ego-hurting questions!

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ego-hurting questions!

by nagar.sandeep » Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:15 pm
hi,

First of all, I wanna thank you all for helping me with my preparation for gmat.


i have some more doubts, can you please help me with these questions hurting my ego cause I feel right but they tell me wrong:

1. Astronomers at the Palomar Observatory have discovered a distant supernova explosion, one that they believe is a type previously unknown to science.
(A) that they believe is // why `A` is wrong, is it meaning change?
(B) that they believe it to be
(C) they believe that it is of
(D) they believe that is
(E) they believe to be of

2. At Shiprock, New Mexico, a perennially powerful girls' high school basketball team has become a path to college for some and a source of pride for a community where the household incomes of 49 percent of them are below the poverty level.
(A) where the household incomes of 49 percent of them are
(B) where they have 49 percent of the household incomes
(C) where 49 percent of the household incomes are
(D) which has 49 percent of the household incomes // why `D` is wrong, whats wrong with "which"
(E) in which 49 percent of them have household incomes

3. At the time of the Mexican agrarian revolution, the most radical faction, that of Zapata and his followers, proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards.
(A) land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards
(B) land, a form of ownership of the pre-Columbians and respected by the Spaniards
(C) land, respected by the Spaniards and a pre-Columbian form of ownership
(D) land in which a pre-Columbian form of ownership was respected by the Spaniards
(E) land that had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards // why 'E' is wrong?


4. Balzac drank more than fifty cups of coffee a day and died of caffeine poisoning; furthermore, caffeine did not seem to bother Samuel Johnson, the great writer and lexicographer, who was reported to have drunk twenty-five cups of tea at one sitting.
(A) furthermore, caffeine did not seem to bother
(B) however, caffeine did not seem to bother
(C) however, caffeine did not seem to have bothered // why `C` is wrong? isn't it parallel?
(D) furthermore, caffeine did not seem to have bothered
(E) in addition, caffeine did not seem to bother

thanks,
Sandeep
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by hitmis » Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:40 pm
Do let us know the right answers....imo

[spoiler]1 (e) [/spoiler]. I think in 'a', 'that' is not required. that is used generally to join subordinate clauses. 'One' is not a clause hence that is not required.

2 c The community in a place Shiprock is being discussed, so it needs something that refers to a place so 'where'.

3 b E is wrong since 'had been' should be used only if there are 2/3 time periods (past, present, future) that are being discussed in the single sentence. e.g. Mexicans in pre-columbian era had been following this form of ownership, but they do not approve of it anymore.

4 b 'However' is required since the author wants to take the initial idea forward and not negate it or add to it. I think futhermore is not a good word. Caffeine did not bother Samuel and till date that has not changed. So its not something that changed after a while, it remained (as per the information given in the single sentence), hence 'have bothered' is not required, a simple 'bother' would do fine. This is explained very well in Manhattan SC guide book.

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