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Problems with lengthy SC questions.

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Problems with lengthy SC questions.

by louvre » Thu Sep 11, 2008 2:10 am
Hi forum,
I have a serious problem with the lengthy SC questions, typically those where the complete sentence is underlined?
How to deal with them?
Please explain with some examples / samples pls?
Many thanks in advance,
--Louvre.

PS: let me know if someone wants me to post questions here.
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by louvre » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:20 am
could someone discuss the techniques they use please?
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by hengirl03 » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:37 pm
When I'm stumped with SC questions, I try to notice the difference between all the answers. Usually this helps me narrow down my choices.


Post some actual questions, and I'll try to give you more specific techniques.
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by louvre » Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:38 am
Thanks hengirl03,

The only issue with such questions is that they are taking too long for me to analyze and I don't even know where to start from and what to llok for.

let's take the following example!
thanks again!

The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

(A) The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

(B) To the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote two letters, being the only eyewitness accounts of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

(C) The only eyewitness account is in two letters by the nephew of Pliny the Elder writing to the historian Tacitus an account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

(D) Writing the only eyewitness account, Pliny the Elder's nephew accounted for the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

(E) In two letters to the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
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by anju » Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:25 pm
louvre wrote:Thanks hengirl03,

The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

(A) The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

(B) To the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote two letters, being the only eyewitness accounts of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

(C) The only eyewitness account is in two letters by the nephew of Pliny the Elder writing to the historian Tacitus an account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

(D) Writing the only eyewitness account, Pliny the Elder's nephew accounted for the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

(E) In two letters to the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
IMO: D
Let's look for options which we can outright reject..
B - contains a being - being almost wrong in GMAT
C - passive voice - should be avoided

Next look for the modifiers,
D: Writing the only eyewitness account modifies Pliny the Elder's nephew which is correct - so this is a contender option
E: In two letters to the historian Tacitus correctly modifies the nephew of Pliny the Elder - contender option
next look for other part and look for differences.
"account for" is the correct idiom
"account of" is not correct. The other correct idiom is "on account of" which means "because of" - not relevant

The only option left is D so D is the correct option
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by hengirl03 » Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:55 pm
Actually, I believe that the answer is E.

anju: "account of" is right. However, the use of "account for" in D changes the meaning of the sentence.

"account for" explains the reason for something or it forms the total of an amount of something.

"account of" explain what it be recorded.

So, D is not right.


Louvre: For a question like this I would first read the sentence. Then, I would try to see if I can spot any errors in the first equation. If so, I eliminate any answer choice with that error. If not, I check to see how the other answer choices differ from the original sentence.

Using the example that you provided:
A. Is written in a confusing manner.
B. Makes it seem like the two letters are the given the eyewitness account.
C. Confusing
D. Is wrong for the reason listed above. Plus, it is confusing.
E. Is a clear and concise answer.

In summary, for long SC questions:
1. Try to spot errors in the original sentence
2. Notice the difference between the sentence
3. Eliminate any error that you find from all the answer choices.
4. Use your ear to test if you final answer sounds right.

Does this help?
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by louvre » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:32 pm
Hi hengirl,
thanks for the explanation!
The only problem I had was with the first step you mentioned, for the same reason that it is a long sentence to look for errors.
And usually it takes really long to spot an error.
May be subconsciously I was following the same steps as you mentioned, but just got to beat the TIME.
Thanks again for the time.

And anju,
thanks to you too! I didn't bother the correct answer, my sole idea was to know how you people tackle such problems.

I appreciate your participation in the discussion.
Cheers,
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by Indradeep » Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:08 pm
I think it is E too. Reasoning is:

(A) The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.
Modifier error -> eruption...Vesuvious -> in two letters

(B) To the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote two letters, being the only eyewitness accounts of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
Being should be avoided.
Also modifier error-> two letters -> eye witness

(C) The only eyewitness account is in two letters by the nephew of Pliny the Elder writing to the historian Tacitus an account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
I think Elder should be Elder's -> possessive.

(D) Writing the only eyewitness account, Pliny the Elder's nephew accounted for the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.
Modifier error: Vesuvius -> two letters

(E) In two letters to the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.[/u]
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by amitdgr » Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:26 am
louvre wrote:
The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

(A) The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

CHOICE A -> look at the red portion, it seems as if the eruption occurred in two letters

(B) To the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote two letters, being the only eyewitness accounts of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

CHOICE B -> I am not exactly able to tell where the error lies. But B sounds awkward to me

(C) The only eyewitness account is in two letters by the nephew of Pliny the Elder writing to the historian Tacitus an account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

CHOICE C -> WORDY/ AWKWARD, the word account is repeated unnecessarily, use of "writing" here seems awkward

(D) Writing the only eyewitness account, Pliny the Elder's nephew accounted for the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

CHOICE D -> wrong usage of accounted for, this means Pliny the elder's nephew caused the volcano

(E) In two letters to the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

CHOICE E -> Seems as the correct answer to me
See my reasoning in blue above
Please visit my blog Gmat Tips and Strategies
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by stop@800 » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:07 am
My strategy: It works almost always

For an answer to be correct, everything in it has to be correct and for it to be wrong only one thing has to be wrong.

Just read the whole sentence and match it for parallelism, Subject verb etc whatever you encounter.
As soon as you find an error stop and and rule out all other options having same error.
Now move to next valid choice and reread...
[Keep choice where you are not sure of]

It the end you will mostly have 1 or 2 options left.
Check the difference and select the best one :)
All the best!!
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by ahhock » Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:22 pm
I am a little confused.

I'm trying to understand why it is acceptable for "the nephew of Pliny the Elder" to be modified by "in two letters to the historian Tacitus."

Does "in two letters to the historian Tacitus" not modify the writings of the nephew instead?
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