Tricky GMAT SC Questions from

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Tricky GMAT SC Questions from

by gagan_2k » Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:50 am
Tricky GMAT SC Questions
1) In the Unites States, more than half of all the arrests for serious crimes against property are of 20 years old or younger.
A) of 20 year olds or younger.
B) 20 Years old or younger.
C) of persons 20 years old or younger.
D) persons 20 years old or less
E) 20 years or less.
OA -C

Through this question, I wanted to discuss the use of "less".
I feel that we can use "less" in such sentences as "persons aged 20 years or less" or "persons of age 20 years or less" because "or" is providing an alternate numeric quantity by using "OR".
In this question OA is C because it uses or to provide and alternate(choice) between persons and not the numeric quantity.
Please let me know whether my line of thinking is correct.
Views of fellow moderators and forum members are welcome.

2) In London that afforded its playwrights only two theaters, Alpha Behn, by 1687, had had 17 of her plays staged in as many years.
A) In London that afforded its playwrights only two theaters.
B) In a London that afforded its playwrights only two theaters.
C) Even though London's playwrights only were afforded two theaters.
D) only two theaters were afforded by London to its play rights, and.
E) Two theaters only were afforded by London to its play rights, and.
OA-B


According to me the Answer should be A) but the OA is B. I couldn't understand the use of "a London" in option B.

3)The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration have been corrected, according to the firm of consulting engineers.
A) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration.
B) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure, leading to its deterioration.
C) leading to its deterioration, the Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure.
D) The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration.
E) The defects in the supporting structure of the Statue of Liberty which led to its deterioration.
OA-E

I narrowed down to D and E.
Although I am confused over both D and E because they are not using "that" and "which" as per GMAT rules that mandate that Relative Pronouns that/which refer the closest pronoun, I chose D over E because I thought that in option E "which" without a comma preceding is not the correct usage.Moreover, I think that in option D "that" can qualify noun "supporting structure" and "its" clearly refers to The Statue of Liberty(Subject of the sentence).
I am totally puzzled.Please help me getting the logic right.
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by Karen » Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:10 pm
In your first example, the use of 'less' that you're proposing sounds odd to me, but you don't need to split hairs that much to narrow it down to C. C is the only one that isn't falsely claiming that arrests are persons. C says the arrests are *of* persons. That's actually all you need to look at there. As for your question about 20 years of age or less, I doubt the GMAT would accept that usage, but we'd need to find more official examples to check.
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Thanks...

by gagan_2k » Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:27 pm
what about other questions?

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statue of Liberty

by satish.nagdev » Fri Feb 06, 2009 3:07 am
[D) The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration. ] in this option second [its] refers to supporting structure while it should ideally refer to the statue itself

HTH

also second question is mumbo jumbo to me can't figure out what it is someone please guide

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by raunekk » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:06 am
1st has be explained perfectly...

For 2nd...

Though it sounded a bit weird to me also in the first place..

"a london" means that the writer is talking about the era/period...

try googling the same..

For 3rd,

in D,

"its" can refer to statue of liberty and also to supporting structure..

i hope this helps...

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by jeevan.Gk » Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:14 am
IF U GET THIS IN gmat , U WOULD GET WITH A COMMA PRECEEDED TO WHICH.. THEN IT MAKES PERFECT PICK :)

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by Alara533 » Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:10 am
raunekk wrote: "a london" means that the writer is talking about the era/period...
Thanks Raunekk, now 'a london' makes sense.

About 3rd question and option D. I feel some additional issues with it. First point - its wordy that option E.
The defects in the supporting structure of the Statue of Liberty is better than The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure
Second one is the use of that in D. To me it tells - only the defects that led to its deterioration were corrected! Which looks more appropriate there.

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by tanviet » Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:31 am
"to be of " here mean what, pls, help

why b and e is wrong, pls, help

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by iamcste » Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:14 am
Can you Original poster use spolier for OAs

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by ellexay » Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:00 pm
Through this question, I wanted to discuss the use of "less".
I feel that we can use "less" in such sentences as "persons aged 20 years or less" or "persons of age 20 years or less" because "or" is providing an alternate numeric quantity by using "OR".


Statements involving age (younger, older) are unique. The rule is to use "younger," not "less," when describing relativity of age.

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