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thisisvb
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Post subject:  Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:50 am |
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Sorry to bump this post up again, but I had one last Q:
D is incorrect because of 'previous possibility' which is unidiomatic and should rather be 'possibility previously'?
however, in the latter, 'previously' is an adverb and should not modify 'possibility' which is used as a noun. In the former, adj 'previous' correctly modifies the noun 'possibilty'
am I correct? I have my exam in less than a month and am horrible at SC..
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thisisvb
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Post subject: Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:46 pm |
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thisisvb wrote: Sorry to bump this post up again, but I had one last Q:
D is incorrect because of 'previous possibility' which is unidiomatic and should rather be 'possibility previously'?
however, in the latter, 'previously' is an adverb and should not modify 'possibility' which is used as a noun. In the former, adj 'previous' correctly modifies the noun 'possibilty'
am I correct? I have my exam in less than a month and am horrible at SC..
Help, anyone??
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RonPurewal
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Post subject: Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:08 am |
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| ManhattanGMAT Staff |
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thisisvb wrote: thisisvb wrote: Sorry to bump this post up again, but I had one last Q:
D is incorrect because of 'previous possibility' which is unidiomatic and should rather be 'possibility previously'?
however, in the latter, 'previously' is an adverb and should not modify 'possibility' which is used as a noun. In the former, adj 'previous' correctly modifies the noun 'possibilty'
am I correct? I have my exam in less than a month and am horrible at SC.. Help, anyone?? 'previous possibility' isn't unidiomatic; it just means something other than what you're actually trying to say.
namely, previous possibility would mean that it WAS a possibility in the past, but it isn't a possibility anymore. ("all the previous possibilities have vanished.")
not previously considered a possibility means that people once didn't know that it was a possibility, but now they do realize that it is (currently) a possibility.
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shobujgmat
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:19 am |
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Well:
1st: if we correct the sescond part of the setence of choice A:
what they had not previously considered possible - better control, if not eradication, of other infections such as
is A will be correct
And isn't chioce C- change the meaning of the sentence.
because from your explanation:"what they had not..." vs. "something they had not..."The "what" construction is awfully strong, suggesting that this was THE ONE THING they hadn't thought possible.
and why the secrifice the original meaning of the sentence?
pls shed some light on this topic
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RonPurewal
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 3:16 pm |
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Quote: what they had not previously considered possible - better control, if not eradication, of other infections such as
is A will be correct still inferior to "something they had..." also, "other" is unnecessary and therefore wordy, since the other infections are mentioned by name. if no specific infections were mentioned, then we'd need the word "other" to make it clear that we're talking about infections other than smallpox. Quote: and why the secrifice the original meaning of the sentence? the original meaning is absurd. it is clearly impossible that there is only ONE thing that the researchers didn't consider possible. in cases in which the original is absurd, outlandish, or illogical, you have the license - in fact, the duty - to change its meaning.
_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes
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hmgmat
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 3:07 am |
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Hi Ron,
I read your post (#2).
You said that "what" means "the thing that" instead of "things that". However, in this sentence, I feel that "what" is fine because it can be interpreted this way:
The success of the program to eradicate smallpox has stimulated experts to
pursue the thing that they had not previously considered possible -- better control of ...
Also, I read somewhere that "what" can also means "things that". Is it a GMAT rule that "what" has to be interpreted as "the thing that"?
Thanks in advance.
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RonPurewal
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:01 am |
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hmgmat wrote: Also, I read somewhere that "what" can also means "things that". Is it a GMAT rule that "what" has to be interpreted as "the thing that"?
Thanks in advance. ah, no, i wasn't meaning to differentiate between singular and plural. "what..." can certainly refer to more than one thing, or to a plural noun. What was most noticeable about the cathedral was the gargoyles on top of the roof.this is legitimate. the distinction i was trying to emphasize was that between an exhaustive treatment (implied by "what") and the giving of examples (implied by constructions such as "something"). "what" can refer to either a singular or a plural, although there may be other clues elsewhere in the sentence that require one or the other.
_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes
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nehajadoo
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:12 pm |
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I was hesitant to choose C and chose C in the end Only because i saw some other correct answer which had " such X as.." instead of "such as x"
i honestly don't know why "such infections as" in C is correct
shouldn't it be "infections such as"?
thanks!
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tim
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 5:11 pm |
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Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
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either construction is acceptable. A, of course, is wrong for other reasons..
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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor
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ankitp
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:16 am |
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jnelson0612
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:04 am |
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ankitp wrote: Why is D wrong? ankitp, please read Ron's explanation earlier on this page.
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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor
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style.rohit007
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:45 am |
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Hi Ron ,
Can you please clarify , why is "past perfect" correct here?
Also , is this rule also not a "absolute rule" , as is the case with passive/active rule?
There is a similar problem in OG 12(q.50) but can't post here.
Can u plz clarify , in which cases this type of construction (containing past perfect tense eventhough simple past is not used) is correct?
Response awaited.
Thanks.
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RonPurewal
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:59 am |
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style.rohit007 wrote: Hi Ron ,
Can you please clarify , why is "past perfect" correct here?
Also , is this rule also not a "absolute rule" , as is the case with passive/active rule?
There is a similar problem in OG 12(q.50) but can't post here.
Can u plz clarify , in which cases this type of construction (containing past perfect tense eventhough simple past is not used) is correct?
Response awaited.
Thanks. you don't need the simple past; you just need an explicit past time reference. that reference *can* be a simple past action, but it can also be a specified occurrence or past time. in the context of this problem, the "past time reference" is the time at which the smallpox eradication program succeeded. i.e., before that point people had not thought xxxxxxxx was possible, but only up to that point.
_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes
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morymory_1983
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:12 pm |
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Hi Ron
If THE other + NOUN + SUCH AS... is not okey...
will
THE otherS + SUCH AS ...be okey?
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RonPurewal
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Post subject: Re: The success of the program to eradicate smallpox Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 6:01 am |
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morymory_1983 wrote: Hi Ron
If THE other + NOUN + SUCH AS... is not okey...
will
THE otherS + SUCH AS ...be okey? in general, you shouldn't have both of these -- i.e., you shouldn't have "the" + noun + "such as", regardless of what else is around it. "the" implies a definite, specified item or set of items, while "such as" implies items that are unspecified but similar to whatever "x" is. so, basically, the ideas of "the" and "such as" are contradictory. ex: you should do the exercises in the book.--> it wouldn't make sense to have "such as" here, because the book will actually contain a specific group of exercises. you should do exercises such as those in the book.
--> this means that you can basically do [i]any exercises of the same kind, regardless of whether they actually appear in the book. since this isn't a definite set of exercises, it wouldn't make sense to use "the" here.
_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes
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