Workers of Miami

[goelmohit2002]

Hi All,

In the below question, the OA is[spoiler] "C"[/spoiler]. Can somebody please help me understand the reason to kick out "D" and "E".

For "A" I kicked out based on "promise of resort hotels"....promise cannot be made by resort hotels....Kindly tell if there is some better reason to kick out "A".




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In the 1690's workers were drawn to Miami from the Brahmas by the promise of the resort hotels that would have work for them..

a) of the resort hotels that would have work for them.
b) of there being work for them in the resort hotels.
c) of work in the resort hotels.
d) for working in the resort hotels.
e) to have work in the resort hotels.

Thanks
Mohit

[asdf29]

Idioms involving promise:

promise (n.) of ... (a thing)
e.g. The promise of success drove us to the mountain's peak.

promise (v). (infinitive)
e.g. I promise to tell the truth more often – I swear.

So D is wrong before it does not comply with the top idiom, and E is wrong because promise is a noun in the sentence so the bottom idiom is not valid.

Cheers,
Paul

[goelmohit2002]

Thanks Paul.

Can there be a way out to solve this question without basing on idioms. It seems that there are just too many idioms to remember.

[Stacey Koprince]

Received a PM asking me to respond.

First, there are thousands of idioms in the English language. There's no way to memorize all of them, unfortunately. The next best thing is to confine your study only to the ones that show up on actual GMAT questions (OG, GMATPrep). For idioms you see from other sources (including ours, actually!), if you can't confirm that the idiom was actually tested on a real GMAT question, then don't add it to your list. We're trying to weed out all of the "non-official-GMAT" idioms in our material, but it's going to take a while.

This particular question really does revolve almost entirely around the idiom issue. It's rare, in my experience for there not to be something else to use to eliminate at least some of the answers - most real GMAT questions test multiple issues in one question. What is the source for this question?

[nasa]

Most of the idioms are based on certain logic.
eg:
between X and Y
compare X to Y
more X than Y

In your question,
In the 1690's workers were drawn to Miami from the Brahmas by the promise of the resort hotels that would have work for them..
is simple as
In 1960 workers are drawn by the promise of X that Y


a) of the resort hotels that would have work for them - sounds good
b) of there being work for them in the resort hotels - "promise of their being" is not correct, it should have been "hopes of their being ..."
c) of work in the resort hotels - "promise of work" is incomplete. "promise of hotel jobs to fetch higher salaries" might be appropriate
d) for working in the resort hotels - "promise for working" is awkward - maybe "drawn by their passion for working in resort hotels" is a right fit
e) to have work in the resort hotels.

[nasa]

missed the last answer choice:
"drawn by employment-agent's promise to have work in the resort hotels" is more apt than
"promise to have work in the hotels"
- You need a possesive noun to clarify whose promise is that

[gmat740]

d) for working in the resort hotels

It seems for like a present perfect[Gerund -ing]

e) to have work in the resort hotels.

This seems grammatically correct but compared to C it is wordy

[EricKryk]

Idioms involving promise:

promise (n.) of ... (a thing)
e.g. The promise of success drove us to the mountain's peak.

promise (v). (infinitive)
e.g. I promise to tell the truth more often – I swear.

So D is wrong before it does not comply with the top idiom, and E is wrong because promise is a noun in the sentence so the bottom idiom is not valid.

Cheers,
Paul

Thanks Paul, that's helpful