|
|
|
Posted: 04 September 2005 at 3:02am | IP Logged
Answers & Reasoning: Set 20-Verbal
Here are my answers and logic for the Verbal Section of GMAT Set 20. My answers agree with the reference answers, with the exceptions of Questions 16 (which is written incorrectly) and 21 (over which there has been a great deal of debate, to which I will contribute). Rather than attempting to justify why a given answer is correct, I will note why I believe the other 4 choices, in each case, are incorrect (except for the RC questions, which don't really lend themselves to this approach.)
1. D; A-misplaced modifier; B-wordy/awkward/"being"; C-"being"; E-idiom, "convinced of" and "being."
2. A; B-E are gone because no verb is needed or acceptable in the underlined part of the sentence.
3. D; A-clause needs a verb (was) and a relative pronoun (that); B-"and" turns the the sentence into one long subject with no predicate; C-run-on sentence; E-"destroying" is incorrect tense, also, "..considered as..." is idiomatically incorrect.
4. A; B-no definition of housework was rejected; C-concurrent 40-year time period studied by each; D-no underestimation is mentioned--in fact, constancy at 52-54 hours per week is stated; E-passage suggested that technology would reduce time required, not effort required.
5. C; basically, the passage is not even remotely concerned with any of the other choices.
6. D; A-passage has nothing to do with servants and helpers; B-passage states that the standard WAS raised by technology; C-did not decrease TIME, but may have decreased effort (independent of time); E-expenditures as function of technology was never addressed.
7. C; again, basically, none of the other choices even come close.
8. E; the advice is the result of "numerous studies...that compare Japanese production and supply practices with those of the rest of the world." E restates this sentence.
9. B; "The link between the success of a certain well-known Japanese automaker and its effective management of its suppliers, for example, has led to an unquestioning belief within Western management circles in the value of strategic partnerships." B restates this assertion.
10. E; The final sentence of the passage refers to "market-exchange" relationships, which essentially amounts to having no definitive loyalty to any particular partnership, "strategic" or otherwise. E illustrates the concept of buying "whatever is on sale."
11. A; there are two possible explanations for the drop in the legal lobster harvest yield--either, the outlaw fishing boats are taking the difference or the total lobster population has decreased markedly. In order for the outlaw fishing boats to take the difference, the total population must remain constant. That's the assumption, and it is stated in Choice A. If the illegal lobster harvests prior to 1996 were so extensive that the total lobster population in Belukian waters suffered a marked decline, then there is no reason to expect that the 9000 ton discrepancy in the legal harvest in 1996 is the result of anything other than fewer total lobsters available for harvest. B-E are not assumptions upon which the argument is based.
12. A; there's nothing wrong with A, so, even if any of the other choices were grammatically correct (which they aren't), we're obligated to take the original.
13. C; A-argument has nothing to do with the presence or absence of adverse consequences to ticks, resulting from the Lyme bacterium; B-irrelevant--disease transmitted through ticks--transmission from mice is never discussed (nor is it possible); D-tends to strengthen the argument, but not as much as C; E-irrelevant--argument only concerns the Lyme bacterium.
14. A-nothing wrong here; NOTE: "Not one..." is not equivalent to "None...;" B-"offer for..." idiomatically incorrect; C-"...agreement be signed..." incorrect attempt at the subjunctive (I can't think of an instance where "be," alone, not preceded by "to" would be correct); D-incorrect plural tense "are," and idiom, "offer for...;" E-incorrect plural tense "are" and "to be making" is wordy and awkward---"...expected to make..." is better.
15. E; A-obviously irrelevant; B-strengthens the argument; C-doesn't really effect the argument; D-irrelevant--argument deals with deterioration due to tourism, not weather.
16. This question is written incorrectly. The reference answer(s) is/are B(?A). In my opinion, neither is correct. As written, I have to go with D. A is gone; tense--"...and gave..." should be "...and give...;" B-creating farmland did not give consumers inexpensive houses and furniture, the clearing of the forests did; C-tense--"...creating...and giving..." does not work with "...but also caused erosion...;" E-same problem as B. I don't see a problem with D, as written.
17. D; A-the practice noted in first BF is questioned by the second BF--argument does not attempt to support or justify anything; B-the only thing this argument seeks to explain is why the practice noted in the first BF is unnecessary; C-second BF suggests policy noted in first BF should be discontinued, not that it cannot meet its objective; E-first BF is not a consideration supporting a policy, it IS the policy.
18. C; A-wordy, awkward & confusing, and "...estimated as..." is idiomatically incorrect; B-pronoun number error "they" is plural, refers incorrectly to singular "population;" D-second clause needs a subject to work with the latter part of the sentence; E-same problem as D.
19. B; A-"The fact..." is almost always wrong, also "...resembling...and others looking..." is incorrect use of the progressive tense; C-"it" has no clear referent, plus the construction is awkward; D-combines the problems of A, C, and D; E-awkward and confusing, plus final dependent clause needs relative pronoun with this construction, "...namely that they vary..."
20. B; A-"...taking him seven years..." is incorrect use of the progressive tense, plus it's awkward and confusing; C-incorrect use of the past perfect tense "...a work that had taken seven years..." and "...pronounced it as..." is idiomatically incorrect; D-"...took seven years until completion..." is idiomatically incorrect and "...pronounced it as..." is redundant and awkward; E-same problems as C and D.
21. The reference answer is B. I am unable to see how the question posed by B would be of any use in evaluating this argument. Personally, I think E seems to be the best choice. If the farmers who tried modified seed had had to use very large quantities of insecticide, then even slightly lower amounts of insecticide used per acre as a result of the marginal advantage of planting modified cotton seed could translate into significant savings, perhaps, beyond the difference in expense of the modified seed over regular seed. If anyone has a good reason as to why B has any effect on this argument, please enlighten me.
