GMAT Sentence Correction Discussions

MBA
5489

dioxins is countable.
Here is the rule given by BizzareNym before some days which is true :
If a noun can be pluralised,its countable


I agree ... simplest rule for this is if we can count them

like

1 dioxin
2 dioxins
3 dioxins .... and so on

but for words such as love, you cant do 1 love, 2 love or 3 love ...

so the answer should be E here !!
5490
Hi

I was not very convinced with the OAs of the following questions. These were taken from 1000 SC. Please provide explanations for the answers !!

In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.
(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls.
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen

A- which is - wrong, leaf and stem material both need to be referred here.
B- of all parts is un-needed. Shatter and fall need to be plural.
C- wordy and awkward.
D- perfect. Concise, and shatters and falls agree with as much as 20% of...
E- Awkward

In the traditional Japanese household, most clothing could be packed flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities.
(A) flatly, and so it was not necessary to have elaborate closet facilities
(B) flat, and so elaborate closet facilities were unnecessary
(C) flatly, and so there was no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(D) flat, there being no necessity for elaborate closet facilities
(E) flatly, as no elaborate closet facilities were necessary

flatly is wrong usage here. It has a no clear referent.
Between B and D, there being no necessity is awkward in D.


At the time of the Mexican agrarian revolution, the most radical faction, that of Zapata and his followers, proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards.
(A) land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards
(B) land, a form of ownership of the pre-Columbians and respected by the Spaniards
(C) land, respected by the Spaniards and a pre-Columbian form of ownership
(D) land in which a pre-Columbian form of ownership was respected by the Spaniards
(E) land that had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards

I think this question has been discussed in the past. Anyways, it basically comes down to between A and E.
In E - 'that' distorts the meaning as it qualifies land.
A - got the right structure and can't find any faults with it.



My choices and explanations above.
5491
On the Great Plains, nineteenth-century settlers used mud and grass to build their homes, doing it without timber and nails.

(A) settlers used mud and grass to build their homes, doing it without
(B) settlers used mud and grass to build their homes, did it without
(C) settlers used mud and grass to build their homes, making them while not having
(D) settlers used mud and grass to build their homes, making do without
(E) settlers' homes were built of mud and grass, making do without


Is the expression 'making do' right? (options D & E) I eliminated in the first go.. But that seems to be OA :(


I would go with E

IMO, homes should be followed by something that describes the homes, and the clause after comma is describing the materials that were used to construct the house.

and only one option seems to be doing that, and that is option E

Can someone please post the OA for this question.

Cheers !!
5492
I would go with D, as D completes the sentence in its meaning and is also grammatically corrected.

A, could be a possibility so have to hold on to it
B, changes meaning and diction aint right
C, meaning changes
D, could be a possibility so hold on to it
E, changes meaning and doesnt sound right

Leaves us with A and D, out of these 2 D conveys a clear picture of the sentence.

Which is until now presidents did not mix private life with public life, and the press supported this cuz the americans judged their presidents without receiving any intimate information about the prez.


OA please !!


I will go with E on this one.
Presidents live in a world.....in which X, in which Y, and in which Z. lism
5493

My choices and explanations above.

Hey Vikram,
How can this be "D" man?
the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls

See it , "most" indicates plural noun (nutritious parts), so Shatter and fall should be the correct form of verbs used.
5494
What was as remarkable as the development of the compact disc has been the use of the new technology to revitalize, in better sound than was ever before possible, some of the classic recorded performances of the pre-LP era.
(A) What was as remarkable as the development of the compact disc
(B) The thing that was as remarkable as developing the compact disc
(C) No less remarkable than the development of the compact disc
(D) Developing the compact disc has been none the less remarkable than
(E) Development of the compact disc has been no less remarkable as

Water and resource management problems will be at the head of the legislature's list of concerns for the coming session.
(A) Water and resource management problems
(B) Problems of managing water and resources
(C) Problems in the management of water and other resources
(D) Problems of water and other resource management
(E) Resource management problems, including water

Unlike the Shiites, who constitute the other major branch of Islam, the Sunnites do not await the Mahdi as a messenger from God, nor do they endow him with divine qualities or immunity from failure in judgment.
(A) nor do they endow him
(B) but they do not endow him
(C) neither do they endow him
(D) and they neither endow him
(E) while endowing him neither


I will go with C C A !!
5495
Q2:

One of the primary distinctions between our intelligence with that of other primates may lay not so much in any specific skill but in our ability to extend knowledge gained in one context to new and different ones.


- between our intelligence with that of other primates may lay not so much in any specific skill but

- between our intelligence with that of other primates may lie not so much in any specific skill but instead

- between our intelligence and that of other primates may lie not so much in any specific skill as

- our intelligence has from that of other primates may lie not in any specific skill as

- of our intelligence to that of other primates may lay not in any specific skill but


C : Correct Idiomatic usage of Between X and Y
5496

At the time of the Mexican agrarian revolution, the most radical faction, that of Zapata and his followers, proposed a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards.
(A) land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards
(B) land, a form of ownership of the pre-Columbians and respected by the Spaniards
(C) land, respected by the Spaniards and a pre-Columbian form of ownership
(D) land in which a pre-Columbian form of ownership was respected by the Spaniards
(E) land that had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards

I think this question has been discussed in the past. Anyways, it basically comes down to between A and E.
In E - 'that' distorts the meaning as it qualifies land.
A - got the right structure and can't find any faults with it.
My choices and explanations above.


