phuong, glad the forum is helping you.



which country?
we're pretty smart/knowledgeable people here -- it's doubtful that there is an entire country out there that has escaped our notice this whole time.

hi Ron, have you ever heard the city called Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)? Please be assured that i have no doubt about the knowledge of people in this forum.
Started to learn gmat last year, I spent US$900 for 3 courses with the promise that people who dont need to understand the meaning in verbal test are able to get high score by learning a bunch of tips and by guessing. Money is not all. The important thing i've regreted most is the time i spent studying in the wrong way with wrong materials (non official material). Tutors are those who have never taken gmat before so i and other people decided to stop these courses and grouped together to study gmat. Now there is only me left in this race and what lessons i've drawn from the preparation are as follows:
- SC: meaning is first (Thursday with Ron) , then grammar, then some tips is necessary
- CR: we need to totally understand the whole meaning and the relationship between other phrase/clause to the whole context. reading comprehension and Negate technique are fundamental requirements
- RC: learning new vocabulary is very effective way to speed up reading skill. Find out main points of passages and why other supported idea are there are the target in RC (Thursday with Ron)
* Using officiall source question + explantion, seeking explanations from reputative people on gmat site.
After reading Mahattan staff's explantions and other feedbacks, i realised that i would have a very long road to walk in. But i guess i've found the right way to learn and to me I find myself lucky. In addition, gmat is worth to learn because it is not only a standard test to pursue a Master degree but also is a tool to help me think more strategically, logically and work more efficiently.
In sum, i'm on the way to correct my brain so if i make mistakes please correct me. I'm appreciated all your comments

Hi phuong,
I have been to Ho Chi Minh City a few times for business, and I suspect that many of our instructors have traveled in Vietnam. It's nice to meet someone from there.

I'd like to comment on one of your points above. To me, grammar is the most important aspect of sentence correction. The GMAT tests particular grammar rules over and over again, and if you know those rules you can efficiently attack and eliminate answer choices.

To improve in reading comp, it helps to read articles from good periodicals, such as The Economist, The New York Times, etc.

I'm glad you have joined us in this forum!

_________________
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor

hi Jamie, thank you for your guidance. I'm noting your tips to my notebook and will follow these things as daily practice. If you travel to my city and need help in something, please contact me (my yahoo id is heymickey2404). I hope i can do something to help you all as the way you are doing with our candidate like us.

glad jamie's explanation helped.

btw, basically 100% of americans will be familiar with vietnam and HMC/saigon -- partly because it's an increasingly popular tourist destination and an increasingly important trade partner, but also, unfortunately, partly because of the war fought between those two countries in the '60's-'70's.
generally, americans (as a general population -- educated americans will be at least passingly familiar with just about every country in the world) are somewhat less familiar with neighboring countries, such as cambodia and laos, but vietnam is a known quantity here.

how embarrassed i am, thanks Ron and Nelson for your information. I guess it is my thought that has been outdated. :">

all good.

A recent review of pay scales indicates that , on average, CEO’s now earn 419 times the pay of blue-collar workers, as compared to 42 times their pay, the ratio in 1980.

above is correct choice. I want to understand the use of COMMA+PHRASE. I do not understand the use of this kind of modifier.

COMMA+PHRASE can be used to modify a noun phrase immediately preceding as the case in this question.

COMMA+PHRASE can be used to modify the entire preceding clause in the following:

I learn gmat , making my thinking better. (COMMA PHRASE is DOING PHRASE here)

I learn Enlish in most of free time in the year 2011, a language most persons learn. (inhere, COMMA PHRASE=noun phrase which modify a remote noun.

I do not understand how to use COMMA PHRASE . any other cases for using COMMA PHRASE. pls, help me.

When I read this problem, I am afraid because I do not know COMMA+COMPARED should modify what.

Pls, Ron, member, explain how to use COMMA PHRASE.

this is workable.



this sentence is wrong. "a language" should be placed next to "english":
during most of my free time in 2011, i learned english, a language that many people learn.




this question would be impossible to answer in a single post, because there are so many different types of things that can follow a comma.

if your question is this general, then your best bet is to google it and examine, in detail, the results on the first few pages that show up in your search.
for instance, when i google "use of commas" or "modifiers separated by commas", the following page is one of the first to show up:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02/
try reading through the examples on that page -- and making up examples of your own containing the same structure.

picking the brain of the experts on strategy

A. that CEO’s now earn an average of 419 times more pay than blue-collar workers, compared to a ratio of 42 times
B. that, on average, CEO’s now earn 419 times the pay of blue-collar workers, a ratio that compares to 42 times


when I saw that modifier move around I immediately jumped on it. And, since I was doing this under timed conditions, I felt that B was a slight meaning change from A.

for A it is saying average of 419 times more pay, so the average of a ratio (a noun)
for B it is saying CEOs earn on average 419 more pay. so now "on average" is an adverbial prep modifier, modifying an action occurring on average

already that is a red-flag to me because how often can you go from modifying a noun then modifying an action and end up with an identical result?

OK, so now, after looking at it for some time i agree there is no fundamental difference, but how can you quickly determine that? And say you were taking the test and were stumped on that modifier moving around would you give up and look for something else?

That is pretty much my biggest problem, getting stuck on a particular aspect of an answer choice and really not getting anywhere with it.

i kno i can't learn every rule, nevermind MASTERING every rule , so I think my best approach now is to try and do the same things the experts do when they approach the problem.