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Grammatical construction

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Grammatical construction

by jaggu » Thu May 10, 2012 10:35 am
However much United States voters may agree that
there is waste in government and that the government
as a whole spends beyond its means, it is difficult to
find broad support for a movement toward a minimal
state.
(A) However much United States voters may
agree that
(8) Despite the agreement among United States
voters to the fact
(C) Although United States voters agree
(D) Even though United States voters may agree
(E) There is agreement among United States
voters that

usuage of modifier much to voters (countable) is apt?

I always has problem especially if the given SC is correct in all means and to choose option A, instead my mind always thinks that there is some mistake in the given SC and choose wrong answer.Any thoughts or suggestions to improve on the mentioned situation are highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
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by Spidy001 » Thu May 10, 2012 1:07 pm
correct structure is be that .....and that ....

that leaves us with A and E.

E changes the meaning saying there is agreement , where as A says may agree.

Answer is A.

Also in A much , an adverb, is modifying verb - may agree , not voters.
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by jaggu » Thu May 10, 2012 5:02 pm
Thank you Spidy for the clarification
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Thu May 10, 2012 9:09 pm
jaggu wrote:
I always has problem especially if the given SC is correct in all means and to choose option A, instead my mind always thinks that there is some mistake in the given SC and choose wrong answer.Any thoughts or suggestions to improve on the mentioned situation are highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
I think a lot of students run into this. "It's called Sentence Correction, there's got to be SOMETHING to correct." About 20% of the time (1/5, how convenient :D), A is correct. I approach it from the perspective that the original is correct unless I can pick out a specific flaw with it. If I can't find one, I go through the answers and look at how they differ from the original.
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by krishna239455 » Fri May 11, 2012 4:57 am
Dear Bill
I posted a query on this problem before but could not get answer.
Tell me can we use "much united state voters", I think "voters" is countable noun and we should use "many"
Pls tell me where I am wrong?
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Fri May 11, 2012 7:00 am
Right, we would have to use "many" with "voters," but "much" in this sentence is not referring to voters. "However much" is in idiom that refers to an amount or quantity of something:

However much I wish it were true, ice cream is not a healthy breakfast. (whether I wish a lot or a little, ice cream still won't be a healthy breakfast)

In this sentence, that opening phrase can be read as "no matter the level of agreement among United States voters..."
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by jaggu » Fri May 11, 2012 7:29 am
Thank you Bill for your time and suggestion.
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by krishna239455 » Fri May 11, 2012 8:33 am
It is so difficult for non-native american's to know about these idioms.

Thanks Bill.
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Fri May 11, 2012 4:15 pm
krishna239455 wrote:It is so difficult for non-native american's to know about these idioms.

Thanks Bill.
Agreed, and GMAC has moved away from including so many idioms over the past few years. Often, they are used to distract us, and we should save them for last by dealing with the true grammatical errors (the ones for which we can learn rules) first.
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