There was a ninenteenth century chemist.

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:25 am

Hi All,

In the below question, the OA is "A". I also arrived at this answer somehow. But can someone please help me understand on what basis we can choose between "critique" and "critiquing" split. Why Critiquing is wrong in this question.

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The nineteenth-century chemist Humphry Davy presented the results of his early experiments in his “Essay on Heat and Light,” a critique of all chemistry since Robert Boyle as well as a vision of a new chemistry that Davy hoped to found.

A. a critique of all chemistry since Robert Boyle as well as a vision of a
B. a critique of all chemistry following Robert Boyle and also his envisioning of a
C. a critique of all chemistry after Robert Boyle and envisioning as well
D. critiquing all chemistry from Robert Boyle forward and also a vision of
E. critiquing all the chemistry done since Robert Boyle as well as his own envisioning of

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:25 am

ajay_deepak: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 22; Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 5:06 am

by ajay_deepak » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:22 am

a critique modifies the book "Essay on Heat and Light". Critiquing can't really be an apt modifier here.

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:38 am

ajay_deepak wrote:a critique modifies the book "Essay on Heat and Light". Critiquing can't really be an apt modifier here.

Can you please help me understand why Critiquing can't really be an apt modifier ?

What is wrong with it ?

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ajay_deepak: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 22; Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 5:06 am

by ajay_deepak » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:33 pm

The book is a noun and critiquing is a verb. Modifier mismatch.

Also B, C and D lack parallelism. Now in E...it should have been 'critiquing....and envisioning of' to maintain parallelism. 'Critiquing...and his own envisioning of' doesn't maintain the parallelism as the former will make more sense. So one more reason to eliminate E.

Thus A.

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Sat Jun 13, 2009 3:32 am

ajay_deepak wrote:The book is a noun and critiquing is a verb. Modifier mismatch.

Also B, C and D lack parallelism. Now in E...it should have been 'critiquing....and envisioning of' to maintain parallelism. 'Critiquing...and his own envisioning of' doesn't maintain the parallelism as the former will make more sense. So one more reason to eliminate E.

Thus A.

Thanks.

Why can't "critiquing" modify presented...i.e. the verb of the previous clause...

He presented and in that he critiqued....

if "critiquing....and envisioning..." would have been a modifier...then would it have been fine...? or it still would have been wrong....

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ketkoag: Legendary Member; Posts: 876; Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:14 am; Thanked: 13 times

by ketkoag » Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:52 pm

here critiquing doesn't makes it clear that who is critiquing, the author or the book.. so critique would be the right choice and among A, B, C A follows the parallel structure and is clear..

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hk: MBA Student; Posts: 532; Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:39 pmFollowed by: 9 members; Location: Barcelona; Thanked: 33 times; GMAT Score:640

by hk » Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:55 pm

Simple way to eliminate answers is to look for common error.

b,c,d have parallelism error. Hence eliminate them.

We are left with A, E.

You can eliminate E on the grounds that it changes the meaning. E says - they guy/book is critiquing all the chemistry and his own envisioning. His book is not meant to critique his own envisioning. Its critiquing only all the chemistry since Robert Boyle.

So the answer is A!!!

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:06 pm

ajay_deepak wrote:The book is a noun and critiquing is a verb. Modifier mismatch.

I am not sure that this rule applies in GMAT world...( I am not sure about general English grammar as such...

)......

In my opinion there are couple of examples given in OG-10 and OG-11, where a noun is modified by verb modifier...

For e.g. can someone please help me understand what is wrong in the below sentence....where verb modifier is modifying noun( author)..... As per my understanding the below sentence is correct sentence in GMAT.(atleast as per modifier rule is concerned)....

Please correct me if my understanding is wrong.

"XYZ author, carefully analysing ABC....., did PQR...."

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perfectstranger: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 177; Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:06 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 2 times

by perfectstranger » Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:07 pm

hk wrote:Simple way to eliminate answers is to look for common error.

b,c,d have parallelism error. Hence eliminate them.

We are left with A, E.

You can eliminate E on the grounds that it changes the meaning. E says - they guy/book is critiquing all the chemistry and his own envisioning. His book is not meant to critique his own envisioning. Its critiquing only all the chemistry since Robert Boyle.

So the answer is A!!!

Could you please show the paralelisms in B,C and D?

Please do not post answers visibly . Please hide them or post them later after the discussion.

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:59 pm

perfectstranger wrote:
hk wrote:Simple way to eliminate answers is to look for common error.

b,c,d have parallelism error. Hence eliminate them.

We are left with A, E.

You can eliminate E on the grounds that it changes the meaning. E says - they guy/book is critiquing all the chemistry and his own envisioning. His book is not meant to critique his own envisioning. Its critiquing only all the chemistry since Robert Boyle.

So the answer is A!!!
Could you please show the paralelisms in B,C and D?

Parallelism is broken in "B", "C" and "D" because of the following:

B = "a critique....and also his envisioning"
C. a critique .......... and envisioning
D. critiquing ......... and also a vision of

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hemanth28: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 157; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:05 am; Thanked: 9 times; GMAT Score:680

by hemanth28 » Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:13 am

can some one explain the subtle difference between the use of "and" and "as well as" ?

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:34 am

hemanth28 wrote:can some one explain the subtle difference between the use of "and" and "as well as" ?

IMO "and" makes the subject plural...

"as well as" is used to add just fluff...in Manhattan terminology middlemen...

e.g.

X and Y "are" doing PQR
X, as well as Y, "is"....doing PQR

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hemanth28: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 157; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:05 am; Thanked: 9 times; GMAT Score:680

by hemanth28 » Sat Jun 27, 2009 7:48 pm

goelmohit2002 wrote:
hemanth28 wrote:can some one explain the subtle difference between the use of "and" and "as well as" ?
IMO "and" makes the subject plural...

"as well as" is used to add just fluff...in Manhattan terminology middlemen...

e.g.

X and Y "are" doing PQR
X, as well as Y, "is"....doing PQR

In this case the verb is not being tested since the verb is past participle. Is there any other difference interms on what the sentence is stressing on ?

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umaa: Legendary Member; Posts: 727; Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:32 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 8 times

by umaa » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:20 am

I'm resuming this thread as I still have not clarified with CRITIQUE and CRITIQUING.

A says A BOOK is a CRITIQUE of all chemistry since ROBERT BOYLE. Here, Are we comparing the BOOK and ROBERT BOYLE.
don't you think it should be CRITIQUING to modify the whole clause.

Anyone?

What we think, we become

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:53 am

umaa wrote:I'm resuming this thread as I still have not clarified with CRITIQUE and CRITIQUING.

A says A BOOK is a CRITIQUE of all chemistry since ROBERT BOYLE. Here, Are we comparing the BOOK and ROBERT BOYLE.
don't you think it should be CRITIQUING to modify the whole clause.

Anyone?

Even if we say critiquing....then D and E IMO are wrong because of parallelism issue...both of them are not parallel

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