GMAT Sentence Correction Discussions

pavi137 · August 19, 2009, 2:05pm

A,E..
wats de OA??

Plz explain too.

1. The physical structure of the human eye enables it to sense light of wavelengths up to 0.0005 millimeters; infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength--0.1 millimeters--is too long to be registered by the eye.
(A) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength--0.1 millimeters--is too long to be registered by the eye
(B) however, the wavelength of infrared radia*tion--0.1 millimeters--is top long to be registered by the eye making it invisible
(C) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength--0.1 millimeters--is too long for the eye to register it
(D) however, because the wavelength of infrared radiation is 0.1 millimeters, it is too long for the eye to register and thus invisible
(E) however, infrared radiation has a wavelength of 0.1 millimeters that is too long for the eye to register, thus making it invisible

2. The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.
(A) The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.
(B) To the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote two letters, being the only eyewitness accounts of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
(C) The only eyewitness account is in two letters by the nephew of Pliny the Elder writing to the historian Tacitus an account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
(D) Writing the only eyewitness account, Pliny the Elders nephew accounted for the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus
(E) In two letters to the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

pj02 · August 19, 2009, 2:05pm

RAVITEJA461 Says
Puys,I have a doubt.I have been seeing most of the people using "preferred over" rather than "preferred to".Which one is correct?I learnt somewhere that the later is correct.gyan prapt karo..!!

ndhadha explained this nicely, however Raviteja, please post the sentence which confused you...

bizzarenym · August 19, 2009, 2:31pm

Nisha,

Are you sure below sentence is correct:
I have as many stamps as Tom.
Are we not missing a "does" the end?
I have as many stamps as Tom does.

Plz check and clarify. Thanks!

"As many as" should be used when comparing 2 countable quantities
I have as many stamps as Tom.

About Equal and equivalent, I guess it depends on the context but I dont think they are always interchangeable.

eg : the rent equals to a month's salary
vs.
mumbai is the indian equivalent of NYC.

equal is the exact same.. however equivalent refers to a degree of similiarity - not 100%.

Do you have an example?

Hope this helps!

siddharthaduggirala · August 19, 2009, 2:33pm

Nisha,

Are you sure below sentence is correct:
I have as many stamps as Tom.
Are we not missing a "does" the end?
I have as many stamps as Tom does.
Plz check and clarify. Thanks!

I think this is correct sentence becos, the verb "does" is understood and need not be mentioned.

bizzarenym · August 19, 2009, 2:45pm

OAs are:
1. A
2. E

I think all of you got them right and well explained. thanks!

Plz explain too.

1. The physical structure of the human eye enables it to sense light of wavelengths up to 0.0005 millimeters; infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength--0.1 millimeters--is too long to be registered by the eye.
(A) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength--0.1 millimeters--is too long to be registered by the eye
(B) however, the wavelength of infrared radia足tion--0.1 millimeters--is top long to be registered by the eye making it invisible
(C) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength--0.1 millimeters--is too long for the eye to register it
(D) however, because the wavelength of infrared radiation is 0.1 millimeters, it is too long for the eye to register and thus invisible
(E) however, infrared radiation has a wavelength of 0.1 millimeters that is too long for the eye to register, thus making it invisible

2. The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.
(A) The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus.
(B) To the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote two letters, being the only eyewitness accounts of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
(C) The only eyewitness account is in two letters by the nephew of Pliny the Elder writing to the historian Tacitus an account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
(D) Writing the only eyewitness account, Pliny the Elders nephew accounted for the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus
(E) In two letters to the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

bizzarenym · August 19, 2009, 3:04pm

Still not convinced. Don't you think in this sentence , the number of stamps that "I" has is compared with Tom?
What if I write the sentence as:

I have as many as twenty stamps.

You are replacing "twenty" with "Tom".

siddharthaduggirala Says
I think this is correct sentence becos, the verb "does" is understood and need not be mentioned.

"As many as" should be used when comparing 2 countable quantities
I have as many stamps as Tom.