22. D; What if the rate of violent crime in Meadowbrook prior to four years ago was, say, 1 (per 1000 residents) and the rate of violent crime in Parkdale was 100 (per 1000 residents). The respective percentage increases would not support the conclusion which the argument makes. D represents this possibility.
23. C; The last sentence in the passage says that a company may be able to accurately predict aggregate demand without having the ability to accurately predict the demand for specific items within the aggregate. This is a statement about the companies' ability to forecast demand---C.
24. E; The final sentence, once again, makes this assertion. The other statements are not made in the passage.
25. D; The answer can be found in the first paragraph, "...since flexible manufacturing has enabled companies to produce, cost-effectively, small quantities of goods. This type of manufacturing has greatly increased the number of new products introduced annually in the United States."
26. C; A-tourists' awareness of tax rate is irrelevant; B-prices in other cities are irrelevant; D-this is in line with the conclusion of the argument, but it is not an assumption of the argument; E-spending on meals is irrelevant. If the average length of tourists' stays in Midville hotels was longer last year than the year before, then the revenue from hotel taxes might, conceivably, remain constant or even increase, even if FEWER tourists visited Midville. C points out this possibility--an assumption upon which the argument depends.
27. E; A-subject-verb agreement error, "...the number of wild salmon have...," is incorrect. "The number..." is singular and require the singular form of the verb, "has;" B-verb tense error, "...is reduced..." should be "...has been reduced...;" C-"...numbers of..." is always wrong; D-verb tense error, "...numbers are reduced..." should be "...have been reduced...," as found in E.
28. E; A-problem of parallelism---needs the bolded addition to work "...either from the spotted sandstone of Mathura or from Gandharan grey schist;" B-problem of A, but reversed---this construction would need to lose the second "from"---"...fashioned from either the spotted sandstone of Mathura or Gandharan grey schist;" C-changes the original meaning and needs the second "from" to remain parallel; D-the addition of "and" requires the axillary verb "...were fashioned...," which is what we find in E.
29. E; A-"...because of..." doesn't work and "...within reach for..." is idiomatically incorrect; B-"...because of..." still doesn't work plus "...and putting gold..." is incorrect usage of the progressive tense; C-"...owing to..." is better phrased as "since" and "...volcanic activity that had thrust..." is incorrect usage of past perfect tense, plus "...and putting gold..." continues to be incorrect; D-"...putting gold...within reach for..." incorrect tense and idiom.
30. A; B-clearly, the ultimate effect is the same--this is no justification for approving the permits; C-the argument concerns migratory species, not local species; D-irrelevant; E-totally irrelevant. If the blackbirds are the first birds to show up in the spring, then they could (theoretically) be poisoned without effecting the later arrival of the rare species.
31. D; A-passive phrasing and "them" is confusing; B-"...evidence of their being inoculated..." is wordy and awkward and "being" is almost always wrong; C-"evidence of being" again, "...evidence of inoculation..." is better and we find it in D; E-wordy, awkward, redundant.
32. D; Obviously, if the nearly all of the forest fires in the area are the result of lightning strikes, then banning outdoor fires probably won't do much to reduce the annual number of forest fires (although it might be useful in preventing an increase).
33. A; Otariids--"...the rest of the lactation period...lasts from 4 months to 3 years...." Phocids--"...the entire lactation period, which lasts from 4 to 50 days...."
34. D; "Until recently, zoologists believed...Zoologists had assumed...However, recent studies...found that..."---unexpected behavior explained.
35. E; "Zoologists had assumed that females of the phocid species, by contrast, use a fasting strategy...," which means that they must wait to replenish their fat store until after lactation has ended.
36. E; "In addition, there is already some evidence suggesting that the ringed seal, a phocid species that is similar in size to the harbor seal, may also use a maternal foraging strategy."
37. D; A-incorrect comparison--should be "...unlike those in department stores...," plus the construction is awkward and confusing; B-incorrect comparison, again, plus "...shop impulsively very little..." is awkward; C-corrects the comparison problem, but creates a run-on sentence; E-problems similar to A and B.
38. D; There is no support for any of these statements in this argument with the exception of D.
39. C; A-awkward comparison between plants and fungi as a result of the placement of "at acquiring carbon;" B-still awkward; D-no verb; E-construction does not work with the latter, non-underlined, part of the sentence.
40. D; We need something which points out that other dietary changes besides an increase in salt intake, occuring as a result of moving to the city, could explain the increased incidence of high blood pressure. D gives it to us. A-genetic factors could still prevail despite changes in diet; B-irrelevant, as the argument addresses people native to isolated rain-forest communities; C-irrelevant, as the argument addresses potential dietary CAUSES of high blood pressure; E-true, but the argument has nothing to do with the consequences of failing to replenish salt.
41. C; A-"...is known.." is incorrect in terms of tense, plus the construction is awkward ; B-tense and construction; D-"...known to be making..." is incorrect usage of the progessive tense and implies that humans continue to make stone tools; E-incorrectly implies that all humans who make stone tool were of the same vintage.
Edited by Tianlong on 04 September 2005 at 2:51pm
__________________
AA
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 04 September 2005 at 2:47pm | IP Logged
Fabulous work there Mike
. Keep it up.
Explanation for other sets can follow in the same post. We'll make this sticky post and change the title to GMAT SETS - Verbal Answers & Reasoning.
Answers & Reasoning: Set 19-Verbal
follows
Edited by Tianlong on 04 September 2005 at 2:52pm
__________________
http://tianlong-gmat.blogspot.com/
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 05 September 2005 at 12:51am | IP Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 05 September 2005 at 1:37am | IP Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 05 September 2005 at 1:50am | IP Logged
Man you have loads of patience.Kudos!
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 05 September 2005 at 2:12am | IP Logged
Fundooo...
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 05 September 2005 at 7:49am | IP Logged
My pleasure, guys. And, please let me know if there is anything that is particularly useful, or that might be more useful if approached differently. Thanks.
