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Many scientists believe that abnormalities in brain [#permalink]
 06 Mar 2009, 07:05
Question Stats:
69% (01:38) correct
30% (00:47) wrong based on 6 sessions
Many scientists believe that abnormalities in brain chemistry cause clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are or how they lead to illness. (A) cause clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are or (B) cause clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are nor (C) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have neither not established what these abnormalities are or (D) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are nor (E) causes clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are nor Please help... 
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 07:15
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cici wrote: Many scientists believe that abnormalities in brain chemistry cause clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are or how they lead to illness. A) cause clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are or B) cause clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are nor C) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have neither not established what these abnormalities are or D) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are nor E) causes clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are nor Please help... B is wrong. Correct idiom should be either...or C is wrong. Correct idiom should be neither...nor D is wrong for the same reason as B E is wrong. Abnormalities is plural, should use cause instead of causes. A is correct as it is.
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 07:25
eileen1017 wrote: B is wrong. Correct idiom should be either...or
C is wrong. Correct idiom should be neither...nor
D is wrong for the same reason as B
E is wrong. Abnormalities is plural, should use cause instead of causes.
A is correct as it is. Ohhh I thought "not either" can pair with "nor", but I guess they cannot be paired!! Thank you eileen  You were right, the OA is A!
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 10:38
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Basically Idiom issue here either or neither nor cici wrote: Many scientists believe that abnormalities in brain chemistry cause clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are or how they lead to illness. A) cause clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are or B) cause clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are norC) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have neither not established what these abnormalities are or D) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are norE) causes clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are nor Please help... _________________
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 11:38
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The sentence does not look worded properly. The same pronoun "they" seems to refer to "scientists" and to "abnormalities". What is the source of the question?
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 13:26
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scthakur wrote: The sentence does not look worded properly. The same pronoun "they" seems to refer to "scientists" and to "abnormalities". What is the source of the question? Agree with you but that problem is in all ACs and the AC with least problem is A. So A is fine. cici wrote: Many scientists believe that abnormalities in brain chemistry cause clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are or how they lead to illness. A) cause clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are or B) cause clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are nor C) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have neither not established what these abnormalities are or D) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are nor E) causes clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are nor Please help... _________________
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
06 Mar 2009, 13:43
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quick q, is "have not established" can be followed by either "or" or "nor" without changing meaning?
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
07 Mar 2009, 00:34
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A . I agree with scthakur abt the ambiguity. but i guess we have to chose the best.
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
08 Mar 2009, 01:12
scthakur wrote: The sentence does not look worded properly. The same pronoun "they" seems to refer to "scientists" and to "abnormalities". What is the source of the question? Hi scthakur  I got this question from Practice Test Book. Regarding your comment, I think referring scientists as "they" is okay because "abnormalities" comes as the object of that clause. Plus, it's hard to interpret the sentence if you put "abnormalities" in the place of "they".  Best, Cici
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
13 Jan 2010, 06:12
scthakur wrote: The sentence does not look worded properly. The same pronoun "they" seems to refer to "scientists" and to "abnormalities". What is the source of the question? "They" refers to the scientists because abnormalities is part of the essential clause (i.e., begins with "that") and is not the subject.
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
13 Jan 2010, 06:16
Subject-verb agreement
abnormalities cause
abnormality causes
so (A)
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
13 Jan 2010, 11:46
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(A) cause clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are or
(B) cause clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are nor
(C) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have neither not established what these abnormalities are or
(D) are the cause of clinical depression, but they have not established either what these abnormalities are nor
(E) causes clinical depression, but they have not established what these abnormalities are nor
in this question we have 2 problems
1) subject -verb agreement
2) idiom error
correct idioms are
a) either x or y
b) neither x nor y
choice b , c and d are out due to this idiom error
choice e is out since abnormailities doesn't agree with singluar verb causes
so we are left with only where subject and verb agrees and we don't have any incorrect idioms also
so my choice is A
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
19 Jan 2010, 08:55
Woohoo! I answered correctly. My first split began with cause. I quickly eliminated C, D and E. In B, "either... nor should be neither nor. Therefore, A was my choice. Posted from my mobile device 
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
19 Jan 2010, 10:24
As most people said, there's the idiom issue in most of the answer. Either has to pair with or Neither has to pair with nor in (E), there's a subject/verb issue. Here's my take on the "they" part. Whenever I see a pronoun, I always ask myself what that pronoun is referring to. Who is "they" in this case? Is it abnormalities or scientists? Or something else? By not being able to answer myself, I cross (A) off in the list. However, once I realize that "they" persists in every single answer, I un-crossed (A) off knowing that this pronoun cannot be the make and break of this question. I completely ignored the "they" part and focused on the idiom error.
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
18 Jan 2011, 07:48
A E is out as "causes" is singular B, C, D do not use "either" idiomatically As always questions with Answer choice A take most time to solve
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
19 Jan 2011, 00:51
A is answer. thanks for all above explanation
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Re: SC-abnormalities in brain chemistry [#permalink]
21 Jan 2011, 02:36
A Posted from my mobile device
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Re: Many scientists believe that abnormalities in brain [#permalink]
20 Jan 2012, 06:25
+1 A
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Re: Many scientists believe that abnormalities in brain [#permalink]
22 Jan 2012, 22:51
One of the simpler SC questions I guess. The answer is A. Thanks for the explanation.
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Re: Many scientists believe that abnormalities in brain [#permalink]
22 Jan 2012, 23:46
+1 A The correct idioms are: EITHER...OR, and NEITHER...NOR That's why B is incorrect. C and D are wordy: "cause" is better than "are the cause". We have to avoid the verb "to be" whenever it is possible because usually it is not so direct. "Abnormalities" is plural; we need "cause", not "causes". E is incorrect. Hope it helps.
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Re: Many scientists believe that abnormalities in brain
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22 Jan 2012, 23:46
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