SC: With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees

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by Gaurav 2013-fall » Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:03 am
E...i think

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by GmatKiss » Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:18 am
F) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, with

IMO: F

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by nicktim » Tue Jun 11, 2013 12:31 am
lunarpower wrote: also, remember the following principle:
it's much, much more important to RECOGNIZE EXAMPLES of grammatical constructions than to explain the actual rules behind those examples.
really.
think about the way you evaluate your own native language. if you come across an example of sloppy writing in your native language, HOW do you recognize it as sloppy? do you actually apply a bunch of formal rules to it?
no, you don't - you just realize, "hey, that doesn't look like what i've seen before." it's pure recognition.
you should try to get to this point with sentence correction.
when you get to this sort of obscure construction, just remember what it looks like and in what context it's found, so you can recognize similar examples in the future.
Thanks a lot, Ron.

This goes with your advice about "relating problems to each other" and "looking out for generalization lessons in order to gain the maximum benefit from practice sessions".

I agonized between answer choice A and B because I do not have the "intuition" that you have been mentioning in your posts. I guess that comes with enough "recognition" of patterns.

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by lunarpower » Tue Jun 11, 2013 10:26 pm
nicktim wrote:I agonized between answer choice A and B because I do not have the "intuition" that you have been mentioning in your posts. I guess that comes with enough "recognition" of patterns.
sure, as well as with sufficient exposure to the language in general.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by dentobizz » Thu Jun 13, 2013 7:18 pm
Hi Ron,
Thanks for the explanation.

Will this construction(below)be valid on the Gmat?

'With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit and with 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom , Jupiter's moon Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life.'

[prepositional phrase +and+ prepositional phrase, Main clause]

Thanks

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by lunarpower » Thu Jun 13, 2013 7:44 pm
dentobizz wrote:Hi Ron,
Thanks for the explanation.

Will this construction(below)be valid on the Gmat?

'With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit and with 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom , Jupiter's moon Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life.'

[prepositional phrase +and+ prepositional phrase, Main clause]

Thanks
yep, that's a perfectly well-constructed sentence.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by dentobizz » Thu Jun 13, 2013 7:51 pm
lunarpower wrote:
dentobizz wrote:Hi Ron,
Thanks for the explanation.

Will this construction(below)be valid on the Gmat?

'With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit and with 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom , Jupiter's moon Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life.'

[prepositional phrase +and+ prepositional phrase, Main clause]

Thanks
yep, that's a perfectly well-constructed sentence.
Thanks for the quick response.

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absolute modifier

by nicktim » Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:25 am
lunarpower wrote: this sort of modifier (COMMA + ABSTRACT NOUN) can be used to refer back to the WHOLE IDEA of the preceding clause.

recent studies have shown that X is 60 percent of Y, a finding that has shocked many in the scientific community.
or
recent studies have shown that X is 60 percent of Y, a statistic that has shocked many in the scientific community.
these are correct.
the abstract noun "finding" or "statistic" may refer to the whole idea of the preceding clause.

in fact, that's the whole point of these modifiers. they are fatally awkward in spoken language (i.e., you can NEVER EVER say them out loud), but they do things that more "normal-sounding" modifiers (such as "which") aren't allowed to do.

for 2 problems that use this sort of modifier, see:

* #59 in the purple OG verbal supplement (in which this sort of modifier is present in the NON underlined section)

* #79 in the same source (in which it's present in the correct answer choice)
I came across another similar construction from the OG, 13th edition, diagnostic test #45. Check it out :)

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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Sep 01, 2016 3:11 am
netcaesar wrote:I do not know how to solve this SC. Please, help!!!

With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees Farenheit, Jupiter's moon Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom

A) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with
B) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, its
C) Europa has long been considered as far too cold to support life and has
D) Europa, long considered as far too cold to support life, and its
E) Europa, long considered to be far too cold to support life, and to have
I received a PM requesting that I comment.

A: far too cold...and with 60 square miles
Here, far too cold and with 60 square miles are not parallel.
Eliminate A.

In C and D, considered as is unidiomatic.
Eliminate C and D.

In E, considered to be is unidiomatic.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is B.

The OA employs an ABSOLUTE PHRASE.
An absolute phrase consists of COMMA + NOUN + MODIFIER.
It serves to modify both the preceding SUBJECT and the preceding VERB.
Mary entered the room, her face beaming.
Here, the portion in red is composed of COMMA + NOUN + MODIFIER and thus is an absolute phrase.
Note the following:
her face refers to Mary (the preceding subject)
The entire absolute phrase serves to modify entered (the preceding verb), indicating HOW Mary ENTERED the room.

OA: Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, its 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom..
Here, the portion in red is composed of COMMA + NOUN + MODIFIER and thus is an absolute phrase.
Note the following:
its 60 square miles refers to Europa (the preceding subject).
The entire absolute phrase serves to modify has long been considered (the preceding verb), indicating WHY Europa HAS LONG BEEN CONSIDERED far too cold to support life.
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by Pratishtha21 » Wed Jul 05, 2017 3:19 am
A) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with
If we use "and" we'd need some new verb to make it work.

B) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, its
Correct. Think of it as Europra, its 60 percent...... , has long been considered far too cold to support life

C) Europa has long been considered as far too cold to support life and has
"Considered as" is wrong idiom

D) Europa, long considered as far too cold to support life, and its
"Considered as" is wrong idiom

E) Europa, long considered to be far too cold to support life, and to have
"Considered to be" is wrong idiom