Sentence Correction

By developing the Secure Digital Music Initiative, the recording industry associations of North America, Japan, and Europe hope to create a standardized way of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet that will protect copyright holders and foil the many audio pirates who copy and distribute digital music illegally.

(A) of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet that will protect copyright holders and foil the many audio pirates who copy and distribute
(B) of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet and to protect copyright holders and foiling the many audio pirates copying and distributing
(C) for distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet while it protects copyright holders and foils the many audio pirates who copy and distribute
(D) to distribute songs and full-length recordings on the Internet while they will protect copyright holders and foil the many audio pirates copying and distributing
(E) to distribute songs and full-length recordings on the Internet and it will protect copyright holders and foiling the many audio pirates who copy and distribute

OA: A

GMATGuruNY wrote:

RBBmba@2014 wrote:By developing the Secure Digital Music Initiative, the recording industry associations of North America, Japan, and Europe hope to create a standardized way of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet that will protect copyright holders and foil the many audio pirates who copy and distribute digital music illegally.

(A) of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet that will protect copyright holders and foil the many audio pirates who copy and distribute
(B) of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet and to protect copyright holders and foiling the many audio pirates copying and distributing
(C) for distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet while it protects copyright holders and foils the many audio pirates who copy and distribute
(D) to distribute songs and full-length recordings on the Internet while they will protect copyright holders and foil the many audio pirates copying and distributing
(E) to distribute songs and full-length recordings on the Internet and it will protect copyright holders and foiling the many audio pirates who copy and distribute

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D: the recording industry associations hope...while they will protect
Here, the portion in red implies that a present tense action (the associations hope) will take place at the same time as a future action (the associations will protect) -- a nonsensical sequence.
Also, the intended meaning is not that the ASSOCIATIONS will protect copyright holders but that the WAY OF DISTRIBUTING SONGS will protect copyright holders.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is A.

Hi GMATGuruNY - few clarifications required related to this SC.

1. On GMAT, WHILE has PRIMARILY two USAGES, I guess -

(a) To denote concurrent ACTIONS in same TENSE.

(b) To express CONTRAST -- is SAME TENSE aspect MANDATORY here ?

And are there any OTHER LEGITIMATE usage of WHILE in GMAT ?

2. In A, THAT appears pretty far from the NOUN it modifies (re a standardized way). Isn't this bit AWKWARD ?

How often we can see such construction on GMAT ?

GMATGuruNY wrote:

RBBmba@2014 wrote:By developing the Secure Digital Music Initiative, the recording industry associations of North America, Japan, and Europe hope to create a standardized way of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet that will protect copyright holders and foil the many audio pirates who copy and distribute digital music illegally.

(A) of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet that will protect copyright holders and foil the many audio pirates who copy and distribute
(B) of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet and to protect copyright holders and foiling the many audio pirates copying and distributing
(C) for distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet while it protects copyright holders and foils the many audio pirates who copy and distribute
(D) to distribute songs and full-length recordings on the Internet while they will protect copyright holders and foil the many audio pirates copying and distributing
(E) to distribute songs and full-length recordings on the Internet and it will protect copyright holders and foiling the many audio pirates who copy and distribute

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
B and E: protect...and foiling
Here, protect and foiling are not parallel forms.
Eliminate B and E.

In C, a way for distributing is unidiomatic.
Eliminate C.
CORRECT: a way TO DO X
CORRECT: a way OF DOING X

D: the recording industry associations hope...while they will protect
Here, the portion in red implies that a present tense action (the associations hope) will take place at the same time as a future action (the associations will protect) -- a nonsensical sequence.
Also, the intended meaning is not that the ASSOCIATIONS will protect copyright holders but that the WAY OF DISTRIBUTING SONGS will protect copyright holders.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is A.

Thanks Mitch, this is awesome way of step by step elimination.

