Sentence Correction

Medicare, the United States government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled,
covers the full cost of home health care, but not with other nonhospital services where 20 percent
of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries.

A. but not with other nonhospital services where 20 percent of the costs must be paid by
beneficiaries
B. but not of other nonhospital services, making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs
C. but not of other nonhospital services, for which beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of the costs
D. which is unlike other nonhospital services in that 20 percent of the costs must be paid by
beneficiaries
E. which is unlike other nonhospital services that make beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs

OEC

My doubt here is "but" is not a parallel marker(Is it?), it is connecting two independent statements but
I think Later part of C depends on former how can it be independent.

IS my observation right or wrong?

Hi Akash,

Firstly, for the benefit of other lets evaluate options.

Medicare, the United States government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled,
covers the full cost of home health care, but not with other non hospital services where 20 percent
of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries.

Rewriting the question without appositive modifier.

Medicare covers the full cost of home health care, but not with other non hospital services where 20 percent
of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries.

A. but not with other nonhospital services where 20 percent of the costs must be paid by
beneficiaries
B. but not of other nonhospital services, making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs
C. but not of other nonhospital services, for which beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of the costs
D. which is unlike other nonhospital services in that 20 percent of the costs must be paid by
beneficiaries
E. which is unlike other nonhospital services that make beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs

My doubt here is "but" is not a parallel marker(Is it?), it is connecting two independent statements but
I think Later part of C depends on former how can it be independent.

IS my observation right or wrong?

Yes, 'but' here is a sort of parallel marker. It helps in eliminating A. However, its not dealing with two independent clauses but contrasting between two types of services in a single clause.

Hope it helps.

akash singhal wrote:Medicare, the United States government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled,
covers the full cost of home health care, but not with other nonhospital services where 20 percent
of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries.

A. but not with other nonhospital services where 20 percent of the costs must be paid by
beneficiaries
B. but not of other nonhospital services, making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs
C. but not of other nonhospital services, for which beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of the costs
D. which is unlike other nonhospital services in that 20 percent of the costs must be paid by
beneficiaries
E. which is unlike other nonhospital services that make beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs

OEC

My doubt here is "but" is not a parallel marker(Is it?), it is connecting two independent statements but
I think Later part of C depends on former how can it be independent.

IS my observation right or wrong?

My thoughts: Choice C-

'but' is a parallel marker. The full cost of home health care, but not "the full cost" of other non-hospital services. Noun followed by a prepositional phrase is on either sides of 'but'.

'For which' modifies non-hospital services; there is no independent clause attached to ",but".

The parallelism in the problem is surely difficult to locate.

Choice A: Incorrect use of 'where. 'but not with' seems to make less sense.

Choice B: incorrect usage of adverbial modifier. The meaning that can be derived is that the
medicare covers the full cost by making beneficiaries pay, incorrect.

Choice D & E: Messes with 'which'.


Hope my analysis is correct.

bubbliiiiiiii wrote:Hi Akash,

Firstly, for the benefit of other lets evaluate options.

Medicare, the United States government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled,
covers the full cost of home health care, but not with other non hospital services where 20 percent
of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries.

Rewriting the question without appositive modifier.

Medicare covers the full cost of home health care, but not with other non hospital services where 20 percent
of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries.

A. but not with other nonhospital services where 20 percent of the costs must be paid by
beneficiaries
B. but not of other nonhospital services, making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs
C. but not of other nonhospital services, for which beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of the costs
D. which is unlike other nonhospital services in that 20 percent of the costs must be paid by
beneficiaries
E. which is unlike other nonhospital services that make beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs

My doubt here is "but" is not a parallel marker(Is it?), it is connecting two independent statements but
I think Later part of C depends on former how can it be independent.

IS my observation right or wrong?

Yes, 'but' here is a sort of parallel marker. It helps in eliminating A. However, its not dealing with two independent clauses but contrasting between two types of services in a single clause.

Hope it helps.

Whats wrong with A and B?????
And how is the two parallel?

Medicare covers the full cost of home health care, but not with other non hospital services where 20 percent
of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries.

A. but not with other nonhospital services where 20 percent of the costs must be paid by
beneficiaries

There is a comparison issue here.

B. but not of other nonhospital services, making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs

This is gramatically correct but there is a meaning issue in this sentence. making here does not clearly state what it modifies!

Whats wrong with A and B?????
And how is the two parallel?

As GMATguru describes above there is really only one sentence that makes sense logically. Otherwise is the hospital services that are making the 20 percent. This just doesn't make sense.

Try not to get caught up in trying to figure out why every piece of grammatical structure is the way that it is. Focus more on trying to understand how the GMAT presents errors in the topics that are tested - the English language is massively complex and there is no way to learn every rule - this exam tests the way you problem solve.

A. but not with other nonhospital services where 20 percent of the costs must be paid by beneficiaries.
B. but not of other nonhospital services, making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs.

Mitch did a good job clearing it up.

I also want to add that "where" refers to a place.
A treats services as a place. Wrong.
B verb-ing modifiers refer to the preceding cause. That would incorrectly mean that the non-hospital services were making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs. Is that what the sentence is trying to say? No.

Mitch, if you can. Please confirm or correct.

Jim, no need to reply (no offense).

Thanks Mitch! That's one hell of an intervening clause then!

"the United States government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, covers the full cost of home health care,"

I see what the GMAT is up to here...try to distract the reader from the subject hiding way at the beginning of the sentence.

bolmstead wrote:Thanks Mitch! That's one hell of an intervening clause then!

"the United States government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, covers the full cost of home health care,"

I see what the GMAT is up to here...try to distract the reader from the subject hiding way at the beginning of the sentence.

On the GMAT, it is very common for a verb to be far from its subject.

B: Medicare, the United States government's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, covers the full cost of home health care, but not of other nonhospital services, making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs.
Here, the phrase in red is an APPOSITIVE.
An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that serves to explain or define another noun.
Here, the noun phrase in red serves to define Medicare.
The phrase in green is enclosed in commas, implying that it is a NONESSENTIAL MODIFIER.
Neither of these phrases constitute clauses; neither includes both a subject and a verb.
If we omit these modifiers, we get the core of the sentence:
Medicare covers the full cost of home health care.
If we include the VERBing modifier at the end of the sentence, we get:
Medicare covers the full cost of home health care, making beneficiaries pay 20 percent of the costs.
Conveyed meaning:
As Medicare COVERS the full cost, it is at the same time MAKING beneficiaries pay 20%.
This meaning is nonsensical.