Edited by archangel88 on 05 September 2005 at 5:41pm
__________________
AA
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 05 September 2005 at 2:45pm | IP Logged
Answers & Reasoning: Set 10/19-Verbal
Here are my answers, and the underlying logic, for the verbal section of Set 19 (which, by the way, is also Set 10). I disagree with 2 of the reference answers. The first is Question 1, which is also Question 42 in SC1000. The reference answer given in the SC1000 document differs from the reference answer noted in the set(s) and I support the former. The second is Question 29 (Smithtown University). There has been some contention over this question in the past and I can certainly see why. However, I'm not wedded to any of my explanations. So, if one or more of them seem to be ill-conceived, by all means make your case. Otherwise, the reference answers seem correct to me.
1. C; A is incorrect on the basis of style and idiom--"...more likely in planning to practice..." is better said as "...more likely to plan on practicing...," which we find in E. Also, upon close inspection, there is no problem with parallelism thanks to the infinitive form which immediately follows the comparison--"X are more likely than Y to do something."; B-should use the infinitive "...to practice...;" D-with this construction, the phrasing should be, "...that minority graduates will plan to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas than other graduates will."--and that's still a lousy sentence; E-same principle as D and would need to be "...as likely for minority graduates to...as for other graduates to do so."
A is incorrect on the basis of style and idiom--"...more likely in planning to practice..." is better said as "...more likely to plan on practicing...," which we find in E. Also, upon close inspection, there is no problem with parallelism as a result of the infinitive form which immediately followes the comparison--"X are more likely than Y to do something.
2. E; A-"attempt at" is idiomatically incorrect, plus it's awkward; B-"was attempting" less than optimal use of past progressive tense and "being" is nearly always wrong; C-"...transatlantic flight, so..." needs to go; D-"Being," plus, wordy, awkward, passive construction.
3. A; B-E are gone because no verb is needed or acceptable in the underlined part of the sentence.
4. A; "Some geologists wondered..." from the middle of the first paragraph. "Geologists therefore wondered whether..." from the last sentence of the last paragraph. Put together, they don't have an explanation.
5. B; Passage doesn't evaluate a method, examine assumptions, question validity, or present evidence--thus, must be discussing explanations.
6. D; "Prior to 1965 geologists assumed that the two giant rock plates meeting at the San Andreas Fault generate heat through friction as...Some geologists wondered whether the absence of friction-generated heat could be explained by the kinds of rock composing the fault."
7. A; If collision insurance costs more in Greatport, then collision damage either costs more to repair or the argument's conclusion is correct. Thus, the argument must assume that repair costs are NOT higher in Greatport than in Fairmont.
8. A; B-"because of"--idiom; C-"...capability of the respiratory system in dealing with..."--idiom; D & E-"a specially" is not the same as "an especially" and changes the meaning.
9. E; A-D are irrelevant. However, if the Finnish polio vaccine was never contaminated with SV40 and none of the Finnish mesothelioma samples have SV40, then that strenthens the hypothesis that contaminated vaccine was the source of the virus found in mesotheliomas decades later.
10. D; This passage (a really boring and confusing, hence, important one to learn how to deal with, in my opinion) does not evaluate likelihoods, question assumptions, discuss progress, or weigh relative importance. What it does, basically, is say, "These studies have shown that three factors (education, wealth, and land tenure) may predict how readily farmers who have little available land, are tied to a market economy, and do NOT live in a rain-forest will accept new technology. However, the predictive value of these three indicators breaks down when you try to apply them to this other group of farmers who have plenty of available land, are not tied to a market economy, and live in the Honduran rain-forest." This is pretty much what D says, only in a really convoluted way that fooled me the first time around.
11. C; Paragraph 1, sentence 1, "...promote the adoption of new agricultural technologies, such as improved plant varieties and use of chemical herbicides..."
12. A; Line 45--"Researchers also measured land-tenure security: in Tawahka society, kinship ties are a more important indicator of this than are leagal property rights, so researchers measurd it by a household's duration of residence in the village."
13. D; Line 41--"...availability of uncultivated land reduced the incentive to employ the productivity-enhancing technologies."
14. C; If heating a wheat kernel destroys its gluten, and gluten must be present for yeast to leaven bread dough, then the introduction of a new variety of wheat, whose husk could be removed without heat seems fairly compelling circumstancial evidence that the two developments were causally linked.
15. E; This is the only choice that makes any sense to me.
16. D; A & B-the paleonologists were not the second most massive dinosaur that ever lived; C-incorrect usage of present perfect tense "have found;" E-"which are" is unnecessary and "appear" is incorrect plural verb form.
17. B; A-first BF is a recommendation of "the expert," not the editorial and the second BF doesn't acknowledge anything. It states a position (judgement) against the first; C-first BF is not evidential and the second is not a conclusion; D-the first is, in fact, a position the editorial challenges, but the second is a judgement against that position, not in support of it; E-first is a recommendation that the editorial questions, but the second does not provide evidence of anything.
18. C; A-implies that the media has focused on ethics of campaign finance while analyzing expenditures rather than by analyzing expenditures; B-"been" is unnecessary and the singular form "has" is incorrect; D-wordy and awkward--should be "...have focused on...;" E-"their" has no referent, as "the media" is not introduced until later in the sentence and "has" is incorrect singular form.
19. A; only one that makes any sense.
20. D; A-awkward, confusing, plus, idiom--"...prompted officials...to devise a plan that...," which should be "...to devise a plan to...;" B-should be, "...officials in California were prompted to devise...," which is still not great due to passive construction; C-lots of problems; E-"...and routinely falling...," plus "...were prompting..." should be "prompted."
21. A; there's nothing wrong with A, so, even if any of the other choices were grammatically correct (which they aren't), we're obligated to take the original.
22. A; B-incorrectly suggests that "an array of buoys collects and transmits data..." as well as "...interactions affecting global climate;" C & D-"that" incorrectly refers to "atmosphere;" E-incorrectly compares "atmosphere" to "global climate."