About Equal and equivalent, I guess it depends on the context but I dont think they are always interchangeable.

eg : the rent equals to a month's salary
vs.
mumbai is the indian equivalent of NYC.

equal is the exact same.. however equivalent refers to a degree of similiarity - not 100%.

Do you have an example?

Hope this helps!

nuttyvarun · August 19, 2009, 4:30pm

siddharthaduggirala Says
I think this is correct sentence becos, the verb "does" is understood and need not be mentioned.

correct sentence is;
I have as many stamps as Tom HAS.

NOTE: In GMAT try and assume anything as explicit.. 😉

raviteja461 · August 19, 2009, 5:19pm

Hey can anyone explain me how this sentence is correct...

1)Ram talks like his friends do.

The sentence seems earful but as per the LIKE Vs AS rules,noun,verb combo should result in AS.But why is this rule not followed here.Please explain!!

bizzarenym · August 19, 2009, 5:41pm

"have" is NOT an auxilliary verb here therefore you can not use "has".
Correct verb is "does". :)

I have as many stamps as Tom DOES.

correct sentence is;
I have as many stamps as Tom HAS.

NOTE: In GMAT try and assume anything as explicit.. ;)

raviteja461 · August 19, 2009, 5:52pm

Can you please elaborate more on this(auxilliary stuff)!!

darth_maul · August 19, 2009, 6:00pm

siddharthaduggirala Says
I think this is correct sentence becos, the verb "does" is understood and need not be mentioned.

Still not convinced. Don't you think in this sentence , the number of stamps that "I" has is compared with Tom?
What if I write the sentence as:

I have as many as twenty stamps.

You are replacing "twenty" with "Tom".

correct sentence is;
I have as many stamps as Tom HAS.

NOTE: In GMAT try and assume anything as explicit.. ;)

"have" is NOT an auxilliary verb here therefore you can not use "has".
Correct verb is "does". :)

I have as many stamps as Tom DOES.

HAVE is an auxillary verb. and can stand alone.

I have as many stamps as Tom has. is correct.

darth_maul · August 19, 2009, 6:05pm

RAVITEJA461 Says
Can you please elaborate more on this(auxilliary stuff)!!

auxillary verbs are helping verbs. which can stand alone.

I have a dog. - this is a aux verb standing alone.
I have walked miles. - the verb is 2 words long.. and here aux verb have 'helps' the main verb to walk

raviteja461 · August 19, 2009, 6:09pm

auxillary verbs are helping verbs. which can stand alone.

I have a dog. - this is a aux verb standing alone.
I have walked miles. - the verb is 2 words long.. and here aux verb have 'helps' the main verb to walk

Thanks for the prompt reply but in the first sentence,"have" seems to be real verb because there is no other verb in the sentence!!Correct me if I am wrong.And one more thing is tell me whether "seems to be" is correct 😃

ponds_ggn · August 19, 2009, 6:16pm

RAVITEJA461 Says
Thanks for the prompt reply but in the first sentence,"have" seems to be real verb because there is no other verb in the sentence!!Correct me if I am wrong.And one more thing is tell me whether "seems to be" is correct :)

Hi,
Plz read this link, i hope it will be useful.

Auxiliary Verbs - English Grammar

darth_maul · August 19, 2009, 6:18pm

RAVITEJA461 Says
Thanks for the prompt reply but in the first sentence,"have" seems to be real verb because there is no other verb in the sentence!!Correct me if I am wrong.And one more thing is tell me whether "seems to be" is correct :)

yup ..have is the main verb.. as i mentioned in the above post, aux verbs can stand alone.. as it does in the 1st sentence. It can also 'help' the main verb as in the 2nd sentence.

darth_maul · August 19, 2009, 6:24pm

Hi,
Plz read this link, i hope it will be useful.

Auxiliary Verbs - English Grammar

Dude I don't know about the link.

This says aux verb can not be used without a main verb which is totally incorrect.

It goes ahead to say 'have' is an aux verb. Which is correct.

I have a dog.
This is a perfectly correct sentence. and here have stands alone without a main verb.

Modal verbs are verbs which can't stand alone without the main verb.

few ex: can, could, should.

