Sentence correction meaning errors

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Sentence correction meaning errors

by krithiksk » Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:54 pm
Hi guys,

Even though I am new to this forum i already feel like a part of it since you this has been the main reason of confidence for me for the GMAT exam. I am giving my exam in 1.5 months. I have been tracking my errors in sentence correction and I have noticed this:

I take the sentence to mean something different from what it actually is. For example:

Mauritius was a British colony for almost 200 years, excepting for the domains of administration and teaching, the English language was never really spoken on the island
A. excepting for
B. except in
C. but except in
D.but excepting for
E. with the exception of

I took the sentence to mean that Mauritius was Brit colony except in the areas of admin and teaching (Where I assumed that the local people did the job), thats y eng lang was never really spoken in the island.


so if we actually go by my understanding the answer choice would be B but the OA is C.

please help! did any of you face this difficulty?

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by [email protected] » Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:54 pm
Hi krithiksk,

SCs often provide "context clues" to what the actual meaning of the sentence is supposed to be. In this prompt, notice how the last section of the sentence states "the English language was never really spoken on the island." The first part of the sentence states that "Mauritius was a British colony....", so you should be looking for the "middle" phrase that would connect the two pieces....

How can Mauritius be a British colony.....but English was never really spoken on the island? This must mean that in administration and teaching, English was spoken, but in all other areas, some other language was spoken. This makes C the correct answer.

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