water

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water

by advita » Fri Jan 07, 2011 6:38 am
Question#
Theoretically, water could remain in liquid form indefinitely in extremely low-energy environments, prevented from evaporating its molecules as a result of an insufficient level of kinetic energy present in the molecules on the liquid's surface.


(A) prevented from evaporating its molecules as a result of

(B) prevented from having its molecules evaporated by

(C) its molecules prevented from evaporating by

(D) its molecules prevented from being evaporated as a result of

(E) preventing its molecules from evaporating by

pl explain your answer..thanks.

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by EducationAisle » Fri Jan 07, 2011 7:02 am
As in most other Sentence Correction questions, it is not the rules but meaning that supremely decides what the correct answer should be.

The only rule that might come in handy here is to realize that these kind of participial phrases (starting with prevented) generally modify the subject of the previous clause - water in this case.

A implies: Water is prevented from evaporating its molecules. But this is absurd, since we know water doesn't evaporate its own molecules

B implies: Water is prevented from having its molecules evaporated by. Again, water doesnt prevent or allow anything.

D implies: This option doesnt look bad, but is clearly much more wordy as compared to C.

E implies: Water is preventing its molecules from evaporating. Again absurd, since water doesnt prevent anything.

Bottomline: Rather than looking at some grammar rule in every Sentence correction question, develop an eye for meaning distortion.
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by Isaac@EconomistGMAT » Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:06 pm
Ashish is correct in terms of directing you to changes in meaning in the sentence correction.

I would like to add a remark here:

Always look for grammatical errors first as these take up the majority of the sentence correction error types - there aren't as many correct answer choices that are based on purely eliminating meaning changes as would seem to appear. However, there are certainly enough of them to warrant special attention especially as test takers do not notice meaning changes so easily. The issue is not only one of meaning change but also of logic. In Answer A (and a couple more), there is a problem of logic too, of course, as Ashish points out.

Once you are certain that you have looked and not found (any or anymore) grammatical problems (in the question and answer choices), then you can start looking at stylistic issues from redundancies to ambiguities and meaning changes. Be careful with meaning changes: The restructuring of a sentence does not necessarily indicate a meaning change.
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by Target2009 » Fri Jan 07, 2011 7:27 pm
IMO - E < Ing modifier must use here >

@EducationAisle & Isaac@MasterGMAT :

I learnt "ing modifier" modifies entire previous clause, so the meaning i took is "the state of water to remain in liquid form at low-energy environment is preventing its molecules from evaporating by XYZ.

This sounds more logical to me. Please share you comments.

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by ankurmit » Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:30 pm
I too agree with target 2009
IMO E is answer.

'ing' modifier modifies preceeding clause and not the subject of clause.
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by EducationAisle » Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:18 pm
Target2009 wrote:IMO - E < Ing modifier must use here >

@EducationAisle & Isaac@MasterGMAT :

I learnt "ing modifier" modifies entire previous clause, so the meaning i took is "the state of water to remain in liquid form at low-energy environment is preventing its molecules from evaporating by XYZ.

This sounds more logical to me. Please share you comments.
Perhaps I am not understanding you well. As I mentioned, participial phrases are very flexible in what they modify; but in this case, it is pretty evident that it modifies the Subject of the previous clause. Lets take another example in which, hopefully, this will be even more evident:

He was a great Dad, taking care of his kids and showering his love incessantly.

In the above sentence, taking care of his kids and showering his love incessantly modifies he, the subject of the previous clause.

In the sentence below, however, the participial phrase does modify the entire clause:

The incident of bribery came to light, exposing the widespread corruption in the department.

So, this really is contextual.
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by Target2009 » Fri Jan 07, 2011 10:16 pm
Agreed.. coming back to this que.. can you explain why C is better than E. How ing-modifier not modifying previous clause in option E?

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ing-modifier ... 38943.html

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by EducationAisle » Sat Jan 08, 2011 10:03 pm
Not sure what I can add more than what I have already mentioned. Even if you were to interpret this the way youve mentioned (the state of water to remain in liquid form at low-energy environment is preventing its molecules from evaporating by XYZ), there also is a definite interpretation that water is preventing its molecules from evaporating and hence, E at best is ambiguous (and hence not preferable).

If one must use a participial phrase, while largely removing the ambiguity associated with choice E, following sentence is one of the options:

Theoretically, water could remain in liquid form indefinitely in extremely low-energy environments, resulting in prevention of its molecules from evaporation by an insufficient level of kinetic energy present in the molecules on the liquid's surface.

Again, as I mentioned above, this is contextual and the key is to select the best (least ambiguous) answer.
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by lunarpower » Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:00 am
first, note that this problem is a rip-off of #108 from GMAC's second edition verbal supplement (the blue book) -- the problem, the choices, and the reasons are exactly the same; only the specific words have been changed.

--

the modifier construction used in choice (c) is called an "absolute phrase"; here's another example:
joe ran after the bus, his arms flailing wildly as he attempted to capture the driver's attention.

these modifiers are fairly flexible, although the pronoun usually refers to the subject of the preceding clause (as it does in this example -- his = joe's). note that "its" in the correct answer also refers to the subject of the preceding clause.

if you want more information on how these modifiers work, use a search engine to find "absolute phrase"; by doing so, you will find websites that contain much more (and much more detailed) information, and many more examples, than we could reasonably write into a forum post.

