Polish

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 643
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:27 am
Thanked: 48 times
Followed by:7 members

Polish

by vinay1983 » Tue Oct 08, 2013 1:35 am
Please excuse the "unusual way" this question has been posted!CLICK ON THE QUESTION IMAGE TO OPEN IT IN A NEW TAB
Image

Image
Last edited by vinay1983 on Tue Oct 08, 2013 4:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
You can, for example never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to!
Source: — Sentence Correction |

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1556
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:18 pm
Thanked: 448 times
Followed by:34 members
GMAT Score:650

by theCodeToGMAT » Tue Oct 08, 2013 1:41 am
vinay1983 wrote:Please excuse the "unusual way" this question has been posted!
Image

Image
Vinay, seems something has gone wrong.. Question is not visible.
R A H U L

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Tue Oct 08, 2013 1:21 pm
Hi vinay1983,

This SC has an interesting "construction" to it; the author's "intent" might be debatable, but here's how I interpreted this prompt:

The sentence begins with the phrase "The first observable practice of Islam...", so we have a singular subject and an isolated event in the past.

The verb "began" would be correct. Eliminate A and D.

Since the sentence refers to "The first...", a singular event, I would want to use the simplest past tense verb construction that was available. Answers C and E seem convoluted.

Final Answer: B.

If the author's intent was to discuss something other than an isolated event, then there might be some argument for answer C, but I can't justify picking it.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 643
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:27 am
Thanked: 48 times
Followed by:7 members

by vinay1983 » Tue Oct 08, 2013 5:40 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi vinay1983,

This SC has an interesting "construction" to it; the author's "intent" might be debatable, but here's how I interpreted this prompt:

The sentence begins with the phrase "The first observable practice of Islam...", so we have a singular subject and an isolated event in the past.

The verb "began" would be correct. Eliminate A and D.

Since the sentence refers to "The first...", a singular event, I would want to use the simplest past tense verb construction that was available. Answers C and E seem convoluted.

Final Answer: B.

If the author's intent was to discuss something other than an isolated event, then there might be some argument for answer C, but I can't justify picking it.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
In the mock i gave, this was the only SC i got wrong by picking C. I somehow was not convinced of B (I am still a lil skeptical). I have a strong feeling that such "tight" questions with such "either way interpretation" seldom appear on the GMAT. What say?
You can, for example never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to!

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:41 pm
Hi vinay1983,

For the real GMAT, questions go through a rigorous testing process before they are considered "fair" and appear as "questions that count" on a live GMAT. During the testing phrase, questions appear as "experimental" questions (which do not count) on live GMAT exams. In that way, the questions can be statistically measured and compared against expectations.

For example, if an experimental question is expected to be answered correctly by 40% of Test Takers AND 40% of Test Takers DO answer it correctly, then it is considered "fair" and then put into the pool of active questions. The process is fairly standardized and remarkably accurate, although sometimes there are anomalies and questions are removed. There have also been cases in which a question was put into the active pool and then later determined to be "unfair" (because the active numbers didn't match the expected numbers).

All of this means that It's possible that this type of SC question could show up on Test Day (either as an experimental question or an active one), but if the results don't match the expectations, then the question would be removed. Questions with an "interpretational bias" don't get very far on the real GMAT though, so I wouldn't worry about it. Also, if this is the only SC that you got wrong on the Official GMAT, then there'd be a chance that it would be experimental (and thus wouldn't count). Even if it DID count, getting one SC wrong wouldn't hurt your score.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image

• Page 1 of 1