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Not only did the systematic clearing of forests

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Not only did the systematic clearing of forests

by netigen » Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:03 am
Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also caused erosion and very quickly deforested whole regions.

A. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

B. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast), which gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

C. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States, creating farmland (especially in the Northeast) and giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

D. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States created farmland
(especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

E. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States not only created farmland (especially in the Northeast), giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it
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Re: Not only did the systematic clearing of forests

by vittalgmat » Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:15 am
netigen wrote:Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also caused erosion and very quickly deforested whole regions.

A. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

B. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast), which gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

C. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States, creating farmland (especially in the Northeast) and giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

D. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States created farmland
(especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

E. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States not only created farmland (especially in the Northeast), giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it
Is it B?
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by netigen » Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:19 pm
In B what is "Which" modifying?
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Re: Not only did the systematic clearing of forests

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:29 pm
netigen wrote:Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also caused erosion and very quickly deforested whole regions.

A. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

B. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast), which gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

C. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States, creating farmland (especially in the Northeast) and giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

D. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States created farmland
(especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

E. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States not only created farmland (especially in the Northeast), giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it
The GMAT loves to test the "not only... but also" construction. Whenever half of this construction appears, the other half will as well.

So, we can quickly eliminate (c), (d) and (e).

(a) has a verb tense problem: "create... and gave..." are not parallel, yet they should be. i.e., the sentence should read "create...and give...".

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of (b) either. For the sentence to be truly parallel, there should be an "it" after the comma.

A better version would have been:

"The systematic clearing of forests in the United States not only created farmland (especially in the Northeast), giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also"

Also, if (e) ended with "but also" instead of "but it", it would be perfect.

What's the source of this question?
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by netigen » Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:59 pm
Thanks Stuart appreciate the clarification
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by nishchal » Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:54 pm
I agree with Stuart. b,d and e are out because of incorrect idiom. E would have been the best choice if it ended with "but also".

In (b) it should be "created" to go with "gave" to be a better answer.

I picked (b) over (a) just because adding ",which gave" seems to be a better modifier for first part of sentence rather than "and gave" and also because it used "but also" instead "but it also".

Pick (b) but not 100% sure.

Can you please post the answer and the source of question. Wonder if there was a typing mistake in question/answer?
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by chidcguy » Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:24 pm
Jeez, I picked E and read it as if "it" were in there.

Thats a creepy Q :) Also, When I read B I marked it wrong as it should have been either created and gave or create and give.
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Re: Not only did the systematic clearing of forests

by chipjet » Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:46 pm
netigen wrote:Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also caused erosion and very quickly deforested whole regions.

A. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

B. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast), which gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

C. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States, creating farmland (especially in the Northeast) and giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

D. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States created farmland
(especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

E. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States not only created farmland (especially in the Northeast), giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it
A) construction not parallel (Gave)
B) changes the meaning of the sentence, the farmland did not give consumers cheaper houses and furniture
C) Not clear with the Not Only... But also
D) verb construction is parallel, but not only... but also is missing. For me, this is the best answer still, as it does not change the meaning of the original sentence. This raises the question: If A also cause B, do we have to begin the sentence with a "Not only"? I'm not sure.
E) As in B, this changes the meaning of the sentence. The creation of farmland does not give consumers cheap houses. That makes no sense.
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by s_raizada » Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:15 am
Is split 'but also' such as 'but it also' correct usage?

I thought split 'not only' and 'but also' are never correct!
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by netigen » Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:01 am
I think splits are allowed in general. I have seen cases where "such as" is split for e.g. "such positions as"
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Re: Not only did the systematic clearing of forests

by annakool1009 » Wed Jul 30, 2008 12:33 am
netigen wrote:Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also caused erosion and very quickly deforested whole regions.

A. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

B. Not only did the systematic clearing of forests in the United States create farmland (especially in the Northeast), which gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

C. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States, creating farmland (especially in the Northeast) and giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but also

D. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States created farmland
(especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it also

E. The systematic clearing of forests in the United States not only created farmland (especially in the Northeast), giving consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, but it
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A eliminated because incorrect use of tense
C Not clear/ incorrect sentence formation/wrong use of tense
E "Also" missing in the end.

Between B and D my take is as follows:

"B" wud have been correct theoretically, because it uses the constuction/idiom "Not only .... but also".
However, B changes the meaning of the sentence, by incorrectly placing "which"

Secondly, "Not only .... but also" construction is used while comparing 2 or more positive qualities and when we want to emphasize on the 2nd quality. For ex:

Not only is Radha talented but also extremely beautiful.

Now consider this 2nd example:

Not only is Radha talented but also extemely notorious.

Thus when contrasting a good quality/aspect with a bad quality/aspect, the use of "Not only .... but also" looks inappropriate.

Ideally, the use of "....But also..." alone wud be more apt.
Radha is beautiful and talented..... but also very naughty.

In the original sentence.... The systematic clearing of forests in US gave inexpensive houses (+ve) and inexpensive furniture (+ve), but it also caused erosion of land (-ve)

So "D" wud actually read as:

THOUGH systematic clearing of forests in the United States created farmland (especially in the Northeast) and gave consumers relatively inexpensive houses and furniture, BUT IT ALSO

Hence I wud go with "D" because it clearly draws the meaning of the sentence while explicitly stating the positive and negative outcomes of the act of clearing forests in US.
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wats the OA

by stubbornp » Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:40 am
wats the OA
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by schumi_gmat » Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:42 pm
Isn't, Not only X.....but (also) Y correct usage?
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by Bidisha800 » Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:23 pm
schumi_gmat wrote:Isn't, Not only X.....but (also) Y correct usage?
Yes, it is correct
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by schumi_gmat » Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:45 am
In E it is the construction "Not only....But" which is correct then why is E wrong
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