GMATPrepSC

A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year as The

2009-12-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were published, reveals that Twain provided financial assistance to one of the first Black students at Yale Law School.
(A) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were published,
(B) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year of publication as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
(C) A letter by Mark Twain, written in the same year that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published,
(D) Mark Twain wrote a letter in the same year as he published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that
(E) Mark Twain wrote a letter in the same year of publication as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that

OA is C

The name of a book is always considered singular. The sentence contains a s-v error in which were should be was. Unfortunately we can only eliminate option A

as introduces clauses, so it is incorrectly use in options B,D, and E.

Another problem with D and E is their wordiness

The core of the sentences is

Mark Twain wrote a letter that reveals that. This kind of construction with two relative pronouns close to each other is not the preferred version on the GMAT.

Correct option C uses the singular was for the book and the relative pronoun "that", correctly refers to the year.

The continental United States receives an average of 30 inches of precipitation a year

2009-12-21T10:20:00.000-08:00

The continental United States receives an average of 30 inches of precipitation a year; transpiration from soil and from plants returns approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, while the balance of 9 inches contributes to the flow of streams and rivers.

(A) transpiration from soil and from plants returns approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, while the balance of 9 inches contributes to the flow
(B) even though transpiration from soil and from plants returns approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, the remainder of 9 inches contribute to the flowing
(C) although transpiration from soil and from plants return approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, the balance of 9 inches contribute to the flowing
(D) with transpiration from soil and from plants to return approximately 21 inches to the atmosphere, the rest of the 9 inches contributes to the flow
(E) as transpiration from soil and from plants return approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, the rest of the 9 inches contribute to the flow

OA is A

This is a subject-verb agreement question. Remove modifiers to find out the subject of the sentence

transpiration from soil and from plants returns approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, while the balance of 9 inches contributes to the flow of streams and rivers

the subject is transpiration so we need a singular verb here eliminate C and E.

In B the rest of the 9 inches is also singular, so it does not agree with the verb contribute.

In D with does not present the needed contrast. What the sentence is saying is that the rest of the 9 inches "has" transpiration.

Take aways

removing modifiers helps find the subject of the sentence and analyze the core of the sentence

2009-09-08T23:31:00.000-07:00

In some species of cricket, the number of chirps per minute used by the male for attracting females rise and fall in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and they can in fact serve as an approximate thermometer.
A. for attracting females rise and fall in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and they can in fact serve.
B. for attracting females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, which can in fact serve
C. in attracting females rise and fall in accordance with the surrounding temperature, in fact possibly serving.
D. to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and it can in fact serve.
E. to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, in fact possibly serving.

OA is D

the number of is singular. Eliminate A and C. To rather than for is used to indicate purpose. Eliminate B.

The problem is decide between D and E. The main difference is in meaning. E changes the meaning saying that the number can possibly serve whereas option A says that it serves.

A) For attracting is not the correct verb tense to indicate purpose.
Rise and fall don't agree with the subject the number
They does not agree with the subject the number

B) For attracting is not the correct verb tense to indicate purpose.
Which refers to temperature instead of the number

C) changes the meaning adding possibly.
In attracting is not the correct verb tense to indicate purpose.
Rise and fall don't agree with the subject the number

D) This is the correct answer choice.

E) in fact possibly serving changes the meaning of the original sentence.

2009-09-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

The KwakiutI recognized one social unit larger than the tribe—the confederacy, which was a cluster of loosely knit, informally related neighboring tribes who interacted with themselves more often than between other tribes.

A. tribes who interacted with themselves more often than between

B. tribes who interacted among each other more often than among

C. tribes who interacted with one another more often than with

D. tribes, interacting among each other more often than between

E. tribes, interacting among one another more often than with

OA is C

The correct idiomatic expression is interact with. This eliminates choices B,D,E.

In A the expression is not parallel interacted with themselves more often than between

Only B uses the correct idiomatic expression along with the correct parallelism

Let's go answer choice by answer choice

A. tribes who interacted with themselves more often than between

The correct idiomatic expression is interact with. This choice presents also bad parallelism

with themselves more often than between

B. tribes who interacted among each other more often than among

interact among is not the correct idiomatic expression.

among each other is not correct. Between each other is not correct either. The correct idiomatic expressions are among themselves or between themselves.

C. tribes who interacted with one another more often than with

Correct. This choice uses the correct idiom interact with and is parallel.

Remember the difference between each other and one another

each other to refer to two things otherwise one another
Those two theories contradict each other
Those three theories contradict one another

D. tribes, interacting among each other more often than between

interact among is not the correct idiomatic expression.

This choice also does not have good parallelism

E. tribes, interacting among one another more often than with

interact among is not the correct idiomatic expression.

This choice also does not have good parallelism

Take away

The correct idiomatic expression is interact with
Use each other to refer to two things otherwise use one another
Use among themselves or between themselves. Among each other or between each other are not correct.

2009-09-07T23:44:00.001-07:00

The Achaemenid empire of Persia reached the Indus Valley in the fifth century B.C., bringing the Aramaic script with it, from which was derived both northern and southern India alphabets.

