Logical Predication/ Rhetorical Construction

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Logical Predication/ Rhetorical Construction

by kdn508 » Sat Jun 11, 2016 6:50 pm
Hi all,

I'm trying to improve my SC skills and one area in particular is giving me trouble, Logical Predication/Rhetorical Construction. I understand that this is a broad category but what is the best strategy to improve my competency when it comes to these SC questions?

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by MartyMurray » Sat Jun 11, 2016 9:03 pm
You have to get good at reading answer choices end to end and considering them holistically.

Often people have trouble finding right answers to SC questions because somewhere along the line they got the impression that the way to get right answers is to look at little pieces of the sentences, such as the subject and the verb, and to focus on looking for broken rules. Of course if a sentence does not have any broken grammar rules, then looking at small pieces of the sentence to see whether there are broken rules won't do much good.

So finding the right answers to Logical Predication/Rhetorical Construction questions requires actually reading the entire sentences end to end and asking yourself what the various versions actually convey.

To train for this, don't attempt to do the questions in just two or three minutes each. Just take as much time as you need in order to see what's going on. Define why every wrong answer is wrong and every right answer is right. As you slowly and carefully do this for question after question you will develop an eye for meaning issues that differentiate the wrong answers from the right ones. Often modifiers and the placement of modifiers play key parts in the creation of the meaning issues. So you may want to go through these modifier pages to get better at seeing how modifiers, modifier placement and word placement in general affect meaning.

https://www.towson.edu/ows/dangmod.htm

https://www.trentu.ca/history/workbook/ ... placed.pdf

https://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ ... u/niu9.htm

As you develop an eye for the issues, you will naturally be able to speed up until you are answering the questions in under two minutes each.

If you go through some of the answered SC questions on Beat the GMAT you may get some insight into how to consider the meanings conveyed by SC answer choices, and you could always post questions yourself as well.
Marty Murray
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MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.