1000 SC #115

[Toast]

Is it parallel? I don't understand. help me.

Qn:115


Any medical test will sometimes fail to detect a condition when it is present and indicate that there is one when it is not.
(A) a condition when it is present and indicate that there is one
(B) when a condition is present and indicate that there is one
(C) a condition when it is present and indicate that it is present
(D) when a condition is present and indicate its presence
(E) the presence of a condition when it is there and indicate its presence

[Stacey Koprince]

Not the greatest question - I wouldn't recommend studying it. Here's a simpler map of the sentence:

A test will:
fail to detect X when Y
and
indicate X when Z

I won't address every issue in each choice down below, just the main one:

A) the word "there" refers to "a condition." If you replace "there" with "a condition," you get: "fail to detect a condition when it is present and indicate that a condition is one when it is not." "A condition is one" doesn't make sense.

B) Same issue as A.

C) I'm guessing the explanation discussed this one in terms of parallelism:
"fail to detect... a condition.......... when it is present" and
"indicate.......... that it is present... when it is not"

That middle pair isn't perfectly parallel - but I'm not convinced that this sentence requires parallelism. I think this sentence is comprehensible without it. (Hence I don't like this question overall.)

D) you really want what you're detecting (or, in this case, failing to detect) to follow "to detect," but in this choice, "when" follows "to detect." (B has same issue.) Also, I'm guessing the explanation will say this choice isn't parallel. I think the easier way to think of it is clarity - "when a condition is present and indicate its presence when it is not" - that last bit is difficult to understand clearly. The parallelism really spells it out for you.

E) Guessing this one is supposed to be right b/c of the parallelism:
"fail to detect... the presence of a condition.... when it is there" and
"indicate.......... its presence......................... when it is not"

[anuroopa]

isn't detect the presence wordy - i wud go with C

[realanoop]

this is q 85 in the og review (sc section) ans is C

[gmat740]

Hey Guys, Sorry for reopening this thread again.
Can you tell me what's wrong with D?

[sumanr84]

Hey Guys, Sorry for reopening this thread again.
Can you tell me what's wrong with D?

Really confusing question because of too many "IT".

OG Says - D is wrong because "when a condition is present " emphasizes the time of the detection rather than the condition itself. Final "IT" has no referent.

[ansumania]

Not the greatest question - I wouldn't recommend studying it. Here's a simpler map of the sentence:

A test will:
fail to detect X when Y
and
indicate X when Z

I won't address every issue in each choice down below, just the main one:

A) the word "there" refers to "a condition." If you replace "there" with "a condition," you get: "fail to detect a condition when it is present and indicate that a condition is one when it is not." "A condition is one" doesn't make sense.

B) Same issue as A.

C) I'm guessing the explanation discussed this one in terms of parallelism:
"fail to detect... a condition.......... when it is present" and
"indicate.......... that it is present... when it is not"

That middle pair isn't perfectly parallel - but I'm not convinced that this sentence requires parallelism. I think this sentence is comprehensible without it. (Hence I don't like this question overall.)

D) you really want what you're detecting (or, in this case, failing to detect) to follow "to detect," but in this choice, "when" follows "to detect." (B has same issue.) Also, I'm guessing the explanation will say this choice isn't parallel. I think the easier way to think of it is clarity - "when a condition is present and indicate its presence when it is not" - that last bit is difficult to understand clearly. The parallelism really spells it out for you.

E) Guessing this one is supposed to be right b/c of the parallelism:
"fail to detect... the presence of a condition.... when it is there" and
"indicate.......... its presence......................... when it is not"

stacey, can't we remove E on the ground that it says'its presence' ; 'its' is in possesive and if we try to replace it it would say, 'conditions presence' which would be wrong?

[clawhammer]

can someone please clarify why E is wrong?

[Onell]

OG says :
"There is one leaves it in the final clause without a referent"

Can smn explain ?

[kvora612]

correct me if i am wrong... but when the sentence states " fail to detect" it refers to a condition , not "when a condition", in B & D and "the presence of a condition ", as in E. it fails to detect a condition.

[tanviet]

this is og question and should be studied carefully.

regarding A and B

"one" in these choices show a condition which is different with the condition mentioned at the begining and so, "it" at the end becomes ambiguous because we have 2 conditons here.

is that right? pls confirm.

I have another question. this question is not relevant to this quesiton but relevant to gmat.

"one" and "that" both are used to refer to a noun which is different from previous noun. what is difference between "one" and "that" ? pls help

"that" appears many times in og questions and "one" appears in this question. certainly, my quesiton is good for gmat.

[tanviet]

I think that this question test us the use "one" and "it"