Saturday, August 26, 2006

Gmat Sentence Correction 60

60). A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(A). A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(B). After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(C). After passing through a red giant stage, a star's mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(D). Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(E). The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

Answer -

60). D is the best choice -- Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
(Read the sentence without the words stated in orange color.)

A - incorrect -- dangling modifier...(depending on mass)

B - incorrect -- "its" refers to the red giant stage's mass.


C - incorrect -- star's mass will determine if it compress itself...again here it refers to mass rather than star.

E - incorrect -- Mass of start after passing....it is star that is passing and not the mass.

Gmat Sentence Correction 58, 59

58). There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels: more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now than it was in 1990.

A). generated through wind power now than it was

B). generated through wind power now as it was

C). generated through wind power now as was the case

D). now generated through wind power as it was

E). now generated through wind power than was the case.


59). The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing divison of a rival company for $ 950 million, which is part of a deal that will make it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.

A). million, which is part of a deal that will make

B). million, a part of a deal that makes

C). million, part of a deal making

D). million as a part of a deal to make

E). million as part of a deal that will make


Answers -

58). C is correct answer - correct idiom “as X as Y”

A,B,D – incorrect – no clear referent for “it”

E – incorrect – “than” is used incorrectly in this option.


59). E is the best choice.

B,C,D – incorrect –wrong tense usage -- present tense is used instead of future tense

A – incorrect – “which” –referrent not clear..

Note – Always remember a participle phrase as in C here, is used for an event in the past or which is going on at present but never for the future – the reason why again C is wrong. C is basically changing the meaning of the sentence.

Gmat Sentence Correction 56, 57

56). Some patients who do not respond therapies of depression may simply have received inadequate treatment, having, for example been prescribed a drug as a dosage too low to be effective or having been taken off a drug too soon.

(A). having, for example been prescribed a drug as a dosage too low to be effective or having been

(B). having, for example, a drug prescription that was ineffective because the dosage was too low, or being

(C). as, for example, having too low of a dosage of prescribed drug for it to be effective, or being

(D). when they have, for example, been prescribed too low a drug dosage for it to be effective, or were

(E). for example, when they have a drug prescription with a dosage too low to be effective, or been

57). Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar coin will be used more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each.

(A). more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than

(B). more as a substitute for four quarters than the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far lighter than

(C). as a substitute for four quarters more than for a dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than

(D). as a substitute for four quarters more than the dollar bill because its weight of only 8.1 grams is far lighter than it is for
(E). as a substitute more for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than it is for


Answers -

56). A is the best choice. “having….been” is correct usage as it maintains parallelism.

B – incorrect – idea conveyed by this option is that a drug prescription was ineffective which cannot be true.

C – incorrect -- parallelism is violated here – having … being

D – incorrect -- wrong tense and violating parallelism

E – incorrect -- violating parallelism


57). C is the best choice.

A,D,E – incorrect – violating parallelism – it should be “weighs” and not “weights”

B – incorrect – incorrectly comparing “as a substitute” with “four quarters”

Gmat Sentence Correction 54, 55

54). A new phenomena, which is visible at Managua's major intersections, are waves of vendors and beggars, which include many children and mob cars at the stoplights.

(A) A new phenomena, which is visible at Managua's major intersections, are waves of vendors and beggars, which include many children and

(B) Visible at Managua's major intersections are waves of vendors and beggars with many children, new phenomena that

(C) A new phenomenon visible at Managua's major intersections is waves of vendors and beggars, many of them children, who

(D) Phenomenally new waves of vendors, beggars, and many children are visible at Managua's major intersections, which

(E) A wave of vendors and beggars, many of whom are children, are visible at Managua's major intersections, where they are a new phenomenon and


55). To meet the rapidly rising market demand for fish and seafood, 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



Answers -

54). C is the best choice.

A,E - incorrect -- Subject-Verb Agreemant

B - incorrect -- phenomenon cannot rob cars.

