfunk » Thu Nov 04, 2010 4:21 am
I will go with E

Found the other too ambiguous -> pointing to athletes , injury or fundamentals ?
saurabh2525_gupta wrote:Many athletes develop poor fundamentals when trying to compensate from an injury, but they can correct these fundamentals with hard work and dedication.

(A) but they can correct these fundamentals
(B) but are correctable
(C) but they can correct them
(D) which can be corrected
(E) but these fundamentals can be corrected

Hey folks, can you please advice me on this one. Which is the right answer? Thanks in advance
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 286
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:36 pm
Location: Kolkata, India
Thanked: 11 times
Followed by:5 members

by pesfunk » Thu Nov 04, 2010 4:23 am
OA is A because E is passive.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/sc-athletes-32350.html
v@g wrote:I would say (C).

Eliminating B, D, E, it sounds better to me...

Anyone else?
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1083
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:38 pm
Thanked: 127 times
Followed by:14 members

by gmat_perfect » Thu Nov 04, 2010 5:48 am
saurabh2525_gupta wrote:Many athletes develop poor fundamentals when trying to compensate from an injury, but they can correct these fundamentals with hard work and dedication.

(A) but they can correct these fundamentals
(B) but are correctable
(C) but they can correct them
(D) which can be corrected
(E) but these fundamentals can be corrected

Hey folks, can you please advice me on this one. Which is the right answer? Thanks in advance
The quickest approach

COMMA + BUT will take a clause. We look for the options that do not have clause after BUT to eliminate immediately.

B is out.

C==> Them is ambiguous because them may refer to either athletes or fundamentals.

D==> which changes the meaning of the sentence by stating that injuries are to be corrected.

E==> Passive and the meaning is changed for this. because there is no agent.

A is the answer.
Top
Legendary Member
Posts: 520
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 am
Thanked: 70 times
Followed by:6 members

by niksworth » Thu Nov 04, 2010 6:51 am
Bad question.

Both A and E are viable alternatives.

E shouldn't be ruled out only because it is passive. Especially when the construction is no wordier than A. That is treading dangerous territory. I doubt we would get such answer choices in GMAT.

Source please.
scio me nihil scire
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1083
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:38 pm
Thanked: 127 times
Followed by:14 members

by gmat_perfect » Thu Nov 04, 2010 7:15 am
niksworth wrote:Bad question.

Both A and E are viable alternatives.

E shouldn't be ruled out only because it is passive. Especially when the construction is no wordier than A. That is treading dangerous territory. I doubt we would get such answer choices in GMAT.

Source please.
E is passive and it creates ambiguity by using passive.

A is better than E for the following reasons:

1. They in A refers to Many athletes because both "they" and "athletes" are subject of their clauses. They are parallel.
2. In E, "these fundamentals can be corrected" does not have clear agent who is doing the correction.

Answer is A.
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1255
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:08 pm
Location: St. Louis
Thanked: 312 times
Followed by:90 members

by Tani » Thu Nov 04, 2010 7:27 am
Also, the idiom is "compensate for", not "compensate from".
Tani Wolff
Top
Legendary Member
Posts: 520
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 am
Thanked: 70 times
Followed by:6 members

by niksworth » Thu Nov 04, 2010 7:40 am
gmat_perfect wrote: E is passive and it creates ambiguity by using passive.

A is better than E for the following reasons:

1. They in A refers to Many athletes because both "they" and "athletes" are subject of their clauses. They are parallel.
2. In E, "these fundamentals can be corrected" does not have clear agent who is doing the correction.

Answer is A.
Yeah. I know that. The OA was never in doubt.

While A is better than E, I seriously doubt that GMAC will test us purely on active / passive construction. I have observed that a lot of stress is given on active passive differentiation and people easily reject a passive construction simply on the notion that a passive construction is outrightly wrong. This, I think, is a big big pitfall. Similar is the case of "being". Had this been the case, why do these construction exist in the language in the first place?

If a passive construction necessarily makes a sentence wordy and convoluted or if it misses out a necessary piece of information, a case can be made to change it to active.

As far as testing purposes go, if a question asks us to choose between an active and a passive construction, both of which are succinct and convey the intended the information clearly, and if no other errors separate the two, I would say that the question is bad. It will lead to development of bad habits.
scio me nihil scire
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1255
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:08 pm
Location: St. Louis
Thanked: 312 times
Followed by:90 members

by Tani » Thu Nov 04, 2010 7:49 am
Agree! In normal writing an occasional variation in structure - such as switching from active to passive - is desirable. It's only when passive is awkward or forced that it should be eliminated entirely.

The one case where you need to passive is when you don't know the subject as in "The coffee machine was left on last night, and the building burned down." We don't know who left the machine on so we need the passive. Alternatively, if we know Sam left the machine on and don't want to embarrass him by naming him, we can use the passive.
Tani Wolff
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:06 am
Thanked: 2 times
Followed by:1 members

by saurabh2525_gupta » Thu Nov 04, 2010 8:54 am
Thank you all for replying. I was confused between A & E, but I chose E because I felt they and them references are ambiguous. But now it is clear.
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:06 am
Thanked: 2 times
Followed by:1 members

by saurabh2525_gupta » Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:10 am
HELP ME WITH THIS ONE TOO...... THANKS IN ADVANCE

San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angeles a world city, yet within twenty years a powerful muncipal had made this boast a reality

(A) yet within twenty years a powerful muncipal had made this boast a reality
(B) yet within twenty years a powerful municipal made this boast a reality
(C) yet a powerful municipal within twenty years will make this boast a reality
(D) yet this boast had become a reality within twenty years because of a powerful will municipally
(E) yet withinh twenty years a municipal will had made this boast a powerful reality
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 3:36 am

by sugmomo » Sat Nov 06, 2010 7:28 am
Is it B
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 72
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:45 pm
Thanked: 2 times

by shubhamkumar » Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:03 pm
saurabh2525_gupta wrote:Many athletes develop poor fundamentals when trying to compensate from an injury, but they can correct these fundamentals with hard work and dedication.

(A) but they can correct these fundamentals
(B) but are correctable
(C) but they can correct them
(D) which can be corrected
(E) but these fundamentals can be corrected

Hey folks, can you please advice me on this one. Which is the right answer? Thanks in advance
:arrow: As per the official explanation(which also makes more sense)the two clauses should be parallel, in the first clause athletes is the subject, in the second clause of E Fundamentals is the subject.A is correct.
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:33 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by icanmakeit2bschool » Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:13 pm
The answer will be B
saurabh2525_gupta wrote:HELP ME WITH THIS ONE TOO...... THANKS IN ADVANCE

San Franciscans of the 1890s mocked the claim that declared Los Angeles a world city, yet within twenty years a powerful muncipal had made this boast a reality

(A) yet within twenty years a powerful muncipal had made this boast a reality
(B) yet within twenty years a powerful municipal made this boast a reality
(C) yet a powerful municipal within twenty years will make this boast a reality
(D) yet this boast had become a reality within twenty years because of a powerful will municipally
(E) yet withinh twenty years a municipal will had made this boast a powerful reality
Top
Post new topic Locked