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Confine!

by gmat_perfect » Fri Aug 27, 2010 5:50 am
Judge Bonham denied a motion to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of to confine them to a hotel.

(A) to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of to confine them to
(B) that would have allowed members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of confined to
(C) under which members of the jury are allowed to go home at the end of each day instead of confining them in
(D) that would allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than confinement in
(E) to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than be con¬fined to

[spoiler]OA: E[/spoiler]

What is the actual deal with this sentence?

Please explain every option.

Thanks.
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by niksworth » Fri Aug 27, 2010 6:13 am
E is correct.

If the main clause has an infinitive, instead of is rarely used. Rather than is a more apt usage in such cases.

...to go home rather than be confined to --> Use of infinitive form of verb, hence rather than is used.

Considering this, rule out A,B,C.

D - parallelism error --> to go home... rather than confinement in...

Pick E.
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by Maciek » Fri Aug 27, 2010 7:23 am
Hi all!

correct usage of "instead of" is
instead of confining

incorrect usage of "instead of" is
instead of to confine
instead of confined to

we should eliminate answers a and b

"rather than" is an adverb and can modify clauses but they should be parallel

that would allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day
rather than
confinement in a hotel

the clauses are not parallel -> eliminate d

answer c is also wrong. In my opinion the clauses are also not parallel. There are probably other errors.

hope it helps!
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by neerajbansal » Fri Aug 27, 2010 9:13 am
Rather than - shows preference. This expression is generally used in 'parallel' structures. e.g - with two nouns, adjectives, adverbs, infinitives or -ing forms.


Usage --- instead of + noun phrase. Instead of is only a preposition and can introduce only a phrase i.e no verb
Usage -


So the sentence is really talking about a preference ....
so a b and c are out..

between d and e

(D) that would allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than confinement in i need a verb after rather....
(E) to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than be confined to <--- cream of the crap...looks like the best choice.
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by loveusonu » Fri Aug 27, 2010 10:02 am
Good que. This is how I reach E:

First of all very important to pick up the intended meaning of the sentence.
Meaning: Judge denied a motion what might have allowed members to go home rather than current confined to hotel.
Concept applied: Tense ; Parallelism

gmat_perfect wrote:(A) to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of to confine them to
Redundant 'to' : there is a parallel structure "to allow..to go" instead "confine them to" . Also whenever stuck between instead vs rather, go for rather. Don't have the link but once Ron explained the problems using "instead of" of is a preposition and there are few structure that goes correctly with this. Hence prefer other comparative structure if you have one(in our case we have E.)
gmat_perfect wrote:(B) that would have allowed members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of confined to
Sentence really makes sense till we hit a past "confined" . I was tempted to go for it considering excatly what the author wants to say. However, this means that currently members are not confined to stay in hotel. Hence violate the meaning.
gmat_perfect wrote:(C) under which members of the jury are allowed to go home at the end of each day instead of confining them in
Not a good parallelism: parallel structure would be : allowing instead of confining.
gmat_perfect wrote:(D) that would allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than confinement in
"confinement in" is wordy and not parallel because this is NOUN and can't be parallel to allowed(verb).
gmat_perfect wrote:(E) to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than be con¬fined to
Best of lot: "be confined" : notice the meaning here is present aka "be wherever you are" and hence convey the exact meaning i.e. motion to allow member to go home is Denied and be confined to hotel.

Hope that helps!!
Sonu
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by gmat_perfect » Fri Aug 27, 2010 10:07 am
Thanks for the nice explanation.
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by loveusonu » Fri Aug 27, 2010 8:49 pm
gmat_perfect wrote:Thanks for the nice explanation.
no problem!! you can click on Thanks button directly.

Another concept, just learned.

"Instead of VERBing" --> Always Incorrect.
Sonu
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