SC Question from Beat the GMAT Practise set

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crimson2283: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 84; Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:29 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 5 times

by crimson2283 » Fri May 06, 2011 11:31 pm

High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.

High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.
The condor, being high in the sky and soaring over foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, attains a rare majesty among birds in flight.
The condor, when it is high in the sky and soars over the foothills that on hot dry days look as if they might be brushed dry suede, attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.
On hot, dry days, when the foothills look like brushed brown suede and the condor, high in the sky, soars over them, it attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.
Attaining a majesty that is rare among birds in flight, high in the sky, the condor soars over foothills that look like brushed brown suede on hot, dry days.

In the sentence as stated, isnt the relative pronoun modifying foothills? -- soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor -- Doesn't this incorrectly modify condor? The correct answer to this question is A, and I don't understand how

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Fri May 06, 2011 11:31 pm

novel: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 42; Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:39 pm

by novel » Sat May 07, 2011 1:30 am

IMO e is the answer.
Sum one please explain how a is correct.

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bubbliiiiiiii: Legendary Member; Posts: 979; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 amFollowed by: 12 members; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 49 times; GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Sat May 07, 2011 1:56 am

High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.

(A)High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.

The sentence in orange correctly modifies foothills as it begins with that which indicates that it is a subclause modifying foothills. What is bothering me in this sentence is the condor which is modified by two preceeding modifiers separated by comma. I recently read this in one of the articles from David@Veritas that if a subject is modified the way it is, then we have to split the modifiers into two and place the subject between the two modifiers. Something similar to

Soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor, high in the sky, attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.

(B)The condor, being high in the sky and soaring over foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, attains a rare majesty among birds in flight.

This options correctly reduces two modifiers into one but I doubt the usage of being here.

(C)The condor, when it is high in the sky and soars over the foothills that on hot dry days look as if they might be brushed dry suede, attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.

Missing pronoun after and.

(D)On hot, dry days, when the foothills look like brushed brown suede and the condor, high in the sky, soars over them, it attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.

and indicates a parallel construction which is modified by 'on hot, dry days' which is improper.

(E)Attaining a majesty that is rare among birds in flight, high in the sky, the condor soars over foothills that look like brushed brown suede on hot, dry days.

The modifier in Red has two possible referrents, it could modify the flight or the condor. Since a modifier should have a clear and only one antecedent, E is ruled out.

@David, could you please help me understand how do I apply your article in Option A?

Regards,

Pranay

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David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pmFollowed by: 512 members; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Sat May 07, 2011 3:17 pm

Oh, that is not actually what I meant by "split the pair." It is not that you split the pair of modifiers and put the noun in between, it is actually when you have a pair of nouns that you put the modifier in between! So just the opposite. Splitting the pair is a rare thing you know...you should not expect to very often have a pair of nouns as I discuss in the article, but if you do then you would be prepared. So that does not apply to this sentence.

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voodoo_child: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 405; Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2011 1:44 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 3 times

by voodoo_child » Sat May 07, 2011 3:39 pm

David,
Can you please explain what's wrong with B and C ?

Thanks

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David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pmFollowed by: 512 members; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Sat May 07, 2011 4:44 pm

Answer Choice C is wrong because it says "the condor, when it is high in the sky and soars..." this is not parallel. It should say "when it is high in the sky and soaring"

Answer Choice B uses the word "being" which no doubt is meant to make this answer choice incorrect.

That's my opinion anyway...

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voodoo_child: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 405; Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2011 1:44 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 3 times

by voodoo_child » Sat May 07, 2011 5:20 pm

crimson2283 wrote:High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.

High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.
The condor, being high in the sky and soaring over foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, attains a rare majesty among birds in flight.
The condor, when it is high in the sky and soars over the foothills that on hot dry days look as if they might be brushed dry suede, attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.
On hot, dry days, when the foothills look like brushed brown suede and the condor, high in the sky, soars over them, it attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.
Attaining a majesty that is rare among birds in flight, high in the sky, the condor soars over foothills that look like brushed brown suede on hot, dry days.

In the sentence as stated, isnt the relative pronoun modifying foothills? -- soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor -- Doesn't this incorrectly modify condor? The correct answer to this question is A, and I don't understand how

What is the source of this problem ? I googled it and I think the OA is wrong. OA is different at different places!

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bubbliiiiiiii: Legendary Member; Posts: 979; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 amFollowed by: 12 members; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 49 times; GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Sat May 07, 2011 9:27 pm

David@VeritasPrep wrote:Oh, that is not actually what I meant by "split the pair." It is not that you split the pair of modifiers and put the noun in between, it is actually when you have a pair of nouns that you put the modifier in between! So just the opposite. Splitting the pair is a rare thing you know...you should not expect to very often have a pair of nouns as I discuss in the article, but if you do then you would be prepared. So that does not apply to this sentence.

Thank you David for correcting my understanding.

Regards,

Pranay

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mundasingh123: Legendary Member; Posts: 2330; Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:14 amFollowed by: 26 members; Thanked: 56 times

by mundasingh123 » Sun May 08, 2011 5:44 am

David@VeritasPrep wrote:Answer Choice C is wrong because it says "the condor, when it is high in the sky and soars..." this is not parallel. It should say "when it is high in the sky and soaring"

Answer Choice B uses the word "being" which no doubt is meant to make this answer choice incorrect.

That's my opinion anyway...

Hi david , Could you explain How does "Being " Make the answer wrong ? David , also could you guide me to the page in which you discussed the "Split the pair " Concept ?

I Seek Explanations Not Answers

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