BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem
TTP OnDemand GMAT Video Course
Featured Course

Target Test Prep GMAT OnDemand

Scott Woodbury-Stewart’s private virtual classroom — 400 hours of master-class video lessons for the GMAT Focus Edition.

  • 715+ score guarantee — highest in the industry (99th percentile)
  • 52 chapters · 1,500+ lessons · 4,000+ practice questions
  • 400 hours of video · 1,500+ instructor-led HD smartboard lessons
  • 300,000+ students accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth & Sloan & more
  • 24/7 live support + weekly Zoom office hours with GMAT instructors
  • TTP AI Assist — 24/7 AI-powered virtual tutor for instant help
  • 1,200+ flashcards + AI-powered study assistant & daily calendar
  • OnDemand, LiveTeach & GMAT Bootcamp formats available
  • Also: GRE, SAT Math & Executive Assessment courses
  • MBA Admissions Consulting now available
  • 🏆 2025 EdTech Breakthrough Award: Test Prep Solution Provider of the Year
  • 200,000+ students served
  • 5-day free trial — $0 to start, no auto-billing, cancel anytime
★★★★★ 5.0 (559 reviews)
130-pt guarantee
$0 to start then $127/mo
Start Free 5-Day Trial Read 559 Reviews →

SC 1000 #229

Expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1578
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 8:02 amFollowed by: 34 members
Thanked: 128 times
GMAT Score:760
by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Wed Jan 27, 2010 8:49 am
Crises in international diplomacy do not always result from malice; for nations, like individuals, can find themselves locked into difficult positions, unable to back down.

(A) do not always result from malice; for nations, like individuals, can find
(B) do not always results from malice; nations, just as individuals, finding
(C) do not always results from malice; nations, such as individuals, can find
(D) aren't always the results of malice; nations in the same way that individuals can find
(E) aren't resulting always from malice; just like individuals who can find


The OA is A I don't think that can be right. How can you use a semi colon with a conjunction? The conjunction would make the following clause dependent.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:53 am
Location: Bangalore, India
Thanked: 1 times

by soumyopriyosaha » Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:33 am
osirus0830 wrote:Crises in international diplomacy do not always result from malice; for nations, like individuals, can find themselves locked into difficult positions, unable to back down.

(A) do not always result from malice; for nations, like individuals, can find
(B) do not always results from malice; nations, just as individuals, finding
(C) do not always results from malice; nations, such as individuals, can find
(D) aren't always the results of malice; nations in the same way that individuals can find
(E) aren't resulting always from malice; just like individuals who can find


The OA is A I don't think that can be right. How can you use a semi colon with a conjunction? The conjunction would make the following clause dependent.
The following link can help you with your queries:
https://www.whitesmoke.com/uses-of-the-semicolon
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1578
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 8:02 amFollowed by: 34 members
Thanked: 128 times
GMAT Score:760

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:35 am
Thanks
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1578
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 8:02 amFollowed by: 34 members
Thanked: 128 times
GMAT Score:760

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:40 am
From that site you posted

The Punctuation Rules for Linking Elements Using a Semicolon
1. When two independent clauses are relatively short and the relationship between them (contrast, addition, cause, effect etc) can be inferred without the coordinating conjunction, some writers find it more sophisticated to omit the coordinating conjunction and replace the comma with a semicolon. Not over-stressing the logical relationships and letting the reader infer them more subtly is a stylistic technique that advanced writers sometimes use. However, remember that the semicolon should be used sparingly, for any of its uses mentioned here.



"For" is a coordinating conjunction, which means that it would have to be omitted for the OA to be correct like I thought.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:13 pm
Location: Greater NYC
Thanked: 14 times

by prinit » Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:48 am
If semicolon is used in a sentence, then the two parts of the sentence should be able to stand independently.
1st part->Crises in international diplomacy do not always result from malice;
2nd part-> for nations, like individuals, can find themselves locked into difficult positions, unable to back down.
here both sentences are able to stand on their own...
in 2nd part like is comparing nations and individuals ..so A is the best pick among the given choices..hope this helps.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1578
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 8:02 amFollowed by: 34 members
Thanked: 128 times
GMAT Score:760

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:51 am
Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks, I appreciate the response.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
MBA Student
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:01 amFollowed by: 8 members
Location: Durham, NC
Thanked: 20 times
GMAT Score:740

by becnil » Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:50 pm
A sounded good because the others were all bad choices !! also, the link was very useful. Thanks Soumya.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 62
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:44 amFollowed by: 9 members
Thanked: 8 times

by gmatpill » Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:50 pm
Crises in international diplomacy do not always result from malice; for nations, like individuals, can find themselves locked into difficult positions, unable to back down.

(A) do not always result from malice; for nations, like individuals, can find
(B) do not always results from malice; nations, just as individuals, finding
(C) do not always results from malice; nations, such as individuals, can find
(D) aren't always the results of malice; nations in the same way that individuals can find
(E) aren't resulting always from malice; just like individuals who can find
FYI, understanding the semicolon issue is important but make sure you don't get into the habit of questioning these kinds of things on the actual exam.
On the actual exam, if you spent time asking yourself "why is there semicolon?"--you'd be wasting a lot of time.

Glance through the answer choices--all of them have semicolon. So regardless of what you think should be grammatically correct, the correct answer according to the GMAT guys does contain a semicolon. So accept that and examine other aspects of the sentence.

Here's a quick approach to maximize efficiency:

Step 1) Recognize that "crises" is plural. You can replace it in your mind with "they."
They......do not always result result---they match up. Good.

Step 2) "for nations, like individuals, can find"---looks ok. Looks like (A) might be the answer.

Step 3) Quickly glance through other choices.
With (B), "results" does not match the subject "they"---"they results" does not make sense.
Same with (C)
With (D), "They aren't always the results" ---"results" is plural. You want "result" instead. "They are the result of XYZ" is better. So (D) is out.
With (E) "They aren't resulting" sounds weird..don't even need to bother with the rest of the sentence.

Step 4) Choose answer (A) with confidence and move on.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1