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What about the skewed tilt in the favor of "idioms"? How do you take that into account?
Though Indians may look non-native, most of them taking GMAT have been studying English since childhood; it's a British legacy. India has many different languages, and as such, English is the lingua franca of the country.
Hi there,
Idioms are being de-emphasized by GMAC in favor of more questions that hinge on meaning, which I think makes sense. (Not that my opinion is very important! If the GMAT wanted us all to learn to hop on one foot while patting our heads, I would teach people to do that.)
I have been to India, albeit briefly. I could write all day about the idiomatic differences between US and Indian English! Of course, many expressions in Indian English are closer to the original British (for some reason, Americans think that "thrice" is a very snooty word, whereas in India and the UK, it's just a normal word, like "twice.") Stores in India have "timings" instead of "hours"; one "gives" an exam rather than "takes" one. A Citibank ATM in Bangalore informed me, "Your transaction is getting done," which just sounds funny to an American (in the US, it would probably say, "Your transaction is being processed.") Of course, it makes perfect sense to "prepone" a meeting. (Maybe now you can tell a little something about the kind of person who becomes a GMAT instructor!)
In short, there are all kinds of nuances that are interesting, but I find that these sorts of things simply do not come up on the GMAT.
Idioms that DO come up include, for instance, "capable OF" and "ability TO" (you cannot be capable to do something, or have the ability of doing something). I think anyone who learns English in the UK, Australia, India, the US, or elsewhere would/should know that.
Separately from one's GMAT studies, it is worth considering whether there is value in learning to write more like an (educated) American if one intends to work in the US. That, I cannot answer.
But I think the GMAT is moving in the right direction by including more problems about meaning. We have numerous posts about this topic on the
Manhattan GMAT blog -- I'm new so I can't seem to post links, but google "Meaning is Mean! A GMATPrep Sentence Correction Problem" for a nice example.
Sincerely,
Jennifer