Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for heart attack p

None of the answer choices are perfect:

A. "Preceded with" is wrong. Should be "preceded by"
"was or was not" unidiomatic, wordy and awkward.
B. "Whether or not" is redundant and hence wrong on the GMAT. Whether should suffice.
"For determining" is wrong. It should be "to determine"
C. The use of "that" is avoidable but doesnt make the construction wrong. the best among the given options
D. "Preceded with" is wrong. Should be "preceded by"
E. "For determining" is wrong. It should be "to determine"
"is or is not" unidiomatic, wordy and awkward.

We have to consider two points before we attempt this question.

1. You do require 'that' before 'more research' to keep parallelism intact. Therefore A and B are rejected.
2. A sense of dilemma still pervades through the issue since the matter is yet to be solved. Therefore, the dilemma marker 'whether' is an integral part of the intended meaning and the correct choice.
A corollary of the above point is that when you say 'determine whether', it denotes some level of 'either this or that', but when you say 'determine that, /for determining that', you have some kind of inkling that you’ve already decided about the outcome. This is not the intended purpose of the research.

Therefore, D and E are gone. C is the correct answer.
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IMO C.

The sentence is using the structure X but Y, we need to maintain parallelism between X and Y.
Here to maintain parallelism, we need to have a "that" after "but"
Researchers agreed that the study......but that more research....

See this:

nice explanation!!
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/post1993.html#p1993
summary:
C is the best.
- 'but that' is correct for parallelism.
- to determine
- preceded by

Also something useful for "conjunction +that"
https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentenc ... epaet.html


HTH

C
REASON: 'that' is reqd after but for llism... so left with choices C,D & E...
determining a preference.. 'whether' is correct..... so C
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Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for heart attack patients was
extremely important but more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty
preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than the
balloon procedure by itself.
A. more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with
ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than -- was or was not -- awkward
B. more research was needed for determining whether or not balloon angioplasty - "Whether or not" is not correct usage
preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than is
C. that more research was needed to determine whether balloon angioplasty preceded
by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than
D. that more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded
with ultrasound was any better for heart attack patients than - "preceded with" is not a correct idiom
E. that more research was needed for determining that balloon angioplasty preceded
by ultrasound is or is not any better for heart attack patients than is - is or is not is awkward.

Actually it is a question from gmatprep, the OA is C. I have attached the screen shot of the question.
For explanation click here..
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/gma ... -t671.html

Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for heart attack patients was
extremely important but more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty
preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than the
balloon procedure by itself.

A. more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with
ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than
B. more research was needed for determining whether or not balloon angioplasty
preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than is
C. that more research was needed to determine whether balloon angioplasty preceded
by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than
D. that more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded
with ultrasound was any better for heart attack patients than
E. that more research was needed for determining that balloon angioplasty preceded
by ultrasound is or is not any better for heart attack patients than is


"preceded by" is correct idiom, hence eliminate A & D.
"needed to determine" is correct idiom, hence eliminate B & E.

I picked C for an answer, but I'm still having doubt whether C may contain the inconsistent tense with its "is"?
I know that I am not supposed to question the OA, but could someone kindly advise why we are fine with "is" in option C?

the reduced Stem : .......................more research was needed to determine that X was or was not any better ..............than............. Y

First split :

A. X.......................was or was not any better ............ than.........Y = ( WAS or WASNOT = does it makes any sense ?) = Eliminate

B. X............ ..........is any better .....................................than is.......Y = ( No need of IS , X is compared with Y, X is better THAN Y aptly conveys the intent ) = Eliminated

C. X.......................is any better ...................................than..........Y = Good , ON HOLD = passes the 1st litmus

D. X.......................was any better ................................than..........Y = Good , ON HOLD = passes the 1st litmus

E. X.......................is or is not any better ......................than is........Y = this is Crap = Eliminated

Thus we are left with C n D : 2nd Split

D. more research was needed to determine..............that X was any better ................than Y = THAT doesn't bring out the intent, Further WAS is wrong contextually

C. more research was needed to determine..............whether X is any better .............than Y = Whether n IS perfect combo

thus 1. WHETHER scores over THAT, 2. IS scores over WAS

Leading to C , my take

... to determine that.. something is so... is to express a fact, a certainty... However, in this sentence, "more research was needed to determine WHETHER something is truly so..." Hence, the usage is WHETHER is preferred since it neither a certified fact nor established truth... Eliminate A, D and E

A. more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with
ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than
D. that more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded
with ultrasound was any better for heart attack patients than
E. that more research was needed for determining that balloon angioplasty preceded
by ultrasound is or is not any better for heart attack patients than is


Another error in the sentence is "for determining" which is awkward.... Eliminate B and E

B. more research was needed for determining whether or not balloon angioplasty
preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than is
C. that more research was needed to determine whether balloon angioplasty preceded
by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than

Answer: C

Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for heart attack patients was
extremely important but more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty
preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than the
balloon procedure by itself.
A. more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with
ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than
B. more research was needed for determining whether or not balloon angioplasty
preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than is
C. that more research was needed to determine whether balloon angioplasty preceded
by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than
D. that more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded
with ultrasound was any better for heart attack patients than
E. that more research was needed for determining that balloon angioplasty preceded
by ultrasound is or is not any better for heart attack patients than is

C

- .."to determine.." > "..for determining...": down to A C or D
- that is needed at the beginning to maintain ||ism - but is a FANBOY preposition, hence that is needed: Down to C and D
- "preceded with" is not a preferred idiom: D Out, C Stays

Side Note
Use of Whether in C makes the sentence better; whether or not is considered redundant and is not preferred on GMAT.

