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Most Significant Medical Breakthrough

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Most Significant Medical Breakthrough

by goelmohit2002 » Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:46 am
Hi All,

Can someone please help me in solving the below question. OA is [spoiler]"C"[/spoiler]

Perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties, the real story behind the isolation of insulin was not revealed for over fifty years.

A)Perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties, the real story behind the isolation of insulin was not revealed for over fifty years.
B) The real story behind the isolation of insulin was not revealed for over fifty years, even though it was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties.
c) Although the isolation of insulin was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties, the real story behind it was not revealed for over fifty years.
d) The real story behind the isolation of insulin was not revealed for over fifty years, although insulin was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties.
e) Although insulin was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties, the isolation was not revealed for over fifty years.

Thanks
Mohit
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by ssilver0210 » Sun Mar 15, 2009 1:34 pm
In these kinds of questions, it would be helpful if you would state which answer you chose and why. Then the response can clearly state where you went wrong with your answer choice, as well as pinpoint the grammatical error.
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by goelmohit2002 » Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:32 pm
Thanks. I was stuck between "B", "C" and "D".

But I think, we can kick out "D" too....as it was the isolation of insulin and not insulin that was breakthrough.

Please tell if my reasoning for "D" is wrong....and how to find the best among "B" and "C". ?
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by codesnooker » Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:24 am
goelmohit2002 wrote:Thanks. I was stuck between "B", "C" and "D".

But I think, we can kick out "D" too....as it was the isolation of insulin and not insulin that was breakthrough.

Please tell if my reasoning for "D" is wrong....and how to find the best among "B" and "C". ?
Option (B) emphasis on "not revealed" event. That is, according to it not revealing for over 50 years is a breakthrough event rather isolation of Insulin.

In Option (D), Insulin is termed as breakthrough event whereas Isolation of Insulin is the breakthrough event.

Option (C) clearly states that though X is breakthrough event, (but) it was not noticeable for Y years.



Hope this helps...
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by goelmohit2002 » Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:14 am
codesnooker wrote:
goelmohit2002 wrote:Thanks. I was stuck between "B", "C" and "D".

But I think, we can kick out "D" too....as it was the isolation of insulin and not insulin that was breakthrough.

Please tell if my reasoning for "D" is wrong....and how to find the best among "B" and "C". ?
Option (B) emphasis on "not revealed" event. That is, according to it not revealing for over 50 years is a breakthrough event rather isolation of Insulin.

In Option (D), Insulin is termed as breakthrough event whereas Isolation of Insulin is the breakthrough event.

Option (C) clearly states that though X is breakthrough event, (but) it was not noticeable for Y years.



Hope this helps...
Can you please tell in option "B" how "not revealing" is said to be breakthrough. The original "B" sentence is

B) The real story behind the isolation of insulin was not revealed for over fifty years, even though "it" was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties.

If I put(replace it with isolation of "isolation of insulin")...then the sentence becomes....please note that "it" cannot replace a verb and can only replace noun/pronoun.

Modified B) The real story behind the isolation of insulin was not revealed for over fifty years, even though "isolation of insulin" was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties.

IMO the above modified "B" says that it was indeed the isolation of the insulin that was breakthrough.

One more doubt: Can one someone please help me understand

-----> Can "it" refer to "real story" too ? or not ? If yes, then why and if not why ?

Please tell what I am missing here.

Thanks
Mohit
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by goelmohit2002 » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:27 am
Experts please help !!!
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by ken3233 » Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:37 pm
goelmohit2002 wrote:
codesnooker wrote:
goelmohit2002 wrote:Thanks. I was stuck between "B", "C" and "D".

But I think, we can kick out "D" too....as it was the isolation of insulin and not insulin that was breakthrough.

Please tell if my reasoning for "D" is wrong....and how to find the best among "B" and "C". ?
Option (B) emphasis on "not revealed" event. That is, according to it not revealing for over 50 years is a breakthrough event rather isolation of Insulin.

In Option (D), Insulin is termed as breakthrough event whereas Isolation of Insulin is the breakthrough event.

Option (C) clearly states that though X is breakthrough event, (but) it was not noticeable for Y years.



Hope this helps...
Can you please tell in option "B" how "not revealing" is said to be breakthrough. The original "B" sentence is

B) The real story behind the isolation of insulin was not revealed for over fifty years, even though "it" was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties.

If I put(replace it with isolation of "isolation of insulin")...then the sentence becomes....please note that "it" cannot replace a verb and can only replace noun/pronoun.

Modified B) The real story behind the isolation of insulin was not revealed for over fifty years, even though "isolation of insulin" was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough of the twenties.

IMO the above modified "B" says that it was indeed the isolation of the insulin that was breakthrough.

One more doubt: Can one someone please help me understand

-----> Can "it" refer to "real story" too ? or not ? If yes, then why and if not why ?

Please tell what I am missing here.

Thanks
Mohit
I'm not an expert, but I'll throw in my two cents.

As I see it, "C" is easily the best answer for reasons of concision and clarity of thought. The first sentence clause lumps together the "isolation of insulin" with its being the "most significant medical breakthrough" of its time; these two concepts compliment each other semantically and chronologically. The second clause says something incidental to the first, that being that the true story of the breakthrough wasn't known for another fifty years. Thus, the second clause gracefully compliments the first.

Compared to "C", answer "B" is rather awkward. This is because "B" mixes up the semantic organization of the sentence, placing the subsequent action -- the revelation of the story fifty years later -- in between the mutually complimentary concepts of the isolation of insulin and the fact that it was a great breakthrough at the time.

