BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

what is the right answer & why?

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 59
Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:15 pm
Location: Cincinnati
Thanked: 3 times

what is the right answer & why?

by ritz » Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:22 pm
Young female ballet dancers & gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possbile.

A. Young female ballet dancers & gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits caused by the desire to be as thin as possbile.
B. Good eating habits sometimes fail to be maintained by young female ballet dancers & gymnasts caused by desiring to be as thin as possible.

C. Becasue they desire to be as thin as possible, good eating habits are sometimes not maintained by young female ballet dancers & gymnasts.

D. Becasue they desire to be as thin as possible, young female ballet dancers & gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits.

E. Young female ballet dancers & gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits because they desire to be as thin as possible.
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 423
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:29 am
Location: Hyderabad, India
Thanked: 36 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:770

by simplyjat » Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:53 pm
The original sentence improperly uses caused by. We should use because instead. So you can eliminate A & B. C contains misplaced modifier. And we are left with D and E. D looks less awkward, and thus I would prefer D instead of E...
Whats the OA
simplyjat
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 59
Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:15 pm
Location: Cincinnati
Thanked: 3 times

by ritz » Sun Apr 13, 2008 4:16 pm
simplyjat wrote:The original sentence improperly uses caused by. We should use because instead. So you can eliminate A & B. C contains misplaced modifier. And we are left with D and E. D looks less awkward, and thus I would prefer D instead of E...
Whats the OA
whats the problem with E. .
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 423
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:29 am
Location: Hyderabad, India
Thanked: 36 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:770

by simplyjat » Mon Apr 14, 2008 4:18 am
I did not notice it earlier, but E has pronoun reference problem. Their seems to refer eating habits.
simplyjat
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3225
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:40 pm
Location: Toronto
Thanked: 1710 times
Followed by:614 members
GMAT Score:800

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:44 am
simplyjat wrote:I did not notice it earlier, but E has pronoun reference problem. Their seems to refer eating habits.
100% correct: (d) is the right choice.
Image

Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto

Kaplan Exclusive: The Official Test Day Experience | Ready to Take a Free Practice Test? | Kaplan/Beat the GMAT Member Discount
BTG100 for $100 off a full course
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3380
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 am
Thanked: 2256 times
Followed by:1535 members
GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:52 am
simplyjat wrote:I did not notice it earlier, but E has pronoun reference problem. Their seems to refer eating habits.
just fyi: the gmat does NOT necessarily consider a construction such as that in choice (e) to be problematic.

get the og11 verbal supplement (the purple book) and look at problem 19, whose correct answer starts out with the following words: 'while depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they...'
note that this is exactly the same 'pronoun problem' that is used to strike answer (e) here, yet it is condoned by the gmat.

the apparent rule, then, is that a certain amount of pronoun ambiguity is tolerated, as long as there is clear grammatical parallelism between the pronoun and its preferred antecedent: in the OG problem partially quoted above and in choice (e) here, both the pronoun and the desired antecedent are the subject of their respective clauses.

therefore, either (d) or (e) can be considered correct according to the rules propounded by gmac.

be very, very careful.

--

if anyone can find an official problem for which the official explanation condemns the type of pronoun use found in choice (e), in which the pronoun is parallel to the intended antecedent and not to the other noun(s), PLEASE post it. it would be both sad and enlightening if we could catch gmac in contravention of its own rules.

--

finally, 'they desire to be thin' is somewhat awkward (as opposed to 'the desire to be thin', which is perfectly natural); usually, when 'desire' is used as a verb, it's used with a noun (or pronoun), not an infinitive noun clause. i don't think it's wrong per se, but 'aspire' would be a much better word choice.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

--

Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
Potete chiedere domande a Ron in italiano
On peut poser des questions à Ron en français
Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi

--

Quand on se sent bien dans un vêtement, tout peut arriver. Un bon vêtement, c'est un passeport pour le bonheur.

Yves Saint-Laurent

--

Learn more about ron
Top
Legendary Member
Posts: 631
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:57 pm
Thanked: 29 times
Followed by:3 members

what if?

by netigen » Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:39 pm
What if E read

E. Young female ballet dancers & gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits because of their desire to be as thin as possible.

Will this be considered correct from GMAT standard?
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3380
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 am
Thanked: 2256 times
Followed by:1535 members
GMAT Score:800

Re: what if?

by lunarpower » Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:56 pm
netigen wrote:What if E read

E. Young female ballet dancers & gymnasts sometimes fail to maintain good eating habits because of their desire to be as thin as possible.

Will this be considered correct from GMAT standard?
if we use other official questions, most notably the one i posted here, as a precedent, we could safely conclude that this phrasing would be acceptable to the test writers.

it would arguably be better if the modifier were moved to the front of the sentence - because of their desire to be as thin as possible, young dancers... - but this form appears to follow the gmat standard.

remember: the vast majority of the time, you'll be looking for a totally unambiguous pronoun. if you get a problem on which none of the pronouns are totally unambiguous - as is the case on problem 19 in the verbal supplement - only then should you start looking for pronouns that are grammatically parallel to one of the possible antecedents, as in the problems quoted here.

make sense?
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

--

Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
Potete chiedere domande a Ron in italiano
On peut poser des questions à Ron en français
Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi

--

Quand on se sent bien dans un vêtement, tout peut arriver. Un bon vêtement, c'est un passeport pour le bonheur.

Yves Saint-Laurent

--

Learn more about ron
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1