And vs. Or in this OG SC

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saad.ahmed: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 5:23 pmFollowed by: 1 member

by saad.ahmed » Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:22 am

I know this is a very easy question and I should be getting it right, but the last two times I came across this question, I made the same error. Someone please help!

From the OG 12th edition, page 693 #17, I am having a challenging time figuring out why the proper usage is "Or" vs. "And".... here is the question:

The commission has directed advertisers to restrict the use of the word "natural" to foods that do not contain color or flavor additives, chemical preservatives, or nothing that has been synthesized.

a - or nothing that has been
b - or that has been
c - and nothing that is
d - or anything that has been
e - and anything

Can anyone explain why "Or" is the logical conjunction here?

Thanks,

Saad

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:22 am

hja379: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 208; Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:10 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 20 times

by hja379 » Sat Feb 12, 2011 10:53 am

Use of 'and' changes the meaning of the sentence.

For eg: I want to buy a car, a bike and a plane.
The sentence above means that I want to buy all three at once.

Take this one for instance: I want to eat an apple, an orange or a pear.
This one means, I only want to eat one of the three.

Hope that helps.

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:44 pm

saad.ahmed wrote:I know this is a very easy question and I should be getting it right, but the last two times I came across this question, I made the same error. Someone please help!

From the OG 12th edition, page 693 #17, I am having a challenging time figuring out why the proper usage is "Or" vs. "And".... here is the question:

The commission has directed advertisers to restrict the use of the word "natural" to foods that do not contain color or flavor additives, chemical preservatives, or nothing that has been synthesized.

a - or nothing that has been
b - or that has been
c - and nothing that is
d - or anything that has been
e - and anything

Can anyone explain why "Or" is the logical conjunction here?

Thanks,

Saad

When or is negated, it means "and": not X or Y means not X and not Y.

Thus, in answer choice D (the correct answer), foods that do not contain color or flavor additives, chemical preservatives, or anything that has been synthesized means foods that do not contain color additives and do not contain flavor additives and do not contain chemical preservatives and do not contain anything that has been synthesized.

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saad.ahmed: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 5:23 pmFollowed by: 1 member

by saad.ahmed » Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:20 pm

Mitch,

Thank you for the well explained answer! I was able to find a wikipedia article that explains this as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Morgan's_laws

Thanks for chiming in.

-Saad

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sachindia: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 258; Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:39 amFollowed by: 3 members; Location: Bengaluru, India; Thanked: 6 times; GMAT Score:640

by sachindia » Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:22 am

Hi Mitch,

When or is negated, it means "and": not X or Y means not X and not Y.

Is this a mathematical concept? I vaguely remember having studied this in my maths class.

Regards,
Sach

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