BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

BTG PQ:The secretary of war expressed the conclusio

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:22 am
Location: India
Thanked: 5 times
Followed by:3 members

BTG PQ:The secretary of war expressed the conclusio

by The Jock » Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:31 am
Question Source: BTG Practice Question

The secretary of war expressed the conclusion, on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but that we should seek to make a profound psychological impression on as many of the inhabitants as possible.

a. on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
b. to which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
c. which the agreement on was general, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
d. on which there was general agreement, that the Japanese could not receive any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and
e. and there was general agreement to it, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and

My question Is "that...., that...., but that...." construction is right or we need to have "that....,that...., and that..."?
Thanks and Regards,
Varun
https://mbayogi.wordpress.com/
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Legendary Member
Posts: 520
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 am
Thanked: 70 times
Followed by:6 members

by niksworth » Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:56 am
Here but is necessary because the idea conveyed by the last clause - that we should seek to make a profound psychological impression on as many of the inhabitants as possible. is in opposition to the idea conveyed by that we could not concentrate on a civilian area.

In simpler words, notice the two sentences -
1. We could not concentrate on civilian areas but we should create a huge psychological impression on the inhabitants.
2. We could not concentrate on civilian areas and we should create a huge psychological impression on the inhabitants.

Notice how statement 2 does not convey the disparity in ideas between the coordinating conjunction. Statement 1 does this well.

D and E have other errors as well (Passive to active switch in the three parallel clauses with that)

By the way, A looks the best answer. Whats the OA?
scio me nihil scire
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:22 am
Location: India
Thanked: 5 times
Followed by:3 members

by The Jock » Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:43 am
Yes, OA is A.
Thanks and Regards,
Varun
https://mbayogi.wordpress.com/
Top
User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:57 am

by whirlwind » Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:03 am
Isn't the sentence incorrect?
Whom does 'we' refer to?
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 155
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:32 pm
Thanked: 3 times

by GHong14 » Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:27 pm
The reason "that...., that...., but that...." is preferred "that....,that...., and that..." is that the former portrays contrast. What is the contrast that the author is trying to portray in this sentence? Paraphrased: "The lack of warning, not concentrating in civilian areas BUT we want to make a profound impression on the Japanese population." If we simply use that...that...and...that there will be a logical error because AND is not the proper conjunction that should b used to show contrast.
Top
Legendary Member
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 3:46 am
Thanked: 21 times
Followed by:7 members

Expert please

by GMATMadeEasy » Tue Feb 01, 2011 5:06 am
logically A might be correct but grammatically it is wrong. What "we" refers to ? Can we write a GMAt sentence like this ?

expert please.
Top
User avatar
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 2:41 am
Thanked: 2 times

by vatsalroxy » Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:33 am
The secretary of war expressed the conclusion, on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but that we should seek to make a profound psychological impression on as many of the inhabitants as possible.

a. on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
b. to which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
c. which the agreement on was general, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
d. on which there was general agreement, that the Japanese could not receive any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and
e. and there was general agreement to it, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and
Ok lets do this : Eliminate the probable wrong options. Well in this case POE as well as direct choice both can work.

A) "On which" correctly refers to the conclusion on which agreement was on!. So ON is right in terms of prepositional meaning. I shall not be quite an expert in grammar terminology but will try to be as simple as I can.

Agreement was on Something(conclusion) ....and agreement To something is a slightly awkward phrase here because Agreement TO is always SOME ACTION(Verb). not SOMETHING (Noun)


Now the structure ."that we could not give the Japanese any warning"
That refers to agreement clearly so its fine
We could not -----> noun - verb -noun-verb..in all three parallel parts

B) To which - ----> Nay !! Cant be coz agreement is on something(Noun) not to someone action(Verb) - Eliminate ..no need to further check.


C) agreement was on General???? ----> i guess that's something which author doesnt mean to say. He rather wishes to say that there was a general agreement on the conclusion. Also it's construction is quite passive.
Can be eliminated.

D)On which .....correct ...that (pronoun or can be said noun) the Japanese (Noun) could (Verb)not receive any warning(Noun), that(PNoun) civilian areas(Noun) could not be(Verb) concentrated(Verb) on, and that(Noun) we should (Verb)seek to make a profound psychological impression(Noun) on as many of the inhabitants as possible.

There the structure of Noun -verb -noun verb fails ....in the non underlined part.

Also there has to be a contrast so instead of AND there should be BUT.

D eliminated

E: IT reference here is not ambiguous but the this phrase doesnt act like a modifier looks like 2 clauses joined by AND conjunction but the part after AND is having an error with usage of AGREEMENT.
it should be AGREEMENT ON not AGREEMENT TO IT..

And last but not least AND again is misused to depict the contrast. BUT is the word to depict contrast. So it can be eliminated.

