Contradiction using 'While'

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Contradiction using 'While'

by gmattoend » Thu Apr 27, 2017 12:51 am
According to the investigations of physiologists and psychologists, nervousness has been found to be not an organic disease but a functional one, which is a critical distinction, for an organic disease implies impairment of the tissues of an organ, while a functional disease indicates only a disruption of its role.

A. nervousness has been found to be not an organic disease but a functional one, which is a critical distinction, for an organic disease implies impairment of the tissues of an organ, while a functional disease indicates only a disruption of its role

B. nervousness, found to be an organic disease rather than a functional one, a critical distinction, because an organic disease implies impairment of an organ's tissues, while a functional disease indicates only a role disruption

C. it has been found that nervousness is not an organic disease but rather is a functional one; while a functional disease indicates only a disruption of an organ's role, an organic disease implies impairment of the tissues, a critical distinction

D. nervousness has been found to be not an organic disease but a functional one; this distinction is critical, for an organic disease implies impairment of the tissues of the organ, while a functional disease indicates only a disruption of its role

E. nervousness was found to be not an organic disease but a functional one, a critical distinction, since impairment of the tissues of the organ is implied by an organic disease, while a functional disease indicates only a role disruption

This question is from: e-gmat

OA: D

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[spoiler]In OA presented above: Is it grammatically correct to use both coordinating conjunction 'for' and subordinating conjunction 'while' in a single sentence correct? [/spoiler]
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by thecriticalreader » Wed May 03, 2017 1:45 pm
In OA presented above: Is it grammatically correct to use both coordinating conjunction 'for' and subordinating conjunction 'while' in a single sentence correct?
D. nervousness has been found to be not an organic disease but a functional one; this distinction is critical, for an organic disease implies impairment of the tissues of the organ, while a functional disease indicates only a disruption of its role

Yes, it is acceptable to use both conjunctions in a single sentence because they have two different grammatical purposes:

-"For" is a coordinating (FANBOYS) conjunction, used to connect two independent clauses.

-"While" is a subordinating conjunction, used to connect a dependent clause to an independent clause.

The first two clauses are independent clauses joined by the coordinating conjunction "for:"

This distinction is critical (independent clause 1) + FOR (coordinating conjunction) + an organic disease implies impairment of the tissues of the organ (independent clause 2).

The third clause, which introduces an opposing idea, is a a dependent clause introduced by a subordinating conjunction:

while (subordinating conjunction) + a functional disease indicates only a disruption of its role.

Two independent clauses joined by a coordinating/FANBOYS conjunction = compound sentence
A dependent clause joined to an independent clause by a subordinating conjunction = complex sentence

Both types together, as is the case here = compound-complex sentence
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu May 04, 2017 2:59 am
gmattoend wrote:In OA presented above: Is it grammatically correct to use both coordinating conjunction 'for' and subordinating conjunction 'while' in a single sentence correct?
I received a PM requesting that I comment.

This distinction is critical, for an organic disease implies impairment of the tissues of the organ.
Here, for correctly serves to connect the two independent clauses in blue.

An organic disease implies impairment of the tissues of the organ, while a functional disease indicates only a disruption of its role.

Here, while correctly serves to connect the dependent clause in red to the preceding independent clause in blue.

Putting everything together, we get the OA:
This distinction is critical, for an organic disease implies impairment of the tissues of the organ, while a functional disease indicates only a disruption of its role.
The structure here seems fine.
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