D - incorrect -- very awkward , changes the meaning of the sentence

55). D is the correct answer - parallelism is maintained -"growing....cutting...raising...". Further antecedent of “they” is clear i.e “the fish”

C - incorrect -- after “as fast as” we need a clause.

A, B - incorrect -- wrong comparison -- cannot compare verb with noun --- growing fish (verb) with growth rate (noun).


B, E - incorrect -- violating parallelism.

Gmat Sentence Correction 52, 53

52). Byron possessed powers of observation that would have made him a great anthropologist and that makes his letters as a group the rival of the best novels of the time.

(A) makes his letters as a group the rival of

(B) makes his letters as a group one to rival

(C) makes his letters a group rivaling

(D) make his letters as a group the rival of

(E) make his letters a group which is the rival of

53). The expected rise in the price of oil could be a serious impact to industrialized nations and severely diminish the possibility to have an economy free of inflation.

(A) be a serious impact to industrialized nations and severely diminish the possibility to have

(B) seriously impact on industrialized nations and severely impede the possibility to have

(C) seriously impact on industrialized nations and severely impede the possibility of having

(D) have a serious impact on industrialized nations and severely impede the possibility to have

(E) have a serious impact on industrialized nations and severely diminish the possibility of having


Answers -

52). Correct answer - D

A,B,C - incorrect - subject verb agreement - powers....make


E - wordy

53). E is the best choice.

A,B,C - incorrect -- Always remember in GMAT --impact should remain a noun; a proposal can have an impact.(The only thing that can be impacted is a wisdom tooth).

D - incorrect - "possibility of" is correct idiom. Further "diminish" instead of "impede" is more appropriate to use here.

Gmat Sentence Correction 50, 51

50). In large doses, analgesics that work in the brain as antagonists to certain chemicals have caused psychological disturbances in patients, which may limit their potential to relieve severe pain.

(A) which may limit their potential to relieve

(B) which may limit their potential for relieving

(C) which may limit such analgesics’ potential to relieve

(D) an effect that may limit their potential to relieve

(E) an effect that may limit the potential of such analgesics for relieving


51). The man was always aware, sometimes proudly and sometimes resentfully, that he was a small-town Midwesterner who was thrust into a world that was dominated by wealthier, better-educated, and more polished people than him.

(A) who was thrust into a world that was dominated by wealthier, better-educated, and more polished people than him

(B) who had been thrust into a world that was dominated by more wealthy, educated, and polished people than him

(C) who had been thrust into a world dominated by wealthier, better-educated, and people more polished than he was

(D) thrust into a world dominated by more wealthy, educated, and polished people than him

(E) thrust into a world dominated by wealthier, better-educated, and more polished people than he


Answers -

50). E is the best choice

A,B,C - incorrect - use of "which" ambiguous - referring to 'patients' or 'analgesics' or..

D - incorrect - "their" -ambiguous - referring to 'patients' or 'analgesics' or effects of the analgesics...


51). E is the correct answer.

A,B,D- incorrect - Subject form of pronoun always comes after ‘than’ or ‘as’. (
Pronoun errors)

C - incorrect - ".. than he was" - was needs to be ellipsed as I mentioned for
Do - auxiliary verb in my GMAT Grammar blog.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Gmat Sentence Correction 49

49). With a total population of less than two hundred and fewer breeding females than ever before, the American crocodile seemed a decade ago to be in danger of disappearing.

(A) of less than two hundred and fewer

(B) lower than two hundred and less

(C) lesser than two hundred and fewer

(D) fewer than two hundred and less

(E) of fewer than two hundred and of fewer

Answer -

49). A is the right answer.

D, E - incorrect -- use "fewer" only when referring to countable nouns. Population is very much like "mass" here and so less/lesser should be used.

B,C - incorrect -- we require 'of ' after population and before less, and "fewer" for refering to the number of breeding females.