Hence only A remains.
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:41 pm
Location: India
GMAT Score:580

by breakkgmat » Sun May 29, 2011 8:31 pm
@ GMATMadeEasy,
Grammatically incorrect sentences would never be the right answer on GMAT.Anyways,WE refer to the group of people.The secretary of war,can't say "I could not give the Japanese any warning, that I could not concentrate on a civilian area, but that I should"..So,wE correctly placed here..
Top
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:02 am
Location: Switzerland
Thanked: 5 times

by Fractal » Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:18 am
what about "there"?

The secretary of war expressed the conclusion, on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but that we should seek to make a profound psychological impression on as many of the inhabitants as possible.

i thought that this answer will be incorrect because of the use of "there", since it is not refering to a place.

i would appreciate it if anybody could clarify on this issue :-)
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:24 am
Thanked: 2 times
GMAT Score:590

by monge1980 » Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:11 pm
The secretary of war expressed the conclusion, on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but that we should seek to make a profound psychological impression on as many of the inhabitants as possible.

a. on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
b. to which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
c. which the agreement on was general, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
d. on which there was general agreement, that the Japanese could not receive any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and
e. and there was general agreement to it, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and
I have a question for you, experts:

the rules say that we can use either "agree with a person" or "agree upon/to something". That said I think that the correct answer should be

B)to which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but

If the rule is true, we couldn't say " there was general agreement on a conclusion", but "to a conclusion".

What do you think?
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 540
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:24 pm
Thanked: 37 times
Followed by:6 members

by navami » Sat Sep 03, 2011 1:02 pm
A is better here
This time no looking back!!!
Navami
Top
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 160
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:09 pm
Thanked: 1 times
Followed by:1 members

by Sharma_Gaurav » Thu Apr 05, 2012 1:30 am
option A is the correct choice. All other choices are wrong including D which is not parallel in the three sub clauses.
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 626
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 2:50 am
Location: Ahmedabad
Thanked: 31 times
Followed by:10 members

by ronnie1985 » Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:47 am
this sentence sounds so awkward...
Follow your passion, Success as perceived by others shall follow you
Top
Legendary Member
Posts: 2789
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 am
Location: Chennai, India
Thanked: 206 times
Followed by:43 members
GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:16 pm
The secretary of war expressed the conclusion, on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but that we should seek to make a profound psychological impression on as many of the inhabitants as possible.

a. on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
b. to which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
c. which the agreement on was general, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
d. on which there was general agreement, that the Japanese could not receive any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and
e. and there was general agreement to it, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and

IMO: A
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1665
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:04 pm
Thanked: 165 times
Followed by:70 members

by karthikpandian19 » Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:24 pm
Nice explanation
vatsalroxy wrote:
The secretary of war expressed the conclusion, on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but that we should seek to make a profound psychological impression on as many of the inhabitants as possible.

a. on which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
b. to which there was general agreement, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
c. which the agreement on was general, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that we could not concentrate on a civilian area, but
d. on which there was general agreement, that the Japanese could not receive any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and
e. and there was general agreement to it, that we could not give the Japanese any warning, that civilian areas could not be concentrated on, and
Ok lets do this : Eliminate the probable wrong options. Well in this case POE as well as direct choice both can work.

A) "On which" correctly refers to the conclusion on which agreement was on!. So ON is right in terms of prepositional meaning. I shall not be quite an expert in grammar terminology but will try to be as simple as I can.

Agreement was on Something(conclusion) ....and agreement To something is a slightly awkward phrase here because Agreement TO is always SOME ACTION(Verb). not SOMETHING (Noun)


Now the structure ."that we could not give the Japanese any warning"
That refers to agreement clearly so its fine
We could not -----> noun - verb -noun-verb..in all three parallel parts

B) To which - ----> Nay !! Cant be coz agreement is on something(Noun) not to someone action(Verb) - Eliminate ..no need to further check.


C) agreement was on General???? ----> i guess that's something which author doesnt mean to say. He rather wishes to say that there was a general agreement on the conclusion. Also it's construction is quite passive.
Can be eliminated.

D)On which .....correct ...that (pronoun or can be said noun) the Japanese (Noun) could (Verb)not receive any warning(Noun), that(PNoun) civilian areas(Noun) could not be(Verb) concentrated(Verb) on, and that(Noun) we should (Verb)seek to make a profound psychological impression(Noun) on as many of the inhabitants as possible.

There the structure of Noun -verb -noun verb fails ....in the non underlined part.

Also there has to be a contrast so instead of AND there should be BUT.

D eliminated

E: IT reference here is not ambiguous but the this phrase doesnt act like a modifier looks like 2 clauses joined by AND conjunction but the part after AND is having an error with usage of AGREEMENT.
it should be AGREEMENT ON not AGREEMENT TO IT..

And last but not least AND again is misused to depict the contrast. BUT is the word to depict contrast. So it can be eliminated.

Hence only A remains.
Regards,
Karthik
The source of the questions that i post from JUNE 2013 is from KNEWTON

---If you find my post useful, click "Thank" :) :)---
---Never stop until cracking GMAT---
Top
Post new topic Locked