Question Pack - The industrial pollutants

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Question Pack - The industrial pollutants

by fiza gupta » Thu Dec 29, 2016 5:56 am
The industrial pollutants known as PCB's were first manufactured in 1929 and were used as coolants for electrical equipment in Europe and North America until the 1970s, when studies showed that the compounds had entered the food chain and were harmful to some animals.

(A)that the compounds had entered the food chain and were harmful to some animals
(B)the compounds to have entered the food chain and be harmful to some animals
(C)the entry of the compounds into the food chain as harmful to some animals
(D)the entry of the compounds into the food chain and its harmfulness to animals
(E)the compounds entering into the food chain and harming some animals

OA:A
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by Ali Tariq » Wed Jan 04, 2017 4:15 am
showed is a reporting verb.
What follows showed is a thought, a thought expressed in a short sentence (stand alone sentence).
put that between thought and the reporting verb.

only one answer choice has done it.

B)studies showed compounds
C)studies showed entry
D)studies showed entry
E)studies showed compounds

further,
B)studies showed compounds. which compounds/ what kind of compounds? (the ones) to have entered the food chain...

C)studies showed entry. which entry/ what kind of an entry?(the one) of the compounds into the food chain...

D)same as C

E)studies showed compounds. which compounds/ what kind of compounds? (the ones) entering into the food chain and harming some animals. E is more nonsensical also because of entering(Verbing), which has the connotation of simultaneous action.

Do let me know if you are still confused. This needs to be assimilated thoroughly.

I cannot emphasise the fact enough how consistent GMAT is in following thought with that after reporting verb such as showed. ( there can be exceptions as is the case in almost any case but they can be dealt with)
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by fiza gupta » Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:44 am
Hi Aliq,

Thanks for the explanation :)
but i have a doubt regarding usage of "to have been" and "to be" (on the basis of tenses)
i always get confuse.
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by Ali Tariq » Thu Jan 05, 2017 4:07 am
to have been and to be are not verbs.

They are called infinitives.
to have verbed(verbed = past participle) is called perfect infinitive
to be is called simple passive infinitive. You must have encountered it in command subjunctive.( if still confused do let me know)

Lets discuss perfect infinitive( to have verbed, which is in active form and thus is called active perfect infinitive)

to have verbed is used to express prior action.

Ali seems to have quit the job.
is same as
It seems that Ali has quit the job. (it is placeholder it ,and refers to that clause)

quitting the job is a prior action.
quitting occured prior to seem

As perfect infintives are used to express prior actions, the time sequence conveyed by option B is not different from that conveyed by A.

A) studies showed that the compounds had entered the food chain
past perfect tense expresses the prior action ( as is the case in perfect infinitve)

Deal breaker here is lack of that after reporting verb showed, a construction that rendered this choice nonsensical.( studies showing compounds )

Above explanation was all about time sequence perfect infinitives signals.

Now lets discuss their function in a sentence.
Infinitives cannot act as verbs.
They can act as nouns, adj, or adverbs but not as verbs.
It can be argued that to have entered acts as adjective and ,therefore, modifies noun compounds (as adjectives do modify nouns).

but then again, lack of that after reporting verb "showed" renders choice B nonsensical.( studies showing compounds )
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by fiza gupta » Thu Jan 05, 2017 4:33 am
Hi Ali,

Thanks for great explanation :)
can you give few examples of different usages of "to be"
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by Ali Tariq » Thu Jan 05, 2017 9:49 am
publisher will publish material
publisher is subject
will publish is verb
material is object of verb, and thus a noun

publisher will publish what?
publisher will publish material.
As material has answered what? , it is direct object ( DO ). DOs are nouns.

How can you modify a noun?
with adjective
Adjectives answer which/ what kind of?

publisher will publish digital material

publisher will publish which/what kind of material? digital material

digital, therefore, is adjective modifying noun, material.

Now, have a look at the following sentence.


publisher will publish digital material to be sold online.
which material/ what kind of material? digital material.
which material/ what kind of material? the one to be sold online.

to be sold is modifying material.

Now have a look at option B of the SC under discussion.
B) studies showed compounds
which compounds/ what kind of compounds? (ones) to have entered the food chain
which compounds/ what kind of compounds? (ones) to be harmful to some elements

issue is clearly not whether compounds can or cannot be modified by to be harmful.
issue is, that is required after showed( reporting verb).

Note, inserting that after showed in option B will yield no benefit because that (a relative pronoun) is always followed by verb (command subjunctive is exception in which that is followed by bare infinitive, which is not same as verb)
whereas, even after inserting that after showed, we will have no verb.
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by fiza gupta » Thu Jan 05, 2017 10:46 am
Thank you! :)
great explanation
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by gocoder » Wed May 10, 2017 9:57 am
Ali Tariq wrote:
B)studies showed compounds. which compounds/ what kind of compounds? (the ones) to have entered the food chain...

C)studies showed entry. which entry/ what kind of an entry?(the one) of the compounds into the food chain...

D)same as C

E)studies showed compounds. which compounds/ what kind of compounds? (the ones) entering into the food chain and harming some animals. E is more nonsensical also because of entering(Verbing), which has the connotation of simultaneous action.
I'm unclear how questioning the nature of compounds would help us here. Normally, by asking such questions, we would know what are adjectives and adverbs but how it helps here eliminating choices ?

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by Ali Tariq » Thu May 11, 2017 12:53 am
I'm unclear how questioning the nature of compounds would help us here.
You are correct.
I overlooked this fact.
Major problem with B,C,and D is lack of that.
E, however, is non-sensical because of illogical meaning communicated by present participle phrase.
Knowing only this much is more than enough to eliminate incorrect answer choices.

Following stuff is not necessary to get to the correct answer.
--------------------------------------

Present participle phrase, when used w/o commas, modify noun;i.e, they tell us more information about noun.
That information is typically a state--a temporary state-- and is true for the time period communicated by tense of a clause.
That information can also be used to distinguish a noun( the one being modified by participle phrase) from other nouns of the same category, if that noun represents a category and not a member of that category.(general vs specific situation.)

I saw Arthur running for the bus.
running for the bus is a participle phrase.
running for the bus is a temporary state of Arthur.
Message communicated is that when i saw Arthur, he was running for the bus.

In this situation, asking which Arthur? what kind of Arthur? doesn't make sense because there is only one Arthur: Arthur is not a category. We are being specific here.

I saw a boy running for the bus.
running for the bus is a participle phrase.
running for the bus is a temporary state of a boy.
Message communicated is that when i saw a boy, he was running for the bus.
In this situation, asking which boy? etc. makes sense because boy is a general term.
Similarly,
Cat sleeping on the rug is named Sue.
which cat? which one? which one are we talking about?
The one sleeping on the rug and not the one ,say, sleeping on the couch.

Enter choice E-

studies showed the compounds entering into the food chain...
the is not same as a( above example)
the is specific/ definite article whereas a is indefinite article( not specific).
THE is perfectly fine to talk about something which has been previously mentioned, introduced, or discussed.
Term the compounds in all answer choices, thus, points towards PCBs.

Hence asking which compounds? or what kind? doesn't make sense.
In official material, we usually have these or such for this kind of pointing.

PS:
Additionaly, i feel it should have been PCBs and not PCB's, which however, is a non-issue here since it is not in the underlined portion.
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