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The discovery of glass being expandable and able to be shape

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The discovery of glass being expandable and able to be shape

by BTGmoderatorRO » Sun Mar 18, 2018 12:51 am
The discovery of glass being expandable and able to be shaped by human breath revolutionized glass working to such an extent that today "glassblowing" has become the generic term for all glass working, whether the glass is blown or formed by other techniques.

(A) of glass being expandable and able to be
(B) of glass that is capable of expansion and
(C) of glass being capable of expansion and that it can be
(D) that glass can be expanded and it is able to be
(E) that glass can be expanded and

OA is e

Can anyone help me with the solution to this question?
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by ErikaPrepScholar » Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:03 am
This question is not valid as written. The underlined portion must include "able to be".

As it stands, E reads:

The discovery that glass
--can be expanded
and
-- able to be shaped by human breath

which not parallel - "can be expanded" is a verb phrase, while "able to be shaped by human breath" is an adjective phrase. Options like:

The discovery that glass can be expanded and is able to be shaped by human breath ...
and
The discovery that glass can be expanded and shaped by human breath ...

would be parallel. If "able to be" were included in the underlined portion, then we would get the second option.

Please be careful to copy problems correctly - incorrectly written problems are more harm than help.
Last edited by ErikaPrepScholar on Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by Akrita@Jamboree » Fri Mar 30, 2018 7:28 am
On the GMAT, we are looking for the most concise and logically correct option. Generally, assuming all other things equal (in terms of the grammatical rules such as Subject-Verb Agreement, Parallelism, Pronoun Errors, etc.), the verb form of a construction is always considered more "concise" than the noun form. The reason for this preference, on the GMAT and in formal English, is that the verb form is the most direct and succinct way to indicate an action. In most cases, using the verb form automatically results in a more precise and active construction, whereas using the noun form leads to unnecessary awkwardness and wordiness.

For instance, let us look at the following example to illustrate this -

Option A - John completed (verb) the task vs
Option B - The completion (noun) of the task was carried out by John

As we can see from the simple example above, using the verb form automatically results in a more precise, elegant, and pleasing construction. This is one of the concepts that we are going to apply to this question.

One of the splits in the question is in the first word of the underlined portion. Options A, B, and C have the first word as 'of', whereas D and E have the first word as 'that'. One of the main distinctions between a preposition - 'of' is a preposition - and 'that' is that (no pun intended :)) prepositions are always followed by nouns/noun phrases. Prepositions are always used to connect/compare nouns, hence whatever follows prepositions must necessarily be a noun phrase. On the other hand, conjunctions - e.g., although, even though, because, while, etc. - and 'that' are usually followed by a complete 'noun + verb' construction. This is, incidentally, the same reason that, among other constructions, we prefer 'Because' over 'Because of' on the GMAT - Because will be followed by a 'noun + verb' whereas because of, being a preposition, will be followed by a noun phrase.

For example: Because John (noun) was (verb) sick, he couldn't attend his classes - preferred
Because of John getting sick, he couldn't attend his classes - awkward and avoidable

Therefore, given all other things are equal and the idiomatic construction permits (e.g., words such as 'forbid', 'prohibit', 'allow' cannot be followed by 'that' on the GMAT), then we would want to go with the options containing a 'that' (or a conjunction). Let us go through the options one by one:

A - Being is avoidable and awkward
B - expansion awkward as a noun. The option also illogically suggests that the 'discovery' was of 'glass' itself
C - Being is avoidable and awkward; expansion awkward as a noun
D - it is able to be is unnecessarily wordy - the pronoun 'it' becomes slightly redundant
E - expanded and shaped - two verb forms connected in parallel and no unnecessary wordiness in terms of pronoun iteration. Also, the sentence logically captures the idea that the discovery is that theglass can be shaped and expanded rather than just of 'glass' itself. This is the best answer.

Hence, option E is the most precise, logical, and grammatically correct answer choice. Please let me know in case anything doesn't make sense.
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Mar 31, 2018 3:07 am
The wording in A indicates that the underlined portion should be extended as follows:
BTGmoderatorRO wrote:The discovery of glass being expandable and able to be shaped by human breath revolutionized glass working to such an extent that today "glassblowing" has become the generic term for all glass working, whether the glass is blown or formed by other techniques.

(A) of glass being expandable and able to be
(B) of glass that is capable of expansion and
(C) of glass being capable of expansion and that it can be
(D) that glass can be expanded and it is able to be
(E) that glass can be expanded and
A, B and C: The discovery of glass...revolutionized glass-working.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Whereas the red portion implies that glass was something NEW, the blue portion implies that glass HAD LONG AGO BEEN DISCOVERED.
Eliminate A, B and C.

and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
D: The discovery that glass can be expanded and it is able to be shaped
Here, the red portion (noun + that-modifier) and the blue portion (clause) are not parallel forms.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is E.
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by deloitte247 » Sat Mar 31, 2018 8:07 am
Option A- The use of 'being' do not go well with the option. 'being' in this context implies that the action has occurred before. From the question, The discovery of grass indicate that the glass is new
Option B is illogical in sense that the noun 'expansion' is not suppose to be applied in this case
In case C, same usage of 'being' just like option A.
Option D is very close to answer but the usage of "it is able" makes the option wrong and off point..

Option E has a good sentence structure. The verb 'expanded' and 'shaped' connect together in parallel.
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