Scholars

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun May 10, 2009 7:46 pm
Thanked: 3 times
Followed by:1 members

Scholars

by sk8ternite » Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:06 pm
According to scholars, the earliest writing was probably not a direct rendering of speech,
but was more likely to begin as a separate and distinct symbolic system of communication, and only later merged with spoken language.

A. was more likely to begin as
B. more than likely began as,
C. more than likely beginning from
D. it was more than likely begun from
E. it was more likely that it began
Source: — Sentence Correction |

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 7:12 am
Location: Secaucus, New Jersey
Thanked: 3 times
Followed by:1 members
GMAT Score:700

by pradeepsarathy » Tue Aug 25, 2009 7:50 pm
IMO B

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 162
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:17 pm
Location: Minnesota
Thanked: 1 times

B

by EMAN » Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:04 pm
B as well.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 208
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:32 am
Location: Mumbai
Thanked: 2 times

by vikram_k51 » Wed Aug 26, 2009 3:24 am
B seems the best

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 66
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:01 am
Thanked: 2 times

HI EVERYONE

by siddharth rastogi » Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:31 pm
MY ANSWER IS A

According to scholars, the earliest writing was probably not a direct rendering of speech,
but was more likely to begin as a separate and distinct symbolic system of communication, and only later merged with spoken language.

A. was more likely to begin as
B. more than likely began as,
C. more than likely beginning from
D. it was more than likely begun from
E. it was more likely that it began



According to scholars, the earliest writing

(was probably not a direct rendering of speech,)

but (was more likely to begin as a separate and
distinct symbolic system of communication,)

and (only later merged with spoken language).

OPTION A IS PARALLEL IN CONSTRUCTION AS SHOWN ABOVE, AS THE but/and clauses( shown inside brackets) are parrallel to each other and all refers back to Subject ( the Earliest writting)


Actually I was expecting the Idiom NOT X but Y
but, in neither option X and y are given in parallel form.

EXPERTS PLEASE MAKE ME CORRECT ?

Legendary Member
Posts: 527
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:14 am
Location: Atlanta
Thanked: 17 times

by pandeyvineet24 » Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:45 pm
Option A is incorrect, because it has inconsistence tense form. Instead of "begin", the sentence needs a "began". :)

B for me.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun May 10, 2009 7:46 pm
Thanked: 3 times
Followed by:1 members

by sk8ternite » Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:27 pm
OA is B

Legendary Member
Posts: 727
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:32 pm
Thanked: 8 times
Followed by:1 members

Re: Scholars

by umaa » Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:34 pm
sk8ternite wrote:According to scholars, the earliest writing was probably not a direct rendering of speech,
but was more likely to begin as a separate and distinct symbolic system of communication, and only later merged with spoken language.

A. was more likely to begin as
B. more than likely began as,
C. more than likely beginning from
D. it was more than likely begun from
E. it was more likely that it began
IMO B.

NOT...BUT construction. Verbs after NOT and BUT should be parallel.

A is wrong. Because WAS is before NOT in the sentence.
C and D are wrong - AS A is correct. FROM A is wrong
E - NOT a direct rendering ..... BUT it was more likely - Not parallel

OA?
What we think, we become

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:29 am
Thanked: 17 times
Followed by:1 members

by rahul.s » Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:27 am
good q. i had some trouble with the explanation provided in the og, but i managed to reach a definite conclusion that B is the right answer.

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 526
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:47 pm
Location: India
Thanked: 68 times
GMAT Score:680

by harshavardhanc » Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:52 am
A humble request to all :

In these topics, please copy the question and the answer options CORRECTLY. After copying the question, double-check to make sure that it doesn't have your " touch".

I have not given the OG diagnostic test and hence, didn't know the answer. After reading the question and the options, I could not find "the one".

I was really amazed how people were saying B as the correct answer when it had a comma after as, which does not make any sense.

I then googled this question to find out that the correct option B is :
(B) more than likely began as
it doesn't have a comma in the end.

All the pieces then fell into their places and it then struck me that my fellow forum mates have "mugged-up" the explanation and the credited response.

Please understand the importance of writing correctly in a forum. A lot of time gets wasted when mistakes like the one mentioned above happen.
Regards,
Harsha

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 777
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:02 am
Location: Mumbai, India
Thanked: 117 times
Followed by:47 members

by komal » Tue Feb 16, 2010 7:13 am
sk8ternite wrote:According to scholars, the earliest writing was probably not a direct rendering of speech,
but was more likely to begin as a separate and distinct symbolic system of communication, and only later merged with spoken language.

A. was more likely to begin as - Parallelism Error - was...to begin is not parallel to was and merged.
B. more than likely began as, - Correct
C. more than likely beginning from - Awkward
D. it was more than likely begun from - wrong tense
E. it was more likely that it began- Wordy

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:29 am
Thanked: 17 times
Followed by:1 members

by rahul.s » Tue Feb 16, 2010 7:31 am
harshavardhanc wrote:(B) more than likely began as

it doesn't have a comma in the end.
nice catch. i remembered this problem from the og and hence knew the answer. i shud've been more attentive. thanks.

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 52
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:33 am
Thanked: 1 times

by agganitk » Thu Jun 10, 2010 9:44 pm
MORE THAN LIKELY is subject of "began". Doesn't it look odd? Is MORE THAN LIKELY noun?

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 134
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:08 am
Thanked: 3 times

by bupbebeo » Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:30 pm
sk8ternite wrote:According to scholars, the earliest writing was probably not a direct rendering of speech,
but was more likely to begin as a separate and distinct symbolic system of communication, and only later merged with spoken language.

A. was more likely to begin as
B. more than likely began as,
C. more than likely beginning from
D. it was more than likely begun from
E. it was more likely that it began
Can anyone help me why A is not correct answer. I see a parallelism here ( was probally.... was more likely... mergered ...) three verb is in past simple tense

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:04 am

by bizzblar » Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:09 am
New here, but googled this problem after I took it and found this thread.

I was also originally going to choose B, but then I got tripped up because it seems like it is changing the meaning of the sentence.

From the original sentence it seemed that writing was more likely to begin as "a separate and distinct symbolic system" than as "a direct rendering of speech". B instead changes the comparison to "likely" instead, i.e. rather than just comparing one hypothesis to another as in the original sentence it seems to be comparing one hypothesis to a probability (likely).

In short, x is more likely than y is not equivalent to x is more than likely.

Am I making sense here?