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rajesh_ctm: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 135; Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:21 pm; Thanked: 2 times

by rajesh_ctm » Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:37 am

In commercial garment construction, one advantage of serging over single-needle sewing is that the seam allowance is overcast as the seam is sewn instead of a separate process requiring deeper seam allowances.
A. instead of
B. rather than in
C. in contrast with
D. As opposed to
E. As against being done in

Please chose the correct answer and explain. I won't spoil the fun by telling the OA immediately. I'll give it after people try it.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:37 am

aficionado: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 15; Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:02 pm

by aficionado » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:11 am

I think it is D, as two processes , "the seam allowance is overcast as the seam is sewn" and "a separate process requiring deeper seam allowances" are compared.

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isisalaska: Community Manager; Posts: 363; Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:24 pmFollowed by: 3 members; Location: St. Louis; Thanked: 7 times

by isisalaska » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:48 am

I believe is B, GMAT prefers "rather" , I am sorry I don't have a better explanation...

Isis Alaska

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maxim730: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 76; Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:26 amFollowed by: 3 members

by maxim730 » Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:02 am

C or D.. sorry.. no explanation

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rajesh_ctm: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 135; Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:21 pm; Thanked: 2 times

The Official Answer

by rajesh_ctm » Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:35 pm

The OA is B.

The explanation:
Think about what the sentence is telling you. The Seam "is overcast ... in a separate process." The Seam is not "overcast ... instead of a separate process."
:roll:

I still don't get it. Can someone explain?

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4nilesh: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:09 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 8 times

Re: The Official Answer

by 4nilesh » Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:05 am

rajesh_ctm wrote:The OA is B.

The explanation:
Think about what the sentence is telling you. The Seam "is overcast ... in a separate process." The Seam is not "overcast ... instead of a separate process."
:roll:

I still don't get it. Can someone explain?

I don't get it. If someone does, let me know

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erjamit: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 170; Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:36 am; Thanked: 7 times

by erjamit » Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:43 am

can anyone pls explain this...it is quite confusing....

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sulabh: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 189; Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:29 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 5 times; GMAT Score:750

by sulabh » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:44 am

I think it is E.
seam allowance is overcast as the seam is sewn as against being done in a separate process requiring deeper seam allowances.

In all the other options 'Sewing of seem' is compared to 'a separate process' which is wrong.

750(Q50,V40)

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chidcguy: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 438; Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:44 am; Thanked: 26 times

by chidcguy » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:50 am

The Question is testing instead of rather than.

Serging is one step Single needle sewing is a two step process.

We get the benefit in serging as soon as the sewing is done rather than in a separate process in the second process.

As opposed to is a tough choice to part ways with. Its difficult to explain this Q better. When ever you see GMAT Q involving instead and rather than chances are very likely that its testing you on instead of and rather than

Please do not post answer along with the Question you post/ask

Let people discuss the Questions with out seeing answers.

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sulabh: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 189; Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:29 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 5 times; GMAT Score:750

by sulabh » Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:58 am

Whats the OA?

750(Q50,V40)

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Stuart@KaplanGMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3225; Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:40 pmFollowed by: 614 members; Location: Toronto; Thanked: 1710 times; GMAT Score:800

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:42 pm

(b) is correct, and the key word is actually "in".

is that the seam allowance is overcast as the seam is sewn instead of a separate process requiring deeper seam allowances.

It's overcast AS the seam is sewn rather than IN a separate process.

We need "in" for parallelism and for the sentence to make sense.

The only other choice with "in" is (e), which is stylistically very weak.

Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto

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chidcguy: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 438; Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:44 am; Thanked: 26 times

by chidcguy » Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:22 pm

Stuart,

How does as and in create parallelism?

Thanks

Please do not post answer along with the Question you post/ask

Let people discuss the Questions with out seeing answers.

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Stuart@KaplanGMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3225; Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:40 pmFollowed by: 614 members; Location: Toronto; Thanked: 1710 times; GMAT Score:800

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:41 pm

chidcguy wrote:Stuart,

How does as and in create parallelism?

Thanks

Without a second preposition, we're comparing a process to a thing.

Let's look at a much simpler sentence; one difficult thing about this question is that the most people probably don't understand the vocabulary.

Let's change:

one advantage of serging over single-needle sewing is that the seam allowance is overcast as the seam is sewn instead of a separate process requiring deeper seam allowances.

To:

One advantage of BBQing is that the meat is cooked on a grill rather than an oven.

Now, it's much easier for our ear to pick up the problem with this sentence. ".. on a grill" can't be compared to "an oven". You've probably already auto-corrected my sentence to:

One advantage of BBQing is that the meat is cooked on a grill rather than in an oven.

The question posted here has the exact same issue, it's just that the sentence is so complicated that it's harder to hear it.

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