Hey Vikram, can you throw some more light on this?
i am not convinced why E is wrong?
5497
Hey Vikram,
How can this be "D" man?
the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls

See it , "most" indicates plural noun (nutritious parts), so Shatter and fall should be the correct form of verbs used.


exactly my reason but the OA given is D !! :-s
5498
Hey Vikram, can you throw some more light on this?
i am not convinced why E is wrong?


Hey pj.. d tussle is between use of to what had been & that..now i'll opt for A coz that sometime tend to refer only land & not to ownership of land..dis is wat i feel..
5499

Hey puys.. can anyone tell me d source of so called OA of sc1000??? i've found so many wrong ans in sc, cr , d OAs for which r diff in OG or some other book...

5500

dioxins is countable.
Here is the rule given by BizzareNym before some days which is true :
If a noun can be pluralised,its countable


Agreed,
but in "...many of the currently uncontrolled dioxins " is Dioxin a type of chemical comound. If yes, then it can be counted say CO2, CO, N2O etc...makes 3 Dioxins which are not controllable. So we use "Many"

But lets say,Dioxin is a family of Dioxides (C02+N2O+etc) all of which could be stablised depending on stablisers present in environment. But since there is so much of pollutant and fresh O2 available can only stablised 75% of the lot. So 75% is controllable and 25 % isnt... then isnt Dioxine Uncountable and sohould go with "Much"

...or maybe i am overanalyzing a simple thing here:splat:
5501

Am working on "2004-10-25 GMAT_SC 1000 Ques" for Sentence Correction...
Do we have an answer guide for this?
or do we have another set of 1000SC with answer guide...

5502
mvikred Says
exactly my reason but the OA given is D !! :-s

Hey Vikram,
How can this be "D" man?
the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls

See it , "most" indicates plural noun (nutritious parts), so Shatter and fall should be the correct form of verbs used.


guys,
Here is the deal. its a modifier to modifier situation. Now let us take a closer look at what is getting modified.
We have 20% the subject,
we have leaf
we have stem material.
When we say "parts of the plant" it could be leaf(singular) & stem (singular) or it could be leaves (plural) and stems (plural).

Replace the 'leaf and stem material" with "leaves and stems" and then see which forms of shatter(s) and fall(s) make sense.
5503
Hey Vikram, can you throw some more light on this?
i am not convinced why E is wrong?

sdt83 Says
Hey pj.. d tussle is between use of to what had been & that..now i'll opt for A coz that sometime tend to refer only land & not to ownership of land..dis is wat i feel..


harsha,
sdt83's explanation is the right one. 'that' is ambiguous here. It is not clear whether its referring to just 'land' or the whole 'colonial ownership of land'. It would make sense if it was later, but alters the meaning if it was the first one.
A while longer is clearer.
5504

Hi

I dont seem to agree/understand the OA for this question. Please post your answers and also explanations.

As more and more people invest their money in savings certificates or money-market funds in order to earn higher interest, they are abandoning traditional low-interest investment havens such as passbook accounts and life insurance policies.
(A) As more and more people invest their money
(B) While people have more and more been investing their money
(C) As money is more and more invested by people
(D) More and more, when investors put their money
(E) While, more and more, investors have been putting their money

5505
Most energy analysts now agree that the costs of building and maintaining nuclear reactors are too high for nuclear power to likely prove cheaper than coal or oil in the long run.

(A) too high for nuclear power to likely
(B) high enough for nuclear power to be unlikely to
(C) high enough that it is unlikely nuclear power will
(D) so high that nuclear power is unlikely to
(E) so high as to be unlikely that nuclear power will

Any idea why it should not be A?

What do you mean by SO HIGH, so I think the answer is B.
5506
I would go with D, as D completes the sentence in its meaning and is also grammatically corrected.

A, could be a possibility so have to hold on to it
B, changes meaning and diction aint right
C, meaning changes
D, could be a possibility so hold on to it
E, changes meaning and doesnt sound right

Leaves us with A and D, out of these 2 D conveys a clear picture of the sentence.

Which is until now presidents did not mix private life with public life, and the press supported this cuz the americans judged their presidents without receiving any intimate information about the prez.


OA please !!

I go with B where the meaning of the sentence is justified and which is simply RIGHT.
5507
Hi

I dont seem to agree/understand the OA for this question. Please post your answers and also explanations.

As more and more people invest their money in savings certificates or money-market funds in order to earn higher interest, they are abandoning traditional low-interest investment havens such as passbook accounts and life insurance policies.
(A) As more and more people invest their money
(B) While people have more and more been investing their money
(C) As money is more and more invested by people
(D) More and more, when investors put their money
(E) While, more and more, investors have been putting their money


Ans in BOLD.. wats making you in this to confuse ???? rest are changing d meaning..
5508
sdt83 Says
Ans in BOLD.. wats making you in this to confuse ???? rest are changing d meaning..

the answer is C dude