A. the Aramaic script with it, from which was derived both northern and

B. the Aramaic script with it, and from which deriving both the northern and the

C. with it the Aramaic script, from which derive both the northern and the

D. with it the Aramaic script, from which derives both northern and

E. with it the Aramaic script, and deriving from it both the northern and

OA is C

This question has two splits that you should consider. The correlative both X and Y and the modifier from which.

Both X and Y requires parallelism between X and Y. We can only rule out E using that criteria.

From which has to be close to what it modifies, in this case the Aramaic scrip, eliminate A and B. Between C and D the problem is Subject-verb agreement. If you change the order of the sentence --->

both the northern and the southern derive from the Aramaic script.

A. the Aramaic script with it, from which was derived both northern and

from which has to modify the Aramaic script instead of The Achaemenid empire of Persia.

Subject-verb agreement error, was is singular and it refers to northern and southern

B. the Aramaic script with it, and from which deriving both the northern and the

from which refers to The Achaemenid empire of Persia. It also implies that the deriving occurred when

the empire reached the Indus Valley, a fact that doesn't make any sense.

D. with it the Aramaic script, from which derives both northern and

derives should be derive

E. with it the Aramaic script, and deriving from it both the northern and

both X and Y does not contain a parallel structure between X and Y.

from it refers to the empire.

Turning away from literary realism to write romantic

2009-09-06T02:43:00.000-07:00

Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and
landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who became the
first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

A. Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life
and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who
became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win

B. She turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the
peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and novelist Selma Lagerlöf in
1909 became the first woman as well as the first Swedish writer that won

C. Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write
romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in
1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning

D. A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about
the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerlöf became in
1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win

E. As a novelist, Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote
romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909
becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won

OA is D

A. Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life
and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the novelist who
became the first woman and was also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

This answer choice presents two problems.
First "Selma Lagerlof" has to be after the comma because the modifier Turning away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden refers to her.

Second who became the first woman is not parallel to was also the first Swedish

B. She turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the
peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and novelist Selma Lagerlöf in
1909 became the first woman as well as the first Swedish writer that won the Nobel Prize for Literature

that cannot refer to people.
In addition in coordination a pronoun in the first clause cannot have cataphoric reference to a noun phrase in the second clause; However I'm not sure whether GMAT tests this problem.
I don't like the parallelism either

C. Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write
romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in
1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning the Nobel Prize for Literature

not parallelism with the clause who.
winning the Nobel Prize for Literature sounds really awkward. I'm not sure whether this is unidiomatic

D. A novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about
the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, Selma Lagerlöf became in
1909 the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

I don't see any problems with this one. Correct.

E. As a novelist, Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote
romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909
becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won

I think this generates a run-on/fragment sentence because we don't have either a subordinator or coordinator to join both clauses

[Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden]
and
[in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won]

Also that cannot refer to people

Simply because they are genetically engineered does not make it

2009-09-06T02:33:00.000-07:00

Simply because they are genetically engineered does not make it any more likely for plants to become an invasive according to a decade-long study published in the journal Nature.

A. because they are genetically engineered does not make it any more likely for plants to
B. because it is genetically engineered does not make a plant any more likely to
C. being genetically engineered does not make it any more likely that plants will
D. being genetically engineered does not make a plant any more likely to
E. being genetically engineered does not make a plant any more likely that it will become

OA is D

A) We need a subject for "does not make "

"because they are genetically engineered" cannot be the subject because it is a subordinate clause. Moreover, it has no reference.

B) same problem as in A

C) it has no reference.

D) correct.
"being genetically engineered" is the subject of the sentence. We remove the pronoun it, solving the reference problem.

E) does not make a plant any more likely that it [a plant] will become

This part is redundant since you're repeating plan twice.

Although people in France consume fatty foods at a rate comparable to the United States

2009-09-06T02:24:00.000-07:00

Although people in France consume fatty foods at a rate comparable to the United States, their death rates from heart disease are far lower in France.

people in France consume fatty foods at a rate comparable to the United States, their
people in France and the United States consume fatty foods at about the same rate, the
fatty foods are consumed by people in France at a comparable rate to the United States’s, their
the rate of fatty foods consumed in France and the United States is about the same, the
the rate of people consuming fatty foods is about the same in France and the United States, the

OA is B

(A) people in France consume fatty foods at a rate comparable to the United States

this answer compares the rate to the United States. This is wrong.

B. people in France and the United States consume fatty foods at about the same rate, the

correct comparison, we compare both rates.

C. fatty foods are consumed by people in France at a comparable rate to the United States's, their

their could refer to fatty foods or people here.
The sentence is in passive voice.

D. the rate of fatty foods consumed in France and the United States is about the same, the

I think "the rate of fatty foods consumed" is not idiomatic. The rate at which fatty foods are consumed, yes but option D changes this.
It seems that "fatty foods consumed" have a rate.
Also this sentence omits the information about people.

Consider the following example

The rate at which people drive cars.
The rate of cars driven by people. This option changes the meaning and I doubt whether it is idiomatic.