23. D; A-"which" illogically refers to California rather than the non-Hispanic White minority; B-"it" has no clear referent, plus, the construction is awkward--"...when it was nearly three-quarters;" C-illogical usage of "and," plus, "they" is incorrect pronoun (number) and without a clear referent; E-correct use of the participial phrase "amounting to," plus, wordy and awkward construction of the final dependent clause.
24. E; A-incorrectly compares "the Dutch economy" to the countries, "Britain, France, and Germany;" B-corrects the comparison problem, but "have" is incorrect usage of the plural form and the verb is redundant, too; C-implies the Dutch economy has grown faster than the countries, "Britain, France, and Germany;" D-suggests all three countries have a single economy (?).
25. A; First paragraph establishes that courts can find federal rights to reserve water "if...(2) the land has been formally withdrawn from federal public lands...," which, by itself, implies that any land not formally withdrawn from public lands is not covered by the Winters doctrine. However, the passage goes on to clarify, specifically, that this is not the case. The author introduces this clarification by citing the fact that referrd to in the stem.
26. C; This is one of the primary points of the passage and there is no foundation for any of the other choices within the passage.
27. D; Line 8, "Although this treaty did not mention water rights, ...."
28. B; A-deals with development of laws relating to the water rights of the reservations, not laws establishing the reservations, themselves; C-doesn't question anything; D-presents no evidence, rather presents the legal bases for the water rights; E-does nothing of the sort.
29. A; I just can't agree with the reference answer, C, for this one. B, D, & E each clearly weaken the argument. As for C, if most of the donations by previous donors were unsolicited, then the 80% figure in the argument must be largely comprised of new donors. If that is the case, then the fundraisers did, in fact, do a good job, which refutes the argument. That leaves A. If the fund-raisers had average success in securing donations from donors who had never supported Smithtown previously, and that rate of success for that population of donors is generally not so good (which the argument implies), then the 80% figure must be largely comprised of previous donors, which supports the contention of the argument. I do not see how Choice C does anything other than weaken the argument.
30. C; A-argument isn't concerned with refined olive oil; B-argument doesn't even imply this, much less support it; D-this is never suggested; E-way out of scope.
31. C; A-"it" is redundant; B-no verb; D-wordy and illogically suggests that "a method" was "as early as the eighteenth century;"E-incorrect usage of past perfect tense, plus, the final independent clause has no subject.
32. D; A-subject-verb agreement, incorrect usage of singular form "comes," plus, "compounds [that are] also found" omits the bracketed relative pronoun and verb; B-same as A, except "that are" has been added, plus, "they" is unnecessary; C-missing "that are;" E-needs "that are" and needs to lose "they."
33. E; line 30, "...as well as extensive restructuring and consolidation within the travel industry..."
34. C; line 31, "...this agency adopted a unique structure for globalization."
35. D; line 15, "Some service industry companies, in fact, regard these traditional routes to global expansion as inappropriate for service industries..."
36. D; A-construction needs participial phrase "indicating that" rather than "that indicates, plus the remainder of the phrase simply makes no sense; B-awkward and passive structure; C-incorrectly implies that the purpose of the conference was "...to indicate...," plus, awkward and confusing; E-what should be an independent clause has no verb.
37. B; A-idiom, "expended for" should be "expended to," plus parallelsim problem resulting from "...and when...;" C-should be "...as well as on construction and decoration of...;" D-wordy, awkward; E-"the creating..." should be "the creation of Buddha images as well as the construction and decoration of the temples that enshrined them accounted for..."
38. D; A-idiom, "attempt at developing..., crossing..." should be "attempt to develop..., by crossing...;" B-the French scientist wasn't imported, the moths were; C-awkward and confusing, plus, "attempt to" idiom error; E-idiom, again, plus, inappropriate participial form "importing."
39. C; A-awkward construction; B-awkward and passive; D-similar to B; E-awkward and passive.
40. B; A, C-E are irrelevant. B is the only choice that makes any sense.
41. B; A-"...taking him seven years..." is incorrect use of the progressive tense, plus it's awkward and confusing; C-incorrect use of the past perfect tense "...a work that had taken seven years..." and "...pronounced it as..." is idiomatically incorrect; D-"...took seven years until completion..." is idiomatically incorrect and "...pronounced it as..." is redundant and awkward; E-same problems as C and D.
Edited by archangel88 on 30 September 2005 at 10:20pm
__________________
AA
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 05 September 2005 at 5:54pm | IP Logged
what an effort , thanks a million
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 05 September 2005 at 11:43pm | IP Logged
archangel88 thank you for the detailed info on sets 19/20...
Can we please talk about question 1: I am able to eliminate all of the choices except for A and D. Can someone please go into some more detail in why Unlike is incorrect?
Q1: Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were relatively simple and static, Barbara McClintock adhered to her own more complicated ideas about how genes might operate, and in 1983, at the age of 81, was awarded a Nobel Prize for her discovery that the genes in corn are capable of moving from one chromosomal site to another.
A. Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were relatively simple and static
B. Although many of her colleagues were of the conviction of genes being relatively simple and static
C. Contrary to many of her colleagues being convinced that genes were relatively simple and static
D. Even though many of her colleagues were convinced that genes were relatively simple and static
E. Even with many of her colleagues convinced of genes being relatively simple and static
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 06 September 2005 at 12:11am | IP Logged
Question 1, Set 20--A is gone because the opening modifying clause incorrectly modifies Barbara McClintock rather than McClintock's "own more complicated ideas."
Edited by archangel88 on 06 September 2005 at 12:12am
__________________
AA
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 07 September 2005 at 4:43am | IP Logged
Answers & Reasoning: Set 14/18-Verbal
Here are my answers and explanations for the verbal section of Set 18 (which, by the way, is also Set 14). I disagree with 3 of the reference answers in this set. There has been significant debate over each of these questions in the past. A consensus seems to have been reached regarding Questions 6 and 28, suggesting that the reference answer for each is, in fact, incorrect. The third is Question 8. There has also been significant debate over this question in the past and no consensus appears to have been reached. I will make my case for my choice on this question. Otherwise, the reference answers seem correct to me. As usual, I will note why I believe the discarded choices are incorrect rather than attempt to justify why a given answer is correct (except the case of RC questions, which do not generally lend themselves to this approach).
