pratyoosh wrote:Hello,

Can someone please Opine on the below problem:

Regarded by analysts to be the result of tensions during the Cold War, the spy novel reached the zenith of its sales
in the 1960s, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. like a constant threat.
"¢ Regarded by analysts to be the result of tensions during the Cold War, the spy novel reached the zenith of its sales
in the 1960s, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. like a constant threat.
"¢ The spy novel, regarded by analysts to be the result of tensions during the Cold War, reached the zenith of its sales
in the 1960s, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. to be a constant threat.
"¢ Regarded by analysts as the result of tensions during the Cold War, in the 1960s the spy novel reached the zenith
of its sales, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. like a constant threat.
"¢ Reaching the zenith of its sales in the 1960s, the spy novel was regarded by analysts as the result of tensions
during the Cold War, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. as a constant threat.
"¢ Regarded by analysts as the result of tensions during the Cold War, sales of the spy novel reached their zenith in
the 1960s, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. as a constant threat.

Ans: E

First split you can see is the idiom:

"Regarded by analysts to be" Vs "Regarded by Analysts as"

Correct idiom is Regarded as... Discard A, B.

In C, "Regarded by analysts as the result of tensions during the Cold War," is a MISPLACED modifier which should touch the sales of the novel. Also "Perceived ... like" is UNIDIOMATIC.

In D it wrongly says that the spy novel was reagrded as the result of tensions. Logically it should be the sales as the novel could have been written previously and because of the tensions the sale would rise.

Thus E

Thanks Shovan. Understood the explanation.

shovan85 wrote:

pratyoosh wrote:Hello,

Can someone please Opine on the below problem:

Regarded by analysts to be the result of tensions during the Cold War, the spy novel reached the zenith of its sales
in the 1960s, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. like a constant threat.
"¢ Regarded by analysts to be the result of tensions during the Cold War, the spy novel reached the zenith of its sales
in the 1960s, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. like a constant threat.
"¢ The spy novel, regarded by analysts to be the result of tensions during the Cold War, reached the zenith of its sales
in the 1960s, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. to be a constant threat.
"¢ Regarded by analysts as the result of tensions during the Cold War, in the 1960s the spy novel reached the zenith
of its sales, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. like a constant threat.
"¢ Reaching the zenith of its sales in the 1960s, the spy novel was regarded by analysts as the result of tensions
during the Cold War, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. as a constant threat.
"¢ Regarded by analysts as the result of tensions during the Cold War, sales of the spy novel reached their zenith in
the 1960s, when most Americans perceived the U.S.S.R. as a constant threat.

Ans: E

First split you can see is the idiom:

"Regarded by analysts to be" Vs "Regarded by Analysts as"

Correct idiom is Regarded as... Discard A, B.

In C, "Regarded by analysts as the result of tensions during the Cold War," is a MISPLACED modifier which should touch the sales of the novel. Also "Perceived ... like" is UNIDIOMATIC.

In D it wrongly says that the spy novel was reagrded as the result of tensions. Logically it should be the sales as the novel could have been written previously and because of the tensions the sale would rise.

Thus E

IMO E.

This question can be completely solved by using just 1 SC rule -modifiers.

Ask yourself the question-what was the result of the Cold war.The answer is definitely not spy novel.The more logical answer is sales.The cold war caused the sales of this novel to reach their zenith.

Eliminate A,B (regarded by analysts.. is modifying spy novel and not sales),C ( you need a noun here not a preposition),D ( makes similar mistake of modifying spy novel)

Hence E.

On a more thorough count.

There are many more errors in this question.
A) uses regarded by X to be Y.Correct idiom is Regarded by X as Y.
You don't say perceive X like Y. We say Perceive X as Y.
eg He perceived the situation as difficult one. [ situation and difficult are nouns and are ||]

You use like,strictly as per GMAT, for comparisons only.Here there is another issue in usage of like [ u compare countries with countries and threats with threats].Hence like also introduces an illogical comparison.

B) regarded X as Y is the correct idiom. This sentence changes perceived X like Y to perceived X to be Y,but this is still the incorrect idiom

C) This is a fragment.There is no main verb.The first part is participle phrase; the part after the first comma "in..sales" is prepositional phrase; the last part is an adverbial modifier (when indicates time).

Also,this sentence uses the incorrect idiom perceived X like Y.

D) Here,according to me,there is just one error " spy novel ...result of tensions during cold war"

E) Correct one.So obviously no errors.

This sentence uses the correct idiom Regarded X as Y and Perceived X as Y,correct modification (sales being modified by regarded..war).The adverbial modifier correctly modifies the time when the Americans perceived USSR as a constant threat.

This sentence also has a subject (sales and not spy novel) and a verb (reached).Their pronoun correctly modifies sales.