E. the rate of people consuming fatty foods is about the same in France and the United States, the

this sentence changes the meaning. In addition I'm not sure what "the rate of people consuming" means. Does it mean 5 people consume one piece of fatty food?

2009-09-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

The largest trade-book publisher in the US has announced the creation of a new digital imprint division, under which it will publish about 20 purely digital works to be sold online as either electronic books or downloadable copies that can be printed upon purchase.

A) works to be sold on-line as either electronic books or
B) works to sell them on-line, either as electronic books or
C) works and it will sell them on-line as either electronic books or as
D) works, and selling them on-line as either electronic books or as
E) works, and it will sell them on-line as either electronic books or

OA is A

This problem deals with parallelism. The correlative either X or Y requires X and Y to be parallel.

Let's take a look at each answer choice.

A) this is the correct answer choice. The correlative either X or Y has X and Y parallel

either electronic books or downloadable copies
Since the publisher does not specify who will sell the books passive voice is used.

B)
either as electronic books or downloadable copies
Here the two parts are not parallel. This sentence also changes the meaning saying that the publisher will sell the books and this is not the correct meaning of the sentence

it will publish about 20 purely digital to sell them online

C)
either electronic books or as downloadable copies
the correlative either ... or .. is not parallel. This sentence also changes the meaning

it will publish about 20 purely digital and it will sell them on-line ...

Again the sentence implies that the publisher will sell the books. This sentence also repeats the subject it after the coordinator "and" which is not preceded by a comma. This is not correct.

Consider the following example

David gets up and takes a shower every day. Correct
David gets up and he takes a shower every day. Incorrect
David gets up, and he takes a shower every day. Correct

D)
either electronic books or as downloadable copies
not parallel

This sentence presents another problem with parallelism

it will publish about 20 purely digital, and selling them on-line

will publish is not parallel to selling. Finally this sentence also changes the meaning as in C and in B.

E)
either electronic books or downloadable copies
This sentence, along with A, keeps both parts parallel. The only problem with this sentence is that it changes the meaning, indicating that the publisher will sell the books

it will publish about 20 purely digital, and it will sell them online

A comma preceding the second clause let the subject be repeated.

Take aways

Do not change the meaning of the original sentence unless it makes nonsense
Look for parallel structures such as either X or Y
If you're not sure about the parallel structure, don't panic, wrong answer choices normally contain more than one mistake. Look for them

2009-09-05T00:17:00.001-07:00

To meet the rapidly rising market demand for fish, suppliers are growing fish twice as fast as their natural growth rate, cutting their feed allotment by nearly half and raising them on special diets.
A. their natural growth rate, cutting their feed allotment
B. their natural growth rate, their feed allotment cut
C growing them naturally, cutting their feed allotment
D. they grow naturally, cutting their feed allotment
E. they grow naturally, with their feed allotment cut
OA is D.

The second part of the sentence after the comma modifies the previous clause. This modifier uses the participle "raising", so in order to keep the modifier parallel cutting is necessary.

cutting their feed allotment by nearly half and raising them on special diets.

Eliminate B and E

Looking closely at A, we have the following comparison

suppliers are growing fish twice as fast as their natural growth rate

as fast as requires parallelism between the two things that it compares.
For instance

I run as fast as Michel does. Correct
I run as fast as Michel's speed rate. Incorrect since the first part uses a verb and the second a noun.

Eliminate A

Option C

suppliers are growing fish twice as fast as growing them naturally

if we assume that the pronoun them refers to fish, we can still find other explanations for ruling this option out.

First growing them naturally doesn't convey the intended meaning. In my opinion the sentence reads

suppliers are growing fish twice as fast as [suppliers are] growing them[fish] naturally

The present continues here seems to imply that the two actions happen at the same time which is not correct. Present continues is not the correct verb tense to explain facts such as the rate at which fish grow naturally.

Second, the structure implies that the suppliers grow the fish at a natural rate. This is not correct, fish grow at a natural rate X and suppliers are growing fish at a rate 2X.

Option D solves these problems. It compares two actions

suppliers are growing fish twice as fast as they grow naturally

The only objection that you can find is that the pronoun "they" is ambiguous. It should refer to suppliers, the subject of the previous clause, but since none of the answer choices solve this problem, we can assume that the pronoun refers to fish.

Take aways

Identify parallelism among structures to rule out answer choices.
Compare similar things
If all the choices contain a pronoun that looks ambiguous, then forget about this problem. First eliminate other answer choices based on grammar issues.

Welcome to the GMATPrep sentence correction blogspot

2009-09-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, this blog is meant to explain GMATPrep questions from the sentence correction section.

One of the most important things that is helping me in my preparation to GMAT is to explain questions to others. Upon explaining why 4 answer choices are wrong and just one is right, you force yourself to come up with good arguments for rejecting the different options and therefore you reinforce your knowledge.

Most explanations that I'll give here are based on everything I've learnt from Ron Purewal's answers in this forum MGMAT.

I encourage you to read his explanations - he's written more than 3.000 posts - because those explanations are just simple the best. I'm sure that you'll agree with me once you've read them.

Good luck in your studying process .