) In A, D and E, “determine that” does not convey the intended meaning of the sentence. Since the purpose of the research is to answer a question -- which procedure is better? -- the sentence needs to say “determine whether”. Eliminate A, D and E.
In B, whether or not is an error of redundancy. Eliminate B. Moreover, The expression “for determining” is incorrect. The sentence intends to show the intention/purpose of the research and hence “to verb” should be used instead of “for verb-ing”.
The correct answer is C.
Correct idioms are X is preceded by Y and Y precedes X:
The movie was preceded by a lecture.
A lecture preceded the movie.

Less common is to precede X with Y:

The author preceded the book with a dedication to his parents.

Also correct is to proceed with X:
The roads are slippery, so please proceed with caution.
Whereas precede means to come before, proceed means to move forward.

Furthermore strictly from grammatical stand-point, this list results in two independent clauses and hence the punctuation is not appropriate. Two independent clauses should be connected using ‘comma + but’ and not just ‘but’.
Wordy: The use of expression “was or was not” is very wordy. In this context, “whether” should be used.

First lets see if there is any parallelism trigger such as or,but, and (its the most common seen on the GMAT)

Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for heart attack patients was extremely important but [url]more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than[/url] the balloon procedure by itself.

As we could see from the above sentence their is the "but" word.

Now we need to check the Stem of the sentence which is "Researchers agreed" .


Lets construct the sentences before the parallelism trigger and after the parallelism trigger and compare:

Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for heart attack patients was extremely important

Researchers agreed more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than[/url] the balloon procedure by itself.

The construction as you can see above is wrong since after the parallelism trigger "but" we expect that which is not there. Hence A and B are out.

Now looking at the options D.

that more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was any better for heart attack patient than

Preceded with should be Preceded by since Preceded with does not make any sense in the sentence.

Also the meaning of the sentence is changed when we use determine that.

We are left with option C and E now.

Lets check option E:
that more research was needed for determining that balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is or is not any better for heart attack patients than is

To + Verb ==> talks about purpose or intent.

For + Verb-ing ==> talks about reason or "what for".

As per the question determine to is correct compare to for determining
Also the meaning of the sentence is changed when we use determine that as in option D.

Hence we are left out with Option C.

Hope the above explanation helps.

If your new to the whole parallelism concept or want to get a better picture of the following concept please refer to the below video link which i found immensely useful by GMATNinja :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQgATaaw1ok

i eliminated C at first glance because is here is questionable. i am not a native speaker, when i was learning english my english teacher said the verb in the subordinate clause should be comply with the verb in the main clause. so i believe that is is better to be was in C.

Per egmat in an og18 question. But and that together are redundant. I immediately disregarded C D and E for the same reason. So basically in SC no rule is a rule.

Posted from my mobile device
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" agree that-clause ... but that-clause" is a hard pattern for me , a non native. this pattern dose not exist in dictionaries.

the meaning of this pattern is that I agree with both idea X and idea Y and the idea Y is in contrast with X. the meaning is not that I agree with X and I dont agree with Y.

if we want to say that I agree with idea X but dont agree with idea Y , we can not use above pattern. I dont know whether the following pattern can be used because "not" possibly can not stand before "that-clause"

I agree that you can stay in my working room but not that you can sit on my desk.

this is interesting.
look at choice D and C.
I thing both whether and that are good here. I mean determin whether and determine that both are good.
"preceded with" is wrong. ok.
"is any better" is right. "was any better " is wrong. normally, if the main clause is in the past, the dependent clause is also in the past . but the dependent clause can be in present tense , depending on meaning. here, a general truth is shown, so, present simple is use. "is any better" , but not "was any better " , is correct.

one thing more
to do is used normaly to show a future action of purpose the subject want. I want to go to us. subject I have future action "go". but in the passive pattern, to do dose not show the purpose of the subject.
more research is done to determine that...
research do not do would be dertermination but someone els do. the sentence is " research is done for somebody to determine.

a similar tricky question from og is
"charcoal is burried to keep it from being stolent". you can google to find this sentence.

we have to know this point to choose between "for dertermining"/ "to determine" .

it is hard. I dont know whether I can think this way in the test room.

No, (C) doesn't have inconsistent tense. When different tenses are required, different tenses should be used.
You need to establish a fact - whether A is better than B. You will use "is"

Researchers agreed (past) that A was important and that B was needed to determine whether C is better than D.
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There's a fantastic explanation to this question by Ron in this link -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCioOSv-cWg&t=74s

Skip to the second question discussed in the video