133. Whereas heat transferred between the ocean and the atmosphere occurs more rapidly when the ocean is warmer than the air, it is slow when the ocean is colder.
A. Whereas heat transferred between the ocean and the atmosphere occurs more rapidly when the ocean is warmer than the air, it is slow when the ocean is colder.
B. Unlike the slow process of heat transfer between the ocean and the atmosphere when the ocean is colder than the air, heat transfers more rapidly when the ocean is warmer.
C. The transfer of heat between the ocean and the atmosphere is slow when the ocean is colder than the air and more rapid when the ocean is warmer.
D. Transferring heat between the ocean and the atmosphere occurs slowly when the ocean is colder than the air and more rapidly when it is warmer.
E. When the ocean is colder than the atmosphere, heat transferred between them occurs slowly, unlike the more rapid transfer occurring when the ocean is warmer.

This is GMATPREP question. I chose B but this is not OA. What is wrong with "B". What is the correct answer and reason that the same is better than "B".

C here is correct.

Saurabh malpani

i'm wondering where you really got this question - if it's actually a gmatprep problem, why is there a problem number (#133)?

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choice b is wrong because it contains a faulty comparison: unlike the slow process of heat transfer... improperly modifies heat (the noun after the comma).
as a simpler analogy, consider the following sentence:
coming home from school, the wind blew me off my bike.
in that sentence, the wind is coming home from school (obviously not what is meant). the problem is the same as what's wrong with the problem in this thread.

Ron can u mention all the errors on wrong options??
thanks

choice a:
- if you take out modifiers, the basic structure of this sentence is 'whereas heat ... occurs more rapidly when blah blah blah, it is slow when blah blah blah.' that's unacceptable - it's not the heat that 'happens' (it's the transfer). remember that the gmat is very exacting about wording that means what it's supposed to mean.

choice d:
- 'transferring... occurs' is bad idiom (you can't use occurs with the gerund form)
- the 'it' toward the end of this choice is technically ambiguous (could theoretically refer to 'transferring' or 'ocean', or perhaps even 'air')

choice e:
- awkward phrasing in general (if you're a native speaker, you should definitely notice this)
- same problem as in choice a: the sentence says that the heat 'occurs slowly', which doesn't make any sense

Hey Ron,



i didn't get this part ??

I crossed D as I thought its a dangling modifier... there is no subject to which transferring is applicable...
but i understand now that...transferring itself is the subject...

but didn't get what u have written about gerund forms... is this true for all gerunds and singular verbs ??

Well Great Explaination.

But my question is WHEN is supposed to modify TIME ?

But what is happened in here?

"when" is fine here. if you insert "...at times..." between the preceding words and "when", you'll notice that this works perfectly:
The transfer of heat between the ocean and the atmosphere is slow at times when the ocean is colder than the air and more rapid at times when the ocean is warmer.

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you may be thinking of the rules for "when" PRECEDED BY A COMMA.

if "when" follows a comma, then the word(s) before the comma should refer directly to a time period.

for instance:
in the 1950's, when high jumpers were still landing on beds of sawdust, the "Fosbury Flop" backward-style landing was impossible.

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

hi ron ,
" more rapidly" is it correct here ????
as i think more(adj) and rapidly(adverb) is wrong and that eliminates A,B,D
and E is wrong for incorrect comparison....

no, this is definitely not wrong. if you want to modify an adverb, you have to use another adverb to do so.
"more ADVERB" or "less ADVERB" is an extremely common construction in english.

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for a problem in which the correct answer contains "more quickly", look at problem 38 in the blue 2nd edition verbal supplement (same problem as number 39 in the purple 1st edition verbal supplement).

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

Ron,

Please explain if 'than' is not necessary for 'more'.

if the other half of the comparison is mentioned in a whole other clause, then you can't use "than" (because you have nowhere to put it!).

for instance, both of the following are correct:

i am much more creative at night than during the day. (here, the entire comparison exists within a single clause, so we use more… than…)

during the day, i tend to think in relatively fixed patterns; at night, i am more creative. (neither clause contains the comparison by itself; the comparison is implied by the juxtaposition of the two clauses.)

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

Thank you Ron, Manhantan experts, I wish to discuss option D. I never choose D but I am not clear why D is wrong.

D. Transferring heat between the ocean and the atmosphere occurs slowly when the ocean is colder than the air and more rapidly when it is warmer.

1/ I think "it" in D is not wrong because the paralellism "slowly when.... rapidly when" tells us that "it" refer to "ocean". Ron, pls, explain more of this point.

2/ I do not know when to use NOUN and when to use DOING. I see , in many og question, we have to choose between NOUN and DOING. some persons said we should use NOUN, not DOING. Ron, pls, explain more of this point.

relative to this point is the construction POSSESSION+DOING. for example," Mr Ron' teaching gmat is wonderfull" is considered wrong. Why, I do not understand. pls, explain, I am not native speaker.
Thank you.

read the thread.

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Hi guys, I really would like to resurrect this topic as it's a great question. Is D wrong only due to the pronoun issue? The ambiguous "it"...