1. B; A-misplaced modifier--opening clause should modify "Barbara Jordan" not her participation in impeachment hearings; C-same as A, except here the opening clause modifies "it;" D & E-"then also" is redundant and in D, the modifier problem remains.
2. E; first sentence--"Firms traditionally claim that they downsize...in an attempt to become more efficient and competitive."
3. C; the passage does not criticize firms, analyze or chronicle anything, nor provide evidence of any sort.
4. D; line 13--"...recent research has shown that the actual economic effects of downsizing are often negative for firms."
5. D; as written, the argument states that "Several towns in Vorland enacted restaurant smoking restrictions..." and that there has actually been an increase in meal taxes collected from those towns. However, restriction of smoking is not the same as a complete ban of smoking. So, if in these same towns, restaurants can maintain separate areas where smoking is permitted, and they have done so, then it is likely that any negative economic effects which might have resulted from the smoking restrictions have been side-stepped. However, a nationwide smoking ban would make these accomodations obsolete and could, therefore, lead to the decrease in restaurant revenue that the opponents to the ban suggest might result from the ban.
6. A; This question is in the SC1000 document. The reference answer there is A rather than E. I believe A is the best answer. B-"...have the capability of propelling..." is wordy and unidiomatic--simply "propel" is better--and "to help" intoduces a problem with parallelism; C-needs to have relative pronoun and verb "that could," to lose "able to" and "helping" is incorrect usage of participial form "helping;" D-"and it eventually could" is awkward and subtly changes the meaning of the sentence and "or helping" is problematic; E-absent Choice A, this would be the next best choice. However, since A is a choice, E must be reject on the grounds of wordiness, "...could have the capability to propel..." can be said more effectively with "could propel."
7. E; given the inflexible requirements of Qualitex Corp., either some departments are going to be without departments heads, or the company is going to have to decrease the number of departments. There are no other choices.
8. C; Okay. I have researched this question, both here on ST and in the grammar/style texts, and I cannot find any support for D in this case (or, generally, as "of what" is simply poor style, even when it is not grammatically incorrect). This is a question that deals with correct usage of a relative pronoun (that, which, who, whom, what, and whose). The function of a relative pronoun is to introduce a subordinate clause and relate it to another antecedent word or idea. In this sentence, that idea is "...three times the price..." The relative pronouns which would work here are: that and which (not "what," not "of what, not "at which"). So, A, B, D, and E do not work with this construction. And, by the way, "of what" can nearly always be said in a better, more stylistically acceptable fashion. This sentence should read, "A new hair-growing drug is being sold for three times the price, per milligram, that the drug's maker charges for another product with the same active ingredient." The first part of the sentence is the main (or independent) clause. The last part of the sentence is the subordinate (or dependent) clause. "That" refers to "three times the price" clearly and it introduces the subordinate clause correctly. C is the best answer, FOR THIS CONSTRUCTION. If "the price" were omitted from the sentence, then this would be correct, "A new hair-growing drug is being sold for three times, per milligram, what the drug's maker charges for another product with the same active ingredient." But, even with this construction, "of what" does not work.
9. A; B-E are irrelevant. A is the only choice that makes any sense.
10. A; B-illogically and incorrectly implies that the prevalence of "adolescent children" is higher among "authoritative parents" than among "permissive parents;" C-"...are the more likely..." is awkward and stylistically poor; D-"being" is unnecessary and "...when they are an adolescent." incorrectly implies that the earlier plural "children" will be a single "adolescent;" E-wordy, awkward, poorly constructed--terrible.
11. B; A-subject-verb agreement error--"group" is singular, "are" is plural; C-subject-verb agreement--"include" is plural; D & E-incorrect placement of the relative pronoun "which" and leaves the sentence incomplete.
12. D; A-subject-verb agreement--"a number" is plural, "includes" is singular; B-same problem as A, plus, idiom--"limits to" should be "limits on" and a problem with parallelism, too; C-wordy and stylistically poor; E-combines the problems of B and C.
13. D; A-"Being," and opening clause incorrectly modifies the possessive "Frances Perkins' considerable influence" rather than Ms. Perkins; B-same modifier problem as A, plus, passive construction; C-combines problems of A and B, with incorrect usage of participial form "preventing;" E-modifer problem and passive construction and incorrect participial usage.
14. C; since pellagra was "virtually unknown in the Americas...even among people who subsisted primarily on maize," there must have been something different about the way it was prepared in the Americas, or something different about the European maize, or something biologically different about the Europeans in comparison with the Americans. Only the first of these possibilities is represented as an answer choice.
15. A; there's nothing wrong with A, so, even if any of the other choices were grammatically correct (which they aren't), we're obligated to take the original.
16. B;line 18, "The conflict between the guilds..." and line 46, "At the conflict's center..."
17. A; line 14, "...seamstresses...were impatient with the remaining restrictions on their right to clothe women."
18. D; lines 38-45, "The seamstresses...viewed guild membership as a mark or independence...composed not of family units but individual women who enjoyed unusual legal and economic privileges."
19. A; the choice is between A and C. C infers too much.
20. E; A-"attempt at" is idiomatically incorrect, plus it's awkward; B-"was attempting" less than optimal use of past progressive tense and "being" is nearly always wrong; C-"...transatlantic flight, so..." needs to go; D-"Being," plus, wordy, awkward, passive construction.
21. A; there's nothing wrong with A, so, even if any of the other choices were grammatically correct (which they aren't), we're obligated to take the original.
22. C; only C is relevant.
23. A; If total sales of all refreshments increased by less than 5 percent, and popcorn sales increased by 5 percent, then Moviemania's claim has problems. C-E weaken the argument. B is irrelevant.
