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Re: GMAT Strategy Chat 4 - Sentence Correction workshop!
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12 Jan 2015, 08:44
As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing the bee to sustain a fatal injury.
(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing
(B) As the heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes
(C) The honeybee’s stinger, heavily barbed and staying where it is inserted, results in the fact that the act of stinging causes
(D) The heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, and results in the act of stinging causing
(E) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes
NOTE: A construction favourite in the GMAT that you will probably not find in books. Hope it is useful
the construction (preposition) + NOUN + VERBing is WRONG, unless the preposition refers directly to the NOUN. (that isn't usually the case, so, if you're in doubt, you should strike choices with this sort of construction.)
For instance: i've never heard of bees stinging dogs WRONG. this is not an issue of whether you've heard of bees themselves; it's an issue of whether you've heard of their stinging dogs....results in the act of stinging causing... WRONG. this doesn't result in the act of stinging itself; it results in what is caused by the act of stinging.
I have a picture of my cousin playing hockey. CORRECT. this time, the picture is actually of my cousin, so we're good.
Whats the question
therefore, (a) and (d) are wrong because of "...results in the act of stinging causing...". The pronoun "this" in (a) doesn't refer to any particular noun. this consideration also kills (a).
You can't say "the stinger results in...". "results in..." can only be used when it's LITERALLY TRUE. for instance, you could say that the attempt resulted in failure, since the attempt ITSELF ended in failure.
if you understand this literal meaning, then it goes without saying that you can't use this sort of construction for physical objects.
TAKEAWAY: you can only say "X results in Y" when X is an ACTION. if X is an OBJECT, you can NEVER say that X "results" in anything.
this kills choices (c) and (d), in which "stinger" is the subject of the verb "results".
choice (b) misuses the connector "as". the connector "as" connects two independent clauses BY ITSELF. if "as" is used to connect two independent clauses, it should NOT be used in conjunction with any other connector words.
In choice (b), "as" and "with" are used together. the use of either of these prohibits the use of the other, so this choice is wrong.
The MEANING of the sentence is that the bee's stinger stays where it's placed, and so the bee dies because it can't get away after the sting.