SC is a meaning game in which gmat trick us in meaning problem and require us to find out the logic meaning. of cource, if we lack baisc grammar rules we can not solve sc.

however, a strange case happens, in which students know grammar rules but can not sovle the questions. the reason is that student focus on grammar rules.

e gmat course maybe is good for this point

in this problem, I can say that all of us know the grammar rules enough to solve this question but if we do not focus on meaning because we are obsessed with grammar rule, we can not solve or solve very slowly. no grammar rules here any more, the matter is which meaning is logic and correct

we have to dicide here which entity "do protect" . using COMMON SENSE, we realize that "way" do "project;, this case is most logic

SC is a meaning game in which gmat trick us in meaning problem and require us to find out the logic meaning. of cource, if we lack baisc grammar rules we can not solve sc.

however, a strange case happens, in which students know grammar rules but can not sovle the questions. the reason is that student focus on grammar rules.

e gmat course maybe is good for this point

in this problem, I can say that all of us know the grammar rules enough to solve this question but if we do not focus on meaning because we are obsessed with grammar rule, we can not solve or solve very slowly. no grammar rules here any more, the matter is which meaning is logic and correct

we have to dicide here which entity "do protect" . using COMMON SENSE, we realize that "way" do "project;, this case is most logic

RBBmba@2014 wrote: Hi GMATGuruNY - few clarifications required related to this SC.

1. On GMAT, WHILE has PRIMARILY two USAGES, I guess -

(a) To denote concurrent ACTIONS in same TENSE.

(b) To express CONTRAST -- is SAME TENSE aspect MANDATORY here ?

And are there any OTHER LEGITIMATE usage of WHILE in GMAT ?

2. In A, THAT appears pretty far from the NOUN it modifies (re a standardized way). Isn't this bit AWKWARD ?

How often we can see such construction on GMAT ?

@ GMATGuruNY - could you please share your feedback on the ABOVE concerns?

Looking forward to hear from you Sir...Much thanks in advance.

RBBmba@2014 wrote:On GMAT, WHILE has PRIMARILY two USAGES, I guess -

(a) To denote concurrent ACTIONS in same TENSE.

(b) To express CONTRAST -- is SAME TENSE aspect MANDATORY here ?

The usage of while implies CONCURRENCE: two events happening at the same time.
Even if the two events are contrasting, the implication is that they happen concurrently.
For this reason, while should not serve to express a contrast between verbs in different tenses.

And are there any OTHER LEGITIMATE usage of WHILE in GMAT ?

Not of which I am aware.

2. In A, THAT appears pretty far from the NOUN it modifies (re a standardized way). Isn't this bit AWKWARD ?

How often we can see such construction on GMAT ?

A that-modifier does not have touch the noun that it modifies.
OA: a standardized way of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet that will protect copyright holders
Here, it is crystal clear from context that the that-clause in red serves to modify way:
a standardized way that will protect copyright holders.
Generally, a modifier should be as close as possible to what it serves to modify.
In the OA, the that-clause in red is positioned as close as possible to way.
Do not consider this structure awkward.

Hi Mitch

I believe A is also incorrect as it represent a singular noun i.e. way , So we should use protects & foils
Option C is somewhat correct but incorrect due to use of wrong idiom.

C) for distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet while it protects copyright holders and foils the many audio pirates who copy and distribute


The correct answer is
of distributing songs and full-length recordings on the Internet while it protects copyright holders and foils the many audio pirates who copy and distribute


please suggest.

nikhilgmat31,

In option A, the standardized way .. that will protect and (will -implied)foil
the relative that-clause uses future tense. will protect and will foil is the correct tense form for the singular 'standard way'

GMATGuru, can you please confirm if this is right?

Even though they are wrong, in the options (C) and (E), the 'it' used after while refers to the 'recording industry associations'. correct reference should have been the plural pronoun 'they'.
In these options, 'it' after while cannot possibly refer to the object - 'standardized way' mentioned in the main clause.
I rewrote the sentence into something like this "while it protects..., the recording industry associations hope to create" - so any unreferenced pronoun (used as subject) in the introductory subordinate clause must be the subject of the main clause. please confirm if this is correct.

If there was an 'and': Recording industry associations hope to create a standardized way and it will ( I hope the 'it' in this case also can't refer to the object of previous clause)