Sentence Correction

Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuation in the financial market.

A)so gradual as to be indistinguishable

B)so gradual that they can be indistinguishable

C)so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished

D)gradual enough not to be distinguishable

E)gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them

[spoiler]IMO C

A sounds wrong to me[/spoiler]

C for me too!!

A for me...it looks clear n concise

shrutee wrote:Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuation in the financial market.

A)so gradual as to be indistinguishable

B)so gradual that they can be indistinguishable

C)so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished

D)gradual enough not to be distinguishable

E)gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them

It's A.

It's an idiom - the construction so+adjective has three possible correct continuations:

so....as to
example: A above. ...So gradual as to be indistinguishable.

so....that + clause
example: ...So gradual that they are indistinguishable.

so....,(nothing)
example: ...so gradual, they are indistinguishable.

C is awkward and opens up a possible illogical meaning: "unable to be distinguished" implies a will or intent by the shifts to be distinguished - as if the shifts "want" to be distinguished, but "are unable" to - which is complete foolishness.

Don't let something that "sounds bad" direct you away from logic - I suspect that those who chose C probably knew deep down that they were choosing the wrong answer, but chose it anyway because they did not know the construction in A. The devil you know is not always better than the devil you don't.

@Geva: I have problem with A, so...as to be, brings about an intent in the economic shifts to be indistinguishable, which is really not the case. I would prefer B, which makes more sense.

Please comment.

Thanks
Mankey

mankey wrote:@Geva: I have problem with A, so...as to be, brings about an intent in the economic shifts to be indistinguishable, which is really not the case. I would prefer B, which makes more sense.

Please comment.

Thanks
Mankey

It doesn't imply any intent ("the light is so bright as to blind the viewer" does not imply any intent by the light to blind), but it's an idiom, which means that the argument is pointless - there are no rules here - it's just ok the way it is. B is also grammatically correct, it's just longer and less concise that A.

i think option B distorts the meaning of the sentence.Is the phrase "can be indistinguishable" correct?

Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:

shrutee wrote:Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuation in the financial market.

A)so gradual as to be indistinguishable

B)so gradual that they can be indistinguishable

C)so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished

D)gradual enough not to be distinguishable

E)gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them

It's A.

It's an idiom - the construction so+adjective has three possible correct continuations:

so....as to
example: A above. ...So gradual as to be indistinguishable.

so....that + clause
example: ...So gradual that they are indistinguishable.

so....,(nothing)
example: ...so gradual, they are indistinguishable.

C is awkward and opens up a possible illogical meaning: "unable to be distinguished" implies a will or intent by the shifts to be distinguished - as if the shifts "want" to be distinguished, but "are unable" to - which is complete foolishness.

Don't let something that "sounds bad" direct you away from logic - I suspect that those who chose C probably knew deep down that they were choosing the wrong answer, but chose it anyway because they did not know the construction in A. The devil you know is not always better than the devil you don't.

pls, help. Is B wrong because B changes the meaning of A from fact to "can "?

Hi Shrutee,

Please post the question from the reliable source. In the original GMATPrep question, option B is different.

so gradual so that they can be indistinguishable

Please don't tweak the original options in case you did. It unnecessarily creates the confusion.

Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:

shrutee wrote:Often major economic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first from ordinary fluctuation in the financial market.

A)so gradual as to be indistinguishable

B)so gradual that they can be indistinguishable

C)so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished

D)gradual enough not to be distinguishable

E)gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them

It's A.

It's an idiom - the construction so+adjective has three possible correct continuations:

so....as to
example: A above. ...So gradual as to be indistinguishable.

so....that + clause
example: ...So gradual that they are indistinguishable.

so....,(nothing)
example: ...so gradual, they are indistinguishable.

C is awkward and opens up a possible illogical meaning: "unable to be distinguished" implies a will or intent by the shifts to be distinguished - as if the shifts "want" to be distinguished, but "are unable" to - which is complete foolishness.

Don't let something that "sounds bad" direct you away from logic - I suspect that those who chose C probably knew deep down that they were choosing the wrong answer, but chose it anyway because they did not know the construction in A. The devil you know is not always better than the devil you don't.

B is wrong because it change the meaning of the original A from fact to non-fact "can". Is that right?