Sentence Correction

gigsonline wrote:Could someone solve the questions below and explain the choice:

Q1.
In the mid-1960's a newly installed radar warning system mistook the rising of the moon as a massive missile attack by the Soviets

1. same as underlined
2. rising of the moon for a massive Soviet missile attack - idiom usage
3. moon rising to a massive missile attack by the Soviets
4. moon as it was rising for a massive Soviet missile attack
5. rise of the moon as a massive Soviets missile attack

Q2.
Neanderthals had a vocal tract that resembled those of the apes and so were probably without language, a shortcoming that may explain why they were supplanted by our own species.

1. same as above
2. Neanderthals had a vocal tract resembling an ape's
3. The vocal tracts of Neanderthals resembled an ape's - passive
4. The Neanderthal's vocal tracts resembled the apes' - vocal tracks of Nederlands's what??
5. The vocal tracts of the Neanderthals resembled those of the apes - passive

gigsonline wrote:Could someone solve the questions below and explain the choice:

Q1.
In the mid-1960's a newly installed radar warning system mistook the rising of the moon as a massive missile attack by the Soviets

1. same as underlined
2. rising of the moon for a massive Soviet missile attack-Correct Idiom
3. moon rising to a massive missile attack by the Soviets
4. moon as it was rising for a massive Soviet missile attack-Wrong Meaning.
5. rise of the moon as a massive Soviets missile attack
Correct Choice 2

Q2.
Neanderthals had a vocal tract that resembled those of the apes and so were probably without language, a shortcoming that may explain why they were supplanted by our own species.

1. same as above-wrong comparison:Tract versus those.
2. Neanderthals had a vocal tract resembling an ape's-Ape's what ? wrong
3. The vocal tracts of Neanderthals resembled an ape's-Ape's what ? wrong
4. The Neanderthal's vocal tracts resembled the apes' - Ape's what ? Wrong
5. The vocal tracts of the Neanderthals resembled those of the apes
Correct:5,Right Comparison.

gigsonline wrote:Could someone solve the questions below and explain the choice:

Q1.
In the mid-1960's a newly installed radar warning system mistook the rising of the moon as a massive missile attack by the Soviets

1. same as underlined
2. rising of the moon for a massive Soviet missile attack
3. moon rising to a massive missile attack by the Soviets
4. moon as it was rising for a massive Soviet missile attack
5. rise of the moon as a massive Soviets missile attack
Mistake x for Y

Q2.
Neanderthals had a vocal tract that resembled those of the apes and so were probably without language, a shortcoming that may explain why they were supplanted by our own species.

1. same as above -
2. Neanderthals had a vocal tract resembling an ape's
3. The vocal tracts of Neanderthals resembled an ape's
4. The Neanderthal's vocal tracts resembled the apes'
5. The vocal tracts of the Neanderthals resembled those of the apes
Non usderline they must refer to Neanderthals.

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Hey guys,

#1 is a great example of two things:

1) The GMAT's emphasis on logical meaning in SC (that not-so-new trend that everyone is talking about this week)

2) The GMAT's OLD emphasis on idiomatic accuracy, which you really don't need to worry about (this question is an old official question, but I first saw it when I started teaching in 2003...it's an ancient question)

The big decision points here are:

-It's not logical that one would mistake the moon (an object) for an attack (an action). So we need to compare the rising to the attack (or the moon to a missile, but that's not an option). And that eliminates C and D.

-The idiom here is "mistook X for Y" and not "mistook X as Y". But you'd never be tested on that today, so I wouldn't worry about that. That's the rationale for eliminating A and E, leaving B as the correct answer.

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Hey mundasingh,

For choice A in #2, one pretty significant flaw is "the apes". By adding that "the", the question is referring to specific apes and that adds some logical confusion. Which apes? So I'm on guard a little bit with that one...it seems like an unnecessary use of "the".

Other places I'd be concerned about A:

-You're comparing one vocal tract to "those of" (plural), which I don't think is emphatically wrong (you could say "I'd love to have a car that resembles those from old gangster movies"), but doesn't seem as perfect as it could be.

-The placement of the word "that" splits the parallel verbs, and could pose a grammatical problem there. If you really break it down, you're saying "X had Y that Z and so were probably ________"). That structure could just as well assign the verb "and so were" to Y and not X:

I have a dog that drools and so cannot sleep on the wood floor without ruining it.

There the "cannot sleep on the floor" refers to the dog, not to me! The way the sentence is written, "were" is plural and so you'd think it should refer to Neanderthals since vocal tract is singular, but grammatically it probably poses a problem at least of clarity.


So with those flaws in A, B looks a whole lot more tempting...