I apologize if this explanation is convoluted!
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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Mar 25, 2009 7:47 am
I received a PM asking me to respond.

ssilver, thanks for mentioning that it's best for people to explain what they do and don't understand when posting a question. This is really important, guys. First, it gives you practice in articulating what you do understand. Second, it allows us to help you figure out where your thinking may have gone wrong. Third, it allows us to address the particular struggles you were having with certain answer choices. So make sure to do this in future!

So it looks like people were mostly struggling with B and C, and struggling a bit with D.

The original sentence begins with an opening noun modifier (the stuff before the comma). Because that stuff is talking about a noun, that noun should be right after the comma. "The real story" is right after the comma, though, and the story is not the medical breakthrough, so A is wrong.

So what noun should be there? What is the medical breakthrough? In later choices, we have two options: the isolation (of insulin) or insulin itself.

Would it make sense to say that the existence of a substance is a medical breakthrough? Nope. So the breakthrough must have been the isolation of that substance.

Eliminate D and E - both of those indicate that the breakthrough is insulin itself, not the isolation of the substance.

Now, B and C. I'm curious where this question came from?

First, there's a pronoun issue. When using pronouns, we have to consider both logic and structure. Logically, from the first sentence, we know the antecedent should be "isolation." But there are multiple singular nouns in the sentence that could still be the antecedents, so we also need to check structure to clear this up. If the pronoun is a subject pronoun, we should expect the antecedent to be a subject, too - that will tell us that this singular noun is the antecedent, not the others. Same thing if the pronoun is an object pronoun.

In B, "it" is a subject pronoun. What's the subject of the preceding clause? "The real story." So, structurally, the sentence points to "the real story" as the antecedent. "The real story was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough...?" Nope - the story is not the breakthrough itself.

In C, "it" is an object pronoun. What's the object of the preceding clause? Well, it's not "isolation" - "isolation" is the subject of the preceding clause! Wait, so are they both wrong?

Nope. Just tricky. The object in C is "the most significant medical breakthrough." Try replacing "it" with that - does it make sense to say "the real story behind the most significant medical breakthrough was not revealed for..."? Sure, that's fine. C it is, then.

Also, B uses "even though" to connect the two clauses and C uses "although."

"Even though" implies something that happens in spite of something else.. Even though I don't know how to swim, I still jumped into the pool. Even though <one thing happened or is true>, <something else still happened or is true, in spite of that first thing>.

Is that what's going on here? Not really. Someone didn't say "hey, this is the most significant breakthrough of the twenties - let's suppress the story for 50 years!" :)
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by goelmohit2002 » Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:30 am
Thanks Stacey. Thanking quickly as it will take some time to grasp your words :-)

Will come back if any doubts.

Thanks
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by sinhap07 » Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:00 am
Hi Stacey

I have always found pronouns a scare. Please be the one who eliminates this scare.

I have always read that pronouns on GMAT should not take more than one noun. Here clearly "it" in option C can take more than one-the way you have mentioned. Then how come C is correct here-Iam not clear with "object pronouns". Should pronouns refer to preceding subjects only? pls help.

Stacey Koprince wrote:I received a PM asking me to respond.

ssilver, thanks for mentioning that it's best for people to explain what they do and don't understand when posting a question. This is really important, guys. First, it gives you practice in articulating what you do understand. Second, it allows us to help you figure out where your thinking may have gone wrong. Third, it allows us to address the particular struggles you were having with certain answer choices. So make sure to do this in future!

So it looks like people were mostly struggling with B and C, and struggling a bit with D.

The original sentence begins with an opening noun modifier (the stuff before the comma). Because that stuff is talking about a noun, that noun should be right after the comma. "The real story" is right after the comma, though, and the story is not the medical breakthrough, so A is wrong.

So what noun should be there? What is the medical breakthrough? In later choices, we have two options: the isolation (of insulin) or insulin itself.

Would it make sense to say that the existence of a substance is a medical breakthrough? Nope. So the breakthrough must have been the isolation of that substance.

Eliminate D and E - both of those indicate that the breakthrough is insulin itself, not the isolation of the substance.

Now, B and C. I'm curious where this question came from?

First, there's a pronoun issue. When using pronouns, we have to consider both logic and structure. Logically, from the first sentence, we know the antecedent should be "isolation." But there are multiple singular nouns in the sentence that could still be the antecedents, so we also need to check structure to clear this up. If the pronoun is a subject pronoun, we should expect the antecedent to be a subject, too - that will tell us that this singular noun is the antecedent, not the others. Same thing if the pronoun is an object pronoun.

In B, "it" is a subject pronoun. What's the subject of the preceding clause? "The real story." So, structurally, the sentence points to "the real story" as the antecedent. "The real story was perhaps the most significant medical breakthrough...?" Nope - the story is not the breakthrough itself.

In C, "it" is an object pronoun. What's the object of the preceding clause? Well, it's not "isolation" - "isolation" is the subject of the preceding clause! Wait, so are they both wrong?

Nope. Just tricky. The object in C is "the most significant medical breakthrough." Try replacing "it" with that - does it make sense to say "the real story behind the most significant medical breakthrough was not revealed for..."? Sure, that's fine. C it is, then.

Also, B uses "even though" to connect the two clauses and C uses "although."

"Even though" implies something that happens in spite of something else.. Even though I don't know how to swim, I still jumped into the pool. Even though <one thing happened or is true>, <something else still happened or is true, in spite of that first thing>.

Is that what's going on here? Not really. Someone didn't say "hey, this is the most significant breakthrough of the twenties - let's suppress the story for 50 years!" :)
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