When a ton of wheat

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When a ton of wheat

by atulmangal » Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:26 am
When a ton of wheat was being moved from Buffalo to New York City before the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, it took three weeks and cost $100, but when the canal was used, it took less than eight days and cost less than $6.

A. When a ton of wheat was being moved from Buffalo to New York City before the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, it took three weeks and cost $100, but when the canal was used, it
B. Moving a ton of wheat from Buffalo to New York City before the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, it took three weeks and cost $100; using the canal, it
C. Before the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, moving a ton of wheat from Buffalo to New York City took three weeks and cost $100; on the canal the move
D. In 1825, before opening the Erie Canal, to move a ton of wheat took three weeks from Buffalo to New York City, which cost $100; moving it on the canal
E. To move a ton of wheat in 1825 from Buffalo to New York City took three weeks before the opening of the Erie Canal, costing $100, but in using the canal, the move

My question is First the use of IT in Op A is correct or its ambiguous?? second apart from the use of being(leave awkwardness) is there any error in Op A???
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by vineeshp » Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:47 am
Actually, for me, "When a ton of wheat was being moved from Buffalo to New York City" seems to refer to a particular incident that happened. It does not speak of general situation that the sentence is actually trying to convey.

Is the OA C?

Apart from explanation above, B doesnt sound too good. D and E are easily wrong because of the wrong use of which (modifies New York) in B and wrong usage of costing 100 in E.
Vineesh,
Just telling you what I know and think. I am not the expert. :)

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by Target2009 » Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:52 am
I think its C.
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by GMATMadeEasy » Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:59 am
'it' is not ambiguous in A but rather has no precedent noun to refer to. Incorrecty , 'it' is trying to refer to 'moving a ton of wheat' that does not exist in the previous clause.

I was between C and E, but in E 'in using the canal, move ' shows as if the move was using the canal.So i choose C . can you confirm please.

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by atulmangal » Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:00 am
@ target and @vineeshp

See the OA is C, and thats Okay. No issues

My issue is for this question some said(in earlier discussions) that Op A has parallelism error, i don't understand how??? secondly, the use of IT is correct or not.

Moreover, @vineeshp, we are talking about an incident only, something happened and we are discussing means we are discussing an incident in event in general. So, i personally don't think thats the problem with Op A.

Op C, don't you think a COMMA is requires after "On the canal" to give more clarity??

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by GMATMadeEasy » Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:02 am
E also changes the intended meaning by playing too much with prepositional phrses .

E
To move a ton of wheat in 1825 from Buffalo to New York City
is not what the author meant. The year is in reference to the canal so should stay with it. I am with C .

quesiton took me little longer to do than it should have taken . :)

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by atulmangal » Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:02 am
GMATMadeEasy wrote:'it' is not ambiguous in A but rather has no precedent noun to refer to. Incorrecty , 'it' is trying to refer to 'moving a ton of wheat' that does not exist in the previous clause.

I was between C and E, but in E 'in using the canal, move ' shows as if the move was using the canal.So i choose C . can you confirm please.
Thanks, just saw your post. You are right about the usage of IT.

OA is C only

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by aspirant2011 » Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:17 am
Hi Atul,

is the usage of "cost $100" correct?????? because i am confused as I feel past form of "cost" should be used............

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by singh181 » Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:37 am
The sentence intends to say that the "move" took three weeks and cost $ 100. But after the canal was used, the "move" time and cost were less.

Errors in A:
- "was being" moved in 1825 --> awkward structure and breaks the structure with "when the canal was used".

Also, "it" refers to wrong antecedent ("ton").

When a ton of wheat was being moved from Buffalo to New York City before the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, it took three weeks and cost $100, but when the canal was used, it

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