SC 1000 #163

[ankanas]

Because Halley’s comet changes orbit slightly during the seventy-six-year interval between passing close to Earth, it may veer onto a collision course with a planet sometime in the distant future.
(A) between passing
(B) of passing
(C) between its passes
(D) of its passes
(E) as it passes

The answer is C.

[veekay]

Because Halley’s comet changes orbit slightly during the seventy-six-year interval between passing close to Earth, it may veer onto a collision course with a planet sometime in the distant future.
(A) between passing
(B) of passing
(C) between its passes
(D) of its passes
(E) as it passes

The answer is C.

I have seen this earlier. Here is the response of Stacy Koprince from some other forum

This source is a poor source from which to study. Some non-native English speakers based out of somewhere in Asia basically pirated a bunch of questions from old paper-based GMATs but the questions are filled with typos and errors, often to the point that none of the answer choices is good or the question has been garbled so that it is no longer sufficiently GMAT-like. If you want to study from old paper-based GMAT tests, at least go buy clean copies from mba.com. (Though, really, those are so old that I don't recommend them as a good source for study, either.)

This one is an example of one in which all of the choices are poor. Something got lost in translation here.

We do need "between" because we're talking about an interval. An interval is between two things (or, in this case, between two passes). So that eliminates B, D, and E

Is C perhaps supposed to say "between its passes"? Below, it says "between it passes" and that's obviously not right. If it is supposed to say "between its passes" then I guess that's the closest thing to a right answer, but - really - I wouldn't even study this one. It's not sufficiently GMAT-like.

[Treeram]

Option C infact says between its passed. What is the point you are drving at???? :

[msongmat]

Hi all.. I do feel that option C is incorrect as "between X and Y" is an idiom which is missing here.

[niraj_a]

agreed with Stacey - dump 1000 sets

@ankanas - use the spoiler man!

[mastbombay]

Well I have gone thru all the replies and would like to say that I did not found any ambiguity in the question or its structure........

Halley's comet passes close to earth every 76 years.

lets suppose it passed in 1900 , again it passed in 1976.

Now these two are its passes lets say A and B.

Halley's comet changes orbit slightly during this interval.

someone rightly said that interval is between two timeframes.
so interval is between A and B. or interval is between its passes

I think option C is perfect....

Please correct me if I am wrong

Because Halley’s comet changes orbit slightly during the seventy-six-year interval between passing close to Earth, it may veer onto a collision course with a planet sometime in the distant future.
(A) between passing
(B) of passing
(C) between its passes
(D) of its passes
(E) as it passes

The answer is C.

I have seen this earlier. Here is the response of Stacy Koprince from some other forum

This source is a poor source from which to study. Some non-native English speakers based out of somewhere in Asia basically pirated a bunch of questions from old paper-based GMATs but the questions are filled with typos and errors, often to the point that none of the answer choices is good or the question has been garbled so that it is no longer sufficiently GMAT-like. If you want to study from old paper-based GMAT tests, at least go buy clean copies from mba.com. (Though, really, those are so old that I don't recommend them as a good source for study, either.)

This one is an example of one in which all of the choices are poor. Something got lost in translation here.

We do need "between" because we're talking about an interval. An interval is between two things (or, in this case, between two passes). So that eliminates B, D, and E

Is C perhaps supposed to say "between its passes"? Below, it says "between it passes" and that's obviously not right. If it is supposed to say "between its passes" then I guess that's the closest thing to a right answer, but - really - I wouldn't even study this one. It's not sufficiently GMAT-like.

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Thanks mastbombay for a wonderful wonderful explanation!!!!