Sentence Correction_Verbs

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soumya_165: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 8; Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2011 1:58 am

by soumya_165 » Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:03 am

For well over a century, visitors to Yellowstone National Park have looked out over protective barriers and saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a clock.

a) saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a
b) saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity was used to set a
c) saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, with a regularity that could be used to set a
d) seen Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, with a regularity that could be used to set a
e) seen Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a

Can someone help me out by answering what is wrong with "saw" in the above question

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:03 am

anukrati: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 56; Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:10 pmFollowed by: 2 members

by anukrati » Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:47 pm

soumya_165 wrote:For well over a century, visitors to Yellowstone National Park have looked out over protective barriers and saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a clock.

a) saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a
b) saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity was used to set a
c) saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, with a regularity that could be used to set a
d) seen Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, with a regularity that could be used to set a
e) seen Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a

Can someone help me out by answering what is wrong with "saw" in the above question

In the question, there is a parallelism required because of "AND".
X And Y
In the above statement X is "looked out over protective barriers"
Y is "saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water".

We also need to check that we have "HAVE" before looked, therefore the verb "saw" should go with "have".

So the sentence will become:

For well over a century, visitors to Yellowstone National Park have looked out over protective barriers and have saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a clock. .

In this sentence both actions are happening at the same time the verb should correspond to same form. And with have , we need third form of see which is "seen".

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Diehard_Learner: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 12; Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:27 am; Location: Bangalore; Thanked: 1 times

by Diehard_Learner » Mon Oct 08, 2012 2:24 am

d should be the correct answer.

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Mon Oct 08, 2012 3:36 am

soumya_165 wrote:For well over a century, visitors to Yellowstone National Park have looked out over protective barriers and saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a clock.

a) saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a
b) saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity was used to set a
c) saw Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, with a regularity that could be used to set a
d) seen Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, with a regularity that could be used to set a
e) seen Old Faithful spewing up large amounts of water, whose regularity could be used to set a

Can someone help me out by answering what is wrong with "saw" in the above question

In A, B and C, have looked (present perfect) and saw (past) are not parallel.
Eliminate A, B and C.

In E, whose regularity seems to refer to large amounts of water.
Not the intended meaning.
It is not the water itself but the SPEWING of the water that is performed with REGULARITY.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.

AND must connect PARALLEL FORMS.
In the OA, the verbs connected by AND are parallel:
Visitors HAVE LOOKED OUT...and [have] SEEN.
The second have is omitted, but its presence is understood.

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Benni: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 22; Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:06 am; Thanked: 1 times

by Benni » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:16 am

Hi Mitch,

Could you please help me to understand the "with"-construction a little better.

(1) What kind of modifier is it. (I think it is verb modifier, as it modifies spewing up.)
(2) I have also seen with+participle constructions. They are, as far as I understand, used to have a with+subject of the participle construction+participle. But I am absolutely not sure. So please, please, give me some insight.

Many thanks.

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Mon Oct 08, 2012 10:58 am

Benni wrote:Hi Mitch,

Could you please help me to understand the "with"-construction a little better.

(1) What kind of modifier is it. (I think it is verb modifier, as it modifies spewing up.)
(2) I have also seen with+participle constructions. They are, as far as I understand, used to have a with+subject of the participle construction+participle. But I am absolutely not sure. So please, please, give me some insight.

Many thanks.

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ihatemaths: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 122; Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 6:05 am; Thanked: 3 times

by ihatemaths » Mon Oct 08, 2012 10:47 pm

"Have looked" should be paired with "have been seeing" or "seen" so eliminate A , B and C . we are left with D and E .

in E - Whose is ambigous (we don't know if it defines water or the faithful) , so go with D

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Benni: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 22; Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:06 am; Thanked: 1 times

by Benni » Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:02 am

Thank you very much for your help.

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 18 times

by tanviet » Wed Oct 10, 2012 3:11 am

WITH PHRASE is versatle because it can modify a preceding noun, a preceding clause

and in this case

a DOING PHRASE.

we should learn from og questions. This is not og question

pls, tell me the similar question in og so that we can learn that WITH PHRASE can modify DOING.

Thank you.

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