24. E; line 24, "But equally important to Hopi cultural persistence may have been an inherent flexibility in their social system..."
25. C; line 6, "...it was a period of diminuition in population and pressure from contact with outside groups..." and line 19, "...geographical isolation greater than that of many other Native American groups..."
26. D; line 13, "The Hopis' retention of their distinctive sociocultural system has been attributed to..." and line 24, "But equally important to Hopi cultural persistence may have been an inherent flexibility in their social system..."
27. B; if shoppers from neighboring counties will be patronizing the new shopping mall, revenue from the sales tax should rise, potentially off-setting the decrease in revenue resulting from elimination of the property tax.
28. D; A-incorrect use of past tense "made" when, apparently, the sloth continues to be the earliest known mammal of the Greater Antilles; a condition which requires the progressive tense "making" to accurately relate the ongoing nature of the condition; B-"they" has no clear referent, plus, the construction is awkward in the terminal clause; C-subject-verb agreement error--"Fossils" is plural, "was" is singular; E-combines the problems of A and C.
29. A; B-E are gone because no verb is needed or acceptable in the underlined part of the sentence.
30. D; A-"which" illogically refers to California rather than the non-Hispanic White minority; B-"it" has no clear referent, plus, the construction is awkward--"...when it was nearly three-quarters;" C-illogical usage of "and," plus, "they" is incorrect pronoun (number) and without a clear referent; E-correct use of the participial phrase "amounting to," plus, wordy and awkward construction of the final dependent clause.
31. A; Black ants are good, since they help control the bad rodents. Only Loma ants are bad, according to the argument. So, if ant flies attack the bad ants, but leave the good ants alone, then the ant flies must be good, too. D weakens the argument; B, C, and E are irrelevant.
32. C; if mice that can't make macrophages don't have elevated nitrates, then maybe the macrophages have something to do with nitrate levels in those that can.
33. E; A-incorrectly compares "the Dutch economy" to the countries, "Britain, France, and Germany;" B-corrects the comparison problem, but "have" is incorrect usage of the plural form and the verb is redundant, too; C-implies the Dutch economy has grown faster than the countries, "Britain, France, and Germany;" D-suggests all three countries have a single economy (?).
34. B; line 22, "ecologists' attempts to alter cycles...have not succeeded."
35. A; line 12, "Identification of that driving force...," aka. "explaining" and line 15, "The common approach of studying causes of population cycles by measuring the mortality caused by different agents, such as predatory birds or parasites, has been unproductive in the case of lepidoptra."
36. C; 35 above, and line 64, "One of the attractions of this hypothesis..."
37. D; line 32, "For many years, viral disease had been reported in declining populations of caterpillars, but population ecologists had usually considered viral disease to have contributed to the decline once it was underway rather than to have initiated it."
38. E; if gold was added to Frobisher's samples, prior to their testing, then the methods used to determine the gold content of the samples need not have been inaccurate.
39. E(B); only choice that makes any sense.
40. D; if mice that cannot produce antibodies to herpesvirus also cannot develop keratitis, then maybe the antibodies have something to do with the eye disease-strengthens the argument.
41. D; A-construction needs participial phrase "indicating that" rather than "that indicates, plus the remainder of the phrase simply makes no sense; B-awkward and passive structure; C-incorrectly implies that the purpose of the conference was "...to indicate...," plus, awkward and confusing; E-what should be an independent clause has no verb.
Edited by archangel88 on 17 September 2005 at 12:50am
__________________
AA
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 08 September 2005 at 10:44am | IP Logged
I have posted my answers and explanations for the verbal section of Set 1 under this thread:
http://www.scoretop.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10095& PN=1
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 09 September 2005 at 12:24am | IP Logged
Answers & Reasoning: Set 17-Verbal
Here are my answers and explanations for the verbal section of Set 17. I disagree with 4 of the reference answers in this set: Questions 12, 19, 38, and 39. A consensus seems to have been reached in forum discussion regarding Questions 12, 19, and 38, suggesting that the reference answer for each is, in fact, incorrect. There has also been significant debate over Question 39, with most respondents supporting the reference answer. However, I continue to disagree with the reference answer, for reasons which have not previously been stated. So, I will make my case for my choice on this question. Otherwise, the reference answers seem to be correct. As usual, I will note why I believe the discarded choices are incorrect rather than attempt to justify why a given answer is correct (except, of course, in cases where I don't follow this approach). Feel free to post responses, further debate, etc.
1. B; A-misplaced modifier--opening clause should modify "Barbara Jordan" not her participation in impeachment hearings; C-same as A, except here the opening clause modifies "it;" D & E-"then also" is redundant and in D, the modifier problem remains
2. C; if reclamation technology has not improved (read, its cost hasn't dropped), yet average reclamation cost has dropped, then the coal operators must have stopped mining in areas that have a higher relative cost to reclaim.
3. A; B-opening modifier incorrectly modifies "the world" rather than "world consumption of oil); C-similar modifier problem; D-similar; E-illogical modifer error, plus, passive construction.
4. D; A-opening clause incorrectly modifies "in 1909" rather than "Selma Lagerlof; B-changes the emphasis of the sentence and it's a run-on sentence; C- another run-on sentence, plus, incorrect use of "winning" rather than the infinitive form "to win;" E-"that won" is incorrect here--should be "to win." Also, the construction is awkward and the intent of the sentence has been changed.
5. E; doesn't compare development of hypotheses, suggest revisions to a theory, evaluate usefulness of any evidence, or challenge any theories.
6. C; the question concerns the discrepancy between the dating of the Archaeopteryx lithographica (150 million years ago) and that of the nonavian maniraptor theropods (115 million years ago). The "unconvinced scientists" argued that since no fossil record of the existence of theropods in the discrepant years had been discovered, that theropods definitely did not exist during this time period.
7. D; line 18, "Sceptics also argue that the fused clavicles (the 'wishbone') of birds differ from the unfused clavicles of theropods."
