Pronoun Issue

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gauravgundal: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 199; Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:15 am; Location: India; Thanked: 13 times

by gauravgundal » Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:02 pm

Source : Princeton CAT

Many corporations are scaling back their operations and focusing on their core businesses so as not to be hindered by over-diversification in the world marketplace

A. so as not to be hindered by over-diversification
B. so that over-diversification would not hinder them
C. so that they will not have so much diversification to hinder them
D. and thereby not to be hindered by over-diversification
E. and there is not so much diversification to hinder them

[spoiler]OA: A[/spoiler]

IMO: B
Is B wrong because in answer choice B,them can refer to businesses/corporation?
But there is another pronoun 'their' ,which refers to corporations,so grammatically them should also refer to corporations

I have seen idioms such as so (adj) as to , not so (adj) as to .Do I need to keep this idiom 'so as not to be' in mind ?
[/spoiler]

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:02 pm

boazkhan: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 135; Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:27 am; Thanked: 3 times

by boazkhan » Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:25 pm

I could be wrong but the difference between A and B is that of passive language. I'd go with A.

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phanideepak: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 77; Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:13 amFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Hyderabad; Thanked: 10 times; GMAT Score:730

by phanideepak » Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:27 pm

gauravgundal wrote:Source : Princeton CAT

IMO: B
Is B wrong because in answer choice B,them can refer to businesses/corporation?
But there is another pronoun 'their' ,which refers to corporations,so grammatically them should also refer to corporations
[/spoiler]

The pronoun them can refer to the 'their operations or their businesses' in sentence right???

A. so as not to be hindered by over-diversification
B. so that over-diversification would not hinder them Here them may refer to operations as well.
C. so that they will not have so much diversification to hinder them
D. and thereby not to be hindered by over-diversification there is already an and in the previous sentence so and ---- and thereby sounds awkward. Not sure baout the grammar here.
E. and there is not so much diversification to hinder them

I hope i could explain.

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boazkhan: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 135; Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:27 am; Thanked: 3 times

by boazkhan » Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:33 pm

Going by the meaning of the sentence, them (i believe) refers to corporations.

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:04 pm

received pm

gauravgundal wrote:Is B wrong because in answer choice B,them can refer to businesses/corporation?

no, it's wrong because "would" is not appropriate.
remember that there are two uses of "would": (1) for hypothetical situations, (2) as a past-tense equivalent of "will".
this sentence doesn't satisfy either of these -- (1) it's not hypothetical (corporations ARE DOING this; it's not "if they were doing this..."), and (2) it's not written from the point of view of the past.

I have seen idioms such as so (adj) as to , not so (adj) as to .Do I need to keep this idiom 'so as not to be' in mind ?

that whole thing is not one idiom; it's just "so as to VERB". the "not" is not part of the idiom -- that's just how you make the negation of an infinitive.

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 18 times

by tanviet » Thu Jun 16, 2011 12:01 am

THE PROBLEM IS
on GMAT GRAMMAR, "so adjective as to" is the only correct form. This is confirmed by many questions from OG10, and other OG books.

This means A is also wrong

RON, AND OTHER EXPERT, PLEASE, HELP.

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:44 am

duongthang wrote:THE PROBLEM IS
on GMAT GRAMMAR, "so adjective as to" is the only correct form. This is confirmed by many questions from OG10, and other OG books.

do they actually *say* this?

... because that construction is used in some paragraphs in the other verbal sections.
in og12 CR #7:
the costs associated with the conversion of existing fixtures so as to accept LED arrays would be minimal.
in og12 CR #9:
packaging consultants recommended that the TrueSave mail-order company increase the amount of packing material so as to fill any empty spaces in its cartons.

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 18 times

by tanviet » Mon Jun 20, 2011 2:58 am

lunarpower wrote:
duongthang wrote:THE PROBLEM IS
on GMAT GRAMMAR, "so adjective as to" is the only correct form. This is confirmed by many questions from OG10, and other OG books.
do they actually *say* this?

... because that construction is used in some paragraphs in the other verbal sections.
in og12 CR #7:
the costs associated with the conversion of existing fixtures so as to accept LED arrays would be minimal.
in og12 CR #9:
packaging consultants recommended that the TrueSave mail-order company increase the amount of packing material so as to fill any empty spaces in its cartons.

THERE IS NO "SO AS TO" IN SENTENCE CORRECTION OF OG BOOKS. THERE IS MANY GRAMMAR ERRORS, REGARDING SC STANDARD, ON READING AND CRITICAL REASONING SECTION.THERE IS ONLY "SO ADJECTIVE AS TO" IN THE SC SECTION OF THE OG BOOKS.

SO, I DISLIKE THIS QUESTIONS THOUGH IT IS FROM GOOD SOURCE PRINCETON.

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Tue Jun 21, 2011 3:57 am

duongthang wrote:THERE IS NO "SO AS TO" IN SENTENCE CORRECTION OF OG BOOKS.

right, BUT notice that the SC section also does not explicitly prohibit this construction, either. it happens to be used incorrectly in a couple of instances in og12, but the book does not actually say that it is outright incorrect.

therefore, the best judgment here is inconclusive -- i.e., the best judgment is not to make a judgment at all.

THERE IS MANY GRAMMAR ERRORS, REGARDING SC STANDARD, ON READING AND CRITICAL REASONING SECTION.

i wouldn't say "many". i would say that there are a handful, but definitely a small number.

i.e., if you see some construction in the reading or critical reasoning passages, then by far the most likely interpretation is that it's correct/acceptable.

SO, I DISLIKE THIS QUESTIONS THOUGH IT IS FROM GOOD SOURCE PRINCETON.

i mostly agree -- i.e., it's risky to test idioms that have not been officially endorsed by GMAC. so you and i seem to be on the same page here.

btw thanks for the book citation (on some other thread, not here).

lastly, out of curiosity -- why all capital letters?

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riyazgilani: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2015 8:42 am

by riyazgilani » Fri Jun 12, 2015 8:20 pm

lunarpower wrote:
duongthang wrote:THE PROBLEM IS
on GMAT GRAMMAR, "so adjective as to" is the only correct form. This is confirmed by many questions from OG10, and other OG books.
do they actually *say* this?

... because that construction is used in some paragraphs in the other verbal sections.
in og12 CR #7:
the costs associated with the conversion of existing fixtures so as to accept LED arrays would be minimal.
in og12 CR #9:
packaging consultants recommended that the TrueSave mail-order company increase the amount of packing material so as to fill any empty spaces in its cartons.

Ron, can u pls elaborate a little more on "would" usage.
now as you quoted above, would is used in following sentence
"the costs associated with the conversion of existing fixtures so as to accept LED arrays would be minimal"
in this again would does not fit into 2 criterions mentioned by you. that is, its neither hypothetical nor past tense form of will.

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