You can't have a sentence like

I can a dog.
I could a dog.

Modal verbs cannot stand alone.

ponds_ggn · August 19, 2009, 6:30pm

Dude I don't know about the link.

This says aux verb can not be used without a main verb which is totally incorrect.

It goes ahead to say 'have' is an aux verb. Which is correct.

I have a dog.
This is a perfectly correct sentence. and here have stands alone without a main verb.

Modal verbs are verbs which can't stand alone without the main verb.

few ex: can, could, should.

You can't have a sentence like

I can a dog.
I could a dog.

Modal verbs cannot stand alone.

Dude

,
It depends on context one is talking about.
It is common that the main verb doesn't change form, because the auxiliary words change form.
When using the continuous tense and the perfect verb tense auxiliary verb(s) are used with the main verb tense.
When an auxiliary verb is used the main verb doesn't change form according to the subject.
The main verb tense can change form when an auxiliary verb is used to according to the verb form.

Such as:

The cat eats fish.
The cats eat the fish
The cat has eaten the fish.
The cat ate the fish.
The cat has been eating the fish.

ponds_ggn · August 19, 2009, 6:33pm

Modal verbs are verbs which can't stand alone without the main verb.

few ex: can, could, should.

You can't have a sentence like

I can a dog.
I could a dog.

Modal verbs cannot stand alone.

Modal verbs do not change there form.
"To" is not used after a verbs do have, except with "ought to".
The main verb is always in its base form when used with a verb
modal verbs stay in the base form - bare infinitive - the bare infinitive is the infinitive without "to" before the verb.
The following modal verbs are used to with the present verb tense:

can, will, shall, ought to, must, need, may

The following modal verbs are used in the past tense:

would, should, could, might

modal verbs are used to answer questions in the short form

yes, I do.
yes, we can.
No, I don't.

ponds_ggn · August 19, 2009, 6:36pm

What are model verbs?
Model verbs are also called auxiliary verbs, helping verbs and model auxiliaries.
Model verbs are not complete verbs, and they can only be used with a verb.
The usage of model verbs:
Model verbs stay in the base form - bare infinitive - the bare infinitive is the infinitive without "to" before the verb.
The following model verbs are used to with the present tense:

can, will, shall, ought to, must, need, may

The following model verbs are used in the past tense:
would, should, could, might
Model verbs are used to answer questions in the short form

yes, I do.
yes, we can.
No, I don't.

Model verbs can be used as part of the grammar structure of the sentence, such as when used with the perfect tenses.
When are model verbs used:
Prediction - Will and Shall
Will and shall can be used to state predict that an event or an action will take place or will occur The model verbs can used to make a prediction about an event or action about the future.

1. I think we will be able to go and see the move tonight.
2. My mother thinks we will not get home be it starts to rain.

Requests - Offers - Suggestions - Can - Could - May - Shall
To make requests, offers or suggestions can be stated with the model verbs
Permission - Can - Could - May - Might
Can, could, may and might are model verbs that can be used to give permission or deny permission to do something or to someone.
Can I help you cook dinner?
You may not watch T. V. after dinner.
Certainty - Possibility - Can - Might - may- Could - Shall -Can, might
- and could are model verbs that can be used to state certainty and possibility.
Do you think it might rain tomorrow night?
I might be home before midnight.
You can come over tonight if you would like to.
Ability - Inability - Can - Could - Able to
My father hopes that we will be able to go to the moves.
I can not go to Delhi with you.

ndhadha · August 19, 2009, 7:02pm

Equivalent, as many as, Equal...
how to decide upon the usage of these words/idioms in SC?? Are there any rules per say for their usage?

Still not convinced. Don't you think in this sentence , the number of stamps that "I" has is compared with Tom?
What if I write the sentence as:

I have as many as twenty stamps.

You are replacing "twenty" with "Tom".

Puys..
I may be wrong.. I'm not sure about this one. Also, a lot of what is acceptable in English grammar is not considered "the best choice" in GMAT.

Btw... 'equal' and 'equivalent' are feeling left out.. :biggrin:
any thoughts for these fellas... ;)