8. B; line 31, "Such experiments cannot, however, reveal...," read "deficiency."
9. C; line 26, "Clayton's birds switched their preference from crickets to peanuts once the food had been stored for a certain length of time, showng that they retain information about the what, the where, and the when."
10. C; same sentence as Question 9.
11. A; line 6, "...as distinct from the capacity simply to use information acquired through past experiences," and line 34, "Clayton acknowledged this by using the term 'episodic-like' memory."
12. A; B-"...providing them...and milked..." is not parallel;" C-parallelism, again; D-"them" is plural, "the Holstein cow" is singular--pronoun number error; E-"will produce" implies that that any farmer who has followed these suggestions may still be waiting for his cows to "produce..." in some future year. That leaves A, which is a horrible sentence, even on its best day. It should read something like, "For the farmer who takes care to keep them cool, provides them with high-energy feed, and milks them regularly, Holstein cows produce an average of 2,275 gallons of milk each per year." Even so, it's still a lousy sentence. So, the reference answer, E, does not appear to be the best choice.
13. C; clearly, if the caterpillars aren't eating the poisonous pollen, then the pollen doesn't pose a danger to the Monarch butterfly (within the scope of this argument, at any rate).
14. E; A-D are irrelevant. However, if the injected chemical independently inhibits appetite, then the argument fails.
15. C; If a significant percentage of items returned as damaged were damaged before they were packed, then improving the packing material isn't going to effect the return rate of that percentage.
16. B; A-incorrect use of "like"--should be "such as," and "having been taken" should be "were taken;" C-"some protective measures..." can only correctly modify a noun, but "...establishing..." is a verb, plus, the verb error noted in A; D-"with" does not logically connect the two parts of the sentence, plus, modifier error noted in C; E-"with" as noted in D, plus, verb error noted in A and C.
17. A; B-"had not invented" is incorrect usage of past perfect tense, plus, "of such" should be "that such" and "having been made" incorrectly uses the present perfect tense instead of the past perfect "had been made;" C-wordy, plus, "had not invented" is still wrong usage; D-confusing and awkward construction that is inferior to A; E-same problems as D, but worse, plus, "being" is unnecessary.
18. B; A-needs "that," plus, "for distinguishing" should be "to distinguish," and "the result is, to make" makes no sense; C-"the result of this" is wordy and awkward and "they are unable..." creates a redundant, run-on sentence; D-final clause makes no sense with preceding construction; E-"for distinguishing" as noted in A, "resulting in being unable to make" is wordy and makes no sense, plus, "as to hamper" in incorrect usage of "as" since it should be used to compare actions (verbs), not nouns.
19. A; The first BF is an objection ("Critics protest...") against Aroca City's plan. The second is the conclusion of the argument, which is the end-point of the argument, not a supporting premise or evidence. A is the only choice that fits. The reference answer, D, is incorrect.
20. C; A-"leaking" and "while causing" incorrectly implies that the oil leak and the pollution of the beaches continues, even now; B-run-on sentence, thanks to "it;" D-"while" incorrectly implies that the barge ran aground and "leaked its cargo...and caused the pollution of..." all at the same time; E-"so" suggests that the barge ran aground, or was run aground, intentionally, plus, "they" incorrectly and illogically refers to "750,000 gallons" rather than the "its cargo" and "were polluting" is incorrect use of past progressive tense.
21. E; if OLEX found that closing the Grenville refinery would result in enormous costs for clean-up, and the company's decision not to close the Grenville refinery could very well be due to financial rather than social concerns.
22. E; A-incorrectly compares "American businesses" with "the failure rate;" B-error similar to that of A; C-similar problem; D-awkward construction.
23. B; A-"and" illogically restricts the dimensions, given the construction of the remainder of the sentence, "it" is unecessary, and "ran" incorrectly implies that the Erie Canal no longer exists; C-"and" and "ran" as noted in A, "but" is incorrectly placed and "connecting" is incorrect usage of the progressive tense, in this instance; D-"was" and "ran" implies the canal no longer exists and "which" incorrectly refers to "upstate New York," in addition to being unnecessary; E-"and" as noted in A and B, "but" is incorrectly placed, and "connecting" is incorrectly used, as in C.
24. A; line 12, "But labor costs and labor rates are not in fact the same...," line 25, "Because labor rates are highly visible, managers can easily compare thier comany's rates with those of competitors."
25. D; line 35, "The myth that labor rates and labor costs are equivalent is supported by business journalists..."
26. B; line 14, "...one company could pay its workers considerably more than another and yet have lower labor costs..."
27. A; line 63, "Finally, to the extent that changes in compensation create new problems..." read failure to bring about the intended changes...
28. B; if alcohol consumption away from home is lower in the under-21 age group now compared to 1990, then the implication is that drinking at home means that they aren't driving while, or after having been, drinking.
29. E; A-B-"the chambers" were not closed "due to moisture," but because "salt...was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls," due to the moisture; C-"the chambers" were not closed "because tourists were exhaling moisture," but, again, because "salt...was crystallizing and fungus was growing..." due to the moisture; D-they weren't closed because of moisture, either; E correctly notes, in correct order, that "the chambers...were closed......because moisture (exhaled by tourists) had raised the humidity...to such levels that salt...was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls."
30. D; A-"which" incorrectly refers to "spacecraft" only and incorrectly compares "short flights" with "space station;" B-"sufficient enough" is redundant; C-same problems as A; E-incorrectly compares "flights" to "space station" and "shortness" is poor usage.
