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SC Questions based on Meaning Clarity....

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by anukrati » Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:11 am
Hi

I am facing problem in SC questions based on Meaning Clarity. I really dont know how to solve these kind of questions.Please help me solve these type of questions....
And also tell me how to approach these kind of questions.

One of the question is :

Several of the canvases that were singed and incinerated in yesterday's museum fire were painted by a famous Russian artist.

A) Same
B) In yesterday's museum fire, several of the canvases that had been singed and incinerated were
C) Yesterday several of the canvases that were singed or incinerated in the museum fire were
D) Several of the canvases that were singed and incinerated in yesterday's museum fire had been
E) Several of the canvases that were singed or incinerated in yesterday's museum fire had been


Thanks
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by need720+ » Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:44 am
IMO B
In B, past perfect is correctly used.
OA?
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by anukrati » Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:47 am
OA is not B.
Can you also explain how to approach these kind of questions....
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by galaxian » Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:51 am
IMO D
Two past events are being described here.One happened just yesterday (were) & another long back when the canvasses were painted (use of had been).

What is the OA ?
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by anukrati » Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:08 am
I also went with option D with the same logic.
But Correct OA is E.

The only difference in Option D and E is "that were singed and incinerated" vs "that were singed or incinerated".

Can anyone tell me how option E is correct.
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by Frankenstein » Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:12 am
Hi,
singed - burned superficially(partially burned)
incinerated - burned to ashes(completely burned).
If we know the appropriate meanings of these words, E sounds better because they cannot be singed and incinerated at the same time.
Can you post the source.
Cheers!

Things are not what they appear to be... nor are they otherwise
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by anukrati » Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:21 am
Source: Manhattan GMAT Forum.
Thanks Frankenstein
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by naveen451 » Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:34 am
IMO C
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by Brian@VeritasPrep » Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:06 am
Hey all:

I love the discussion. First off, let me point out that this question is a replica of an OG question that uses "damaged and/or destroyed" in place of singed and incinerated (that question talks about buildings in an earthquake). If you're unclear on "singed" and "incinerated", my guess is that those words may be outside the scope of what the GMAT would really test...that's a little too nuanced in terms of vocabulary (not at all criticizing the question here, though - for purposes of teaching it's fantastic so it serves its purpose really well). But "damaged" vs. "destroyed" is a little more mainstream and pretty fair (obviously...it made the actual test).

In terms of meaning clarity and how to approach it, just ask yourself "could this really have happened?". Even with verb tenses, most of the time it comes down less to a purely "grammatical" distinction and more to one of logic - could the events have happened in that order and in that timeframe?

Here, B and C are great (but wrong) answer choices. Is it in any way logical to think that, all on the same day (yesterday), a famous artist painted several paintings, delivered them to a museum, and then saw them burned in a fire? The placement of "yesterday" in C or "in yesterday's fire" in B both assign that duration - one day - to the entire sentence. And that's just not logical.

As Frankenstein said, the big problem with A and D is that once something is incinerated (burned to a point at which it no longer exists) it can't be also singed (superficially burned). So the "and" in both choices is wrong. And like I said...in this particular question I don't know that that's entirely fair for a nonnative speaker, but the GMAT official test would probably use words that are a little more commonplace so the lesson still holds.
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep

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by navami » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:41 am
E it is.
because the fire could not have burnt and scorched the paintings. the paintings were either slightly burnt or burnt and destroyed
This time no looking back!!!
Navami
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