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Director
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A number of linguists contend that all of the thousands of [#permalink]
 30 Mar 2007, 00:30
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A number of linguists contend that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced back to a common root language.
(A) that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced
(B) that the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages of which all can be traced
(C) the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages which are all traceable
(D) all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people to be traceable
(E) the ability to trace all of the thousands of languages that are spoken by the world’s five billion people
Please explain the correct one????
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Director
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Idiom: Contend + "that"
POE: throw away C, D ,and E
A is better than B because the issue concerns the languages spoken more than who speaks the languages. So, the rthe linguists primarily contend something about the languages. "which all can be traced" is awkward and incorrect.
Answer is A
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Director
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Should be 'A'.
Close call between A and B.
Using of active voice is not always correct. Yes active voice is preferred to the passive voice as long as active voice conveys the meaning emphatically.
Here the object in light is 'Languages' not the 'People'. So passive voice is preferred.
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CEO
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LM wrote: A number of linguists contend that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced back to a common root language.
(A) that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced
(B) that the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages of which all can be traced
(C) the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages which are all traceable
(D) all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people to be traceable
(E) the ability to trace all of the thousands of languages that are spoken by the world’s five billion people
Please explain the correct one????
Contend that is the idiom. I eliminated B because which was not preceded by a comma.
What is the correct usage of of which?
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CEO
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bmwhype2 wrote: LM wrote: A number of linguists contend that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced back to a common root language.
(A) that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced
(B) that the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages of which all can be traced
(C) the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages which are all traceable
(D) all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people to be traceable
(E) the ability to trace all of the thousands of languages that are spoken by the world’s five billion people
Please explain the correct one???? Contend that is the idiom. I eliminated B because which was not preceded by a comma. What is the correct usage of of which? which is correctly used here because it is preceeded by a prepostion. but I now see why B is wrong.
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Senior Manager
Joined: 13 May 2007
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So the use of "which" preceded by a preposition is always correct 
bmwhype2 wrote: bmwhype2 wrote: LM wrote: A number of linguists contend that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced back to a common root language.
(A) that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced
(B) that the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages of which all can be traced
(C) the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages which are all traceable
(D) all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people to be traceable
(E) the ability to trace all of the thousands of languages that are spoken by the world’s five billion people
Please explain the correct one???? Contend that is the idiom. I eliminated B because which was not preceded by a comma. What is the correct usage of of which? which is correctly used here because it is preceeded by a prepostion. but I now see why B is wrong. |
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CEO
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empty_spaces wrote: So the use of "which" preceded by a preposition is always correct bmwhype2 wrote: bmwhype2 wrote: LM wrote: A number of linguists contend that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced back to a common root language.
(A) that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced
(B) that the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages of which all can be traced
(C) the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages which are all traceable
(D) all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people to be traceable
(E) the ability to trace all of the thousands of languages that are spoken by the world’s five billion people
Please explain the correct one???? Contend that is the idiom. I eliminated B because which was not preceded by a comma. What is the correct usage of of which? which is correctly used here because it is preceeded by a prepostion. but I now see why B is wrong. depends on the context. we cant say through/in/over/under which in B.
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Intern
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Going with A
B, C, D are verbose and E is having different meaning.
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Manager
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Well..if we consider modifier subject closeness rule, doesn't B make more sense than A? The modifier "all can be traced" is placed closer to the subject "languages" that it is in A.
Moreover A is passive.
Please explain.
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Manager
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A is the right answer.
"Which" seems to be referring back to people moreover needs a comma.
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