31. D; A-"almost expected" is illogical, given the apparent intent of the sentence and "which" incorrectly refers to "the end of the year" rather than "production (of electrical power by windmills)"; B-"almost expected" remains problematic, "that it will double" is wordy--"to double" is better; C-"that it will" is wordy and awkward and "that" has no clear, logical referent, plus, the infinitive form "to provide" is incorrect in this construction, the progressive "providing" would probably be better; E-"which" incorrectly refes to "end of the year" and in this construction, "be providing,"--"be" is unnecessary, and "providing" should besimply "provide." That leaves A--a fairly lousy sentence, which would be better written as two sentences--something like this, "The amount of electrical power produced nationwide by windmills is currently about 2,500 megawatts. However, production is expected nearly to double by the end of the year and thus to provide enough electricity for 1.3 million households."
32. E; The conclusion of this argument is "Yes, it can be concluded that, for a given level of output, Delta's operation now causes less fossil fuel to be consumed than it did formerly." The first and second BF are each supporting premises of this conclusion.
33. C; A-"their" has no clear referent and is unnecessary, "a variety of approaches" is plural (similar to "a majority of voters" is plural), but "includes" is singular; B-subject-verb agreement problem noted in A, plus, "to be more efficient in pumping oil" is wordy and better said as "to pump oil more efficiently;" D-parallelism--"...and finding innovative ways..." dictates that construction must be "which include reducing...using...; E-parallelsim problem similar to D ("including" superficially suggests a parallel construction, but it is insufficient), "their" is ambiguous and unnecessary and "to be more efficient at pumping oil" is wordy and awkward.
34. C; if the Kravonian workforce has very few people with college degrees and this is the reason for the discrepancy in average salaries noted in the argument, then a dramatic increase in the percentage of the workforce with college degrees may not translate into a significant increase in the absolute number of people with college degrees. For instance, if there are two people in the country with college degrees this year, and four more graduate and enter the workforce next year, then the percentage has increased by 200 percent, but there are only six people with college degrees in the workforce.
35. B; this passage introduces several different groups that weighed in on a single labor-women's rights issue in late-nineteenth century Britain. A one or two line summary of the basic position of each group is given, enough to serve as a rough basis of comparison. A, C, and D are clearly out. Between B and E, E goes too far. The passage doesn't even present arguments, so it can't very well evaluate them. It merely introduces each group's position and gives a brief statement of reasoning for these positions--B.
36. E; line 14, "...(WIDC), formed in 1892 in response to earlier legislative attempts to restrict women's labor..." and line 43, "...(WTUL), which had ceased in the late 1880's to oppose restrictions on women's labor..."
37. C; line 20, "...viewing it as yet another instance of limiting women's work opportunities."
38. C; A, B, and D are irrelevant and, therefore, gone. Now, consider the stem. If voters understand the petition in circulation as supporting a statewide extension of the current local ordinances, what would make the petition misleading? If the local ordinances are strict and the proposed state law were to be less strict, though applicable statewide, then that would be misleading to voters. In other words, the local ordinances would not be extended statewide. That's what C says. The reference answer, E, is irrelevant and incorrect.
39. E; A-says "Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth..." which implies that this is the total number of species having appeared on Earth, so, A states the relationship of total species to those which have vanished (setting the guide for the meaning of the sentence) but, construction of the final clause is awkward and unacceptable--"...nearly 99 percent of which have vanished." would work; B-"Nearly 99 percent of five hundred million different species..." implies that more than five hundred million species may have appeared on Earth, which is not the same as the implication of the stem, at all. Also, "...that appeared...have vanished," illogically implies that one of two occurances, each of which happened completely in the past, continues into the present, while the other remains firmly in the past; C-awkward, passive construction; D-similar problem as B--"Of five hundred million different species..." implies the possibility of additional species which have not been included, for some illogical reason. That is the reason why this choice is wrong, not the "of them" construction later in the sentence; E-not a great sentence, but there's nothing technically wrong with it. The numerical reference problem of B and D is corrected by the construction "Of the five hundred million..." The independent clause is "Nearly 99 percent have vanished." The opening phrase clearly and correctly refers to and modifies the subject of the independent clause, "nearly 99 percent." "...of them" (from Choice D) is not necessary in this construction. I believe E is the best choice. The reference answer is, in my opinion, incorrect.
40. E; A-D are simply irrelevant. Only E deals with an issue at hand in the argument--money's in the last two sentences.
41. B; "so cold and...so reflective..." is the idiomatically correct parallel structure. B is the only choice that has it.
Edited by archangel88 on 09 September 2005 at 11:26pm
__________________
AA
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 09 September 2005 at 4:25pm | IP Logged
Good work arch.
__________________
Do 780 or die.
Call me at 91-09441282771
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10 September 2005 at 6:45am | IP Logged
Yeah, Great work.
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10 September 2005 at 8:14pm | IP Logged
archangel, I differ with you as far as Q1 from test set 19 goes.
Answer C actually changes the meaning. 4 times more likely means they are 5 times as likely as which is what original sentence indicates.
4 times as likely as changes the meaning.
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10 September 2005 at 10:46pm | IP Logged
Check out this link, again:
http://www.scoretop.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8264&K W=american+medical+colleges
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 18 September 2005 at 12:13am | IP Logged
Twenty years ago, Balzania put in place regulations requiring operators of surface mines to pay for the reclamation of mined-out land. Since then, reclamation technology has not improved. Yet, the average reclamation cost for a surface coal mine being reclaimed today is only four dollars per ton of coal that the mine produced, less than half what it cost to reclaim surface mines in the years immediately after the regulations took effect.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to account for the drop in reclamation costs described?
A. Even after Balzania began requiring surface mine operators to pay reclamation costs, coal mines in Balzania continued to be less expensive to operate than coal mines in almost any other country.
B. In the twenty years since the regulations took effect, the use of coal as a fuel has declined from the level it was at in the previous twenty years.
C. Mine operators have generally ceased surface mining in the mountainous areas of Balzania because reclamation costs per ton of coal produced are particularly high for mines in such areas.
D. Even after Balzania began requiring surface mine operators to pay reclamation costs, surface mines continued to produce coal at a lower total cost than underground mines.
E. As compared to twenty years ago, a greater percentage of the coal mined in Balzania today comes from surface mines.
|