--

the main problem with (e) is that the word "by" is stranded, because that choice doesn't use the passive voice. this is the grammatical function of the word "by" in this sentence -- NOUN1 is VERBed by NOUN2, a passive-voice construction.
note that this construction is present in the correct answer.

there's also the additional problem of meaning, as previously discussed by other posters on this thread -- it's not literally true to say that water itself prevents its own molecules from evaporating.
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by RACHVIK » Wed Jan 12, 2011 5:21 am
Hi Lunarpower,

Thanks for your detailed explanation. however I have a query.

How to differentiate that choice C is better over Choice E. Choice E can also be seen as a result of what is said in previous clause. It need not mean that Water is preventing its molecules from evaporation but instead the consequence of fact given in preceding clause.

How to know that an absolute phrase is needed and not a participial phrase!!

thanks
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by nipunkathuria » Thu Jan 13, 2011 6:46 pm
I would like to add something over here...'
Most of the people would go with 'E'---as the pattern follows that gerund type of modifiers , modify the entire clause...;but, if we pick E, it will go against the logic the sentence wants to portray..

Its the less amount of KE in the water molecules that causes them not to evaporate

Hence Cause = Less KE
Effect = No water evaporation

If we use E:
Cause = No evaporation
effect= Less KE in molecules
Now the latter logic is ambiguous....Hence C will be a better option in this regard
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by EducationAisle » Thu Jan 13, 2011 7:44 pm
Hi Nipun, actually preventing.. is a participial phrase (and not gerund). This is not just nitpicking, but has profound ramifications on GMAT.

Also, almost always, the participial phrase depicts the effect. Example:

Azhar scored century in the very first test, surprising everyone.

Cause: Century
Effect: Everyone was surprised

Nevertheless, E is wrong for the reasons cited thru this post.
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by Target2009 » Thu Jan 13, 2011 7:47 pm
lunarpower wrote:first, note that this problem is a rip-off of #108 from GMAC's second edition verbal supplement (the blue book) -- the problem, the choices, and the reasons are exactly the same; only the specific words have been changed.

--

the modifier construction used in choice (c) is called an "absolute phrase"; here's another example:
joe ran after the bus, his arms flailing wildly as he attempted to capture the driver's attention.

these modifiers are fairly flexible, although the pronoun usually refers to the subject of the preceding clause (as it does in this example -- his = joe's). note that "its" in the correct answer also refers to the subject of the preceding clause.

if you want more information on how these modifiers work, use a search engine to find "absolute phrase"; by doing so, you will find websites that contain much more (and much more detailed) information, and many more examples, than we could reasonably write into a forum post.

--

the main problem with (e) is that the word "by" is stranded, because that choice doesn't use the passive voice. this is the grammatical function of the word "by" in this sentence -- NOUN1 is VERBed by NOUN2, a passive-voice construction.
note that this construction is present in the correct answer.

there's also the additional problem of meaning, as previously discussed by other posters on this thread -- it's not literally true to say that water itself prevents its own molecules from evaporating.
Thanks Ron & Ashish
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by badpoem » Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:37 am
Wrong Link??!! I got the question from the Daily Set and the link directed me here. Apologise!

IMO (C).

(A) as much relief on the victor's side than it did on the vanquished. --> as much as.. - right idiom - incorrect.

(B) as much relief among the victors as among the vanquished. ---> second part, verb missing.

(C) as much relief on the victor's side as it did on the vanquished's. --> perfect!

(D) relief both on the victor's side as well as on the vanquished's. -- both - as well as -- incorrect usage of idiom.

(E) relief both for the victor and the vanquished side. --> not parallel - both for X and <for> Y

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by rahul_gaur » Sun Jun 05, 2011 1:11 pm
lunarpower wrote:first, note that this problem is a rip-off of #108 from GMAC's second edition verbal supplement (the blue book) -- the problem, the choices, and the reasons are exactly the same; only the specific words have been changed.

--

the modifier construction used in choice (c) is called an "absolute phrase"; here's another example:
joe ran after the bus, his arms flailing wildly as he attempted to capture the driver's attention.

these modifiers are fairly flexible, although the pronoun usually refers to the subject of the preceding clause (as it does in this example -- his = joe's). note that "its" in the correct answer also refers to the subject of the preceding clause.

if you want more information on how these modifiers work, use a search engine to find "absolute phrase"; by doing so, you will find websites that contain much more (and much more detailed) information, and many more examples, than we could reasonably write into a forum post.

--

the main problem with (e) is that the word "by" is stranded, because that choice doesn't use the passive voice. this is the grammatical function of the word "by" in this sentence -- NOUN1 is VERBed by NOUN2, a passive-voice construction.
note that this construction is present in the correct answer.

there's also the additional problem of meaning, as previously discussed by other posters on this thread -- it's not literally true to say that water itself prevents its own molecules from evaporating.

I think the answer is B. This is the only choice that makes sense and moreover here the "by" is not exactly stranded. Please clarify