New genetic evidence together with recent studies of elephan

The "tricks" to this question are:
1. Get the right verb tense for provide, eliminating A & B.
2. Look at what the sentence is saying. It's talking about providing support FOR (aka giving reasons for) doing something, not providing support TO someone who is classifying or TO the act of classification. This eliminates C & E.

I agree with Mike that support for is more common than support to, but both "support for" and "support to" can be grammatical (e.g. "Hillary Clinton gave her support to the Obama campaign.").

I think Mike's point is also a bit confusing because he's using the words give and show rather than the word in the question: provide.

For example:
(1) The government provides financial support for Mapplethorpe's "art". <-- The gov gives money to Mapplethorpe to make his art.
(1a)*The government provides financial support to Mapplethorpe's "art". <-- They give money to the art? Ungrammatical!
(2) The government provides financial support to the homeless. <-- The gov gives money to homeless people.
(3) Iran provides support to the PLA. <-- Iran helps the PLA in some way.
(4)?Iran provides support for the PLA. <-- Iran helps the PLA, but in this sentence we really need a modifier like military or financial for support.
(5)?Iran gives support to the PLA. <-- Iran gives some sort of physical (tangible) help to the PLA. Probably OK without a modifier.
(6) Iran gives military support to the PLA. <-- Crystal clear.

Some might say that Sentence (5) could be better written as:
(5a) Iran supports the PLA.
but that may change the meaning of the sentence; supporting something/someone ("I support free speech.") and giving support to someone/thing ("Iraq gives support to al Qaeda.") aren't necessarily the same thing.
(5b) Iran supports the PLA financially.
would be great.

Idioms:
Provide support FOR something/ somebody.
Support somebody TO do something.

New genetic evidence — together with recent studies of elephants’ skeletons, tusks, and other anatomical features — provide compelling support for classifying Africa’s forest elephants and its savanna elephants as separate species.

A. provide compelling support for classifying
Wrong. S-V agreement.

B. provide compelling support for the classification of
Wrong. S-V agreement.

C. provides compelling support to the classification of
Wrong. Idiom problem.

D. provides compelling support for classifying
Correct.

E. provides compelling support to classify
Wrong. Idiom problem.

Hope it helps.

I don't get it. Classify is doing something, right?..then why isn't 'support to' is correct?

Dear Klenex,
I'm happy to respond.

This is an idiom. Idioms are funny --- they don't always follow logic.

If support is directed simply toward a person or an activity, then we use "for" ---
... provide support for that political party ...
... provide support for the indigenous people ....
... provide support for struggling students ....
In these cases, the object of "for" would be a direct object if the word "support" were changed from a noun to a verb
They support that political party.
They support the indigenous people.
They support the struggling students.
Now, if the object of support is a person, we might add an infinitive of purpose to explain the purpose of the support. See:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/lessons/1046-in ... of-purpose
I provide support for underprivileged children to attend private school.
I provide support for the candidate to win her election.
I provide support for veterans to locate medical services.
If there's no object, this sounds awkward.
I provide support to locate medical services.
Something is missing there --- who is getting the support?
Much in the same way
....provides compelling support to classify ....
This also sounds awkward, because the structure makes us expect to hear something about who is given this support.

Also, notice another idiom here. If the word "support" is a verb, and the object of the support is the direct object, then the purpose of the support is given in the form "in" + [gerund]. I believe this is the only verb in which purpose is shown with this structure rather than with an infinitive of purpose.
I support underprivileged children in attending private school.
I support the candidate in winning her election.
I support veterans in locating medical services.
This "in" + [gerund] structure can also be used with "support" as a noun.

Here's a free idiom ebook you may find helpful.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom-ebook/

Please let me know if you any further questions.

Mike

Thanks for the explanation. It's clear now.

Pls. give some examples where 'support to' is used..

Dear Klenex,
As I indicated above, that structure is awkward --- it leaves us with the feeling that something is missing. I'm not sure that there's any sentence with that structure that would be correct on the GMAT SC.
Does this make sense?
Mike

Hi Mike,

Is "support in "correct idiom.
if it was in one of the answer choices ..
provides compelling support in classifying..

Thanks
Rahul

Dear Rahul,
First, I want to correct the grammar in your question. You wrote:
if it was in one of the answer choices ..
and the correct structure is
if it were in one of the answer choices ..
This is the subjunctive mood. Many native English speakers don't understand this and use it incorrectly, so it is often tested on the GMAT. Here's a blog post with more info about it:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... ive-tense/

Now, to your question. Both "support for" and "[b]support in[/b]" are correct idioms, but they have slightly different connotations. Here, the former idiom is correct, and the latter idiom would have the wrong connotation --- it would change the meaning of the original sentence too much.
A provide support for doing X. --- This has the connotation that, wherever the hard work of "doing X" is happening, A is not right there. The support might be financial support, emotional support, philosophical support. Here, the evidence provides intellectually support. The evidence definitely provide support, but when people start actually "classifying Africa’s forest elephants and its savanna elephants as separate species," the evidence just sits there passively on the page as real people do the work of making that decision.
A provide support in doing X. --- This one has the connotation that A is somehow involve in the nitty-gritty of the work, that wherever the work of "doing X" is done, A is right there in the thick of it. In one way or another, it implies more active involvement than the first idiom. That's not really appropriate in this question about the elephants in Africa.

Here's a free idiom ebook you may find helpful:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom-ebook/

Does all this make sense?
Mike

in oxford dictionaly, there is no "support to something" , so C is wrong.

E is wrong for no idiomatic problem but for logic problem.

do you have support for our government? yes, I have that support to get my salary

"to get" is similar to "to classify" because they modify the main clause/main verb.

(evidence provides support) to classify

this is not logic, because "evidence" can not "classify" .

E is wrong for this reason.

one more thing I want to say
many og problems make us choose between do-ing and a noun form such as "trying" vs 'attempt" and in many problems, noum form is correct. why, the answer is long and you should find it in other thread. I say it shortly. doing must refer to a noun which do the action of "doing). f

why in this problem, doing, "classifying" is correct.

we have to use dedicated noun to refer a general action, if we do not have a noun, for example, if we do not have "learnation" we have to use doing to refer to a general action. to refer to a specific action of a specific noun, we use doing.

why in this problem, doing, "classifying" is correct.

frankly speaking, this case maybe a mistake in official problem. gmat is created by human and so, possibly make mistakes. but, academically, what we should learn here is that the above rule "we have to use dedicated noun to refer to a general action" is preferable not absolute rule.

PREFERABLE VS ABSOLUTE RULE is popular on gmat. for more detail pls, search CORRECT BUT NOT PREFERABLE in this form to read my posting regarding this point. some point of grammar is considered inferior and is used to eliminate a choice can be in the official answers in other sc problems.

I wish you comment on my problem so that we can master sc

Dear vietmoi999
I'm happy to respond. First of all, there's no logical problem with (E). It's true that "evidence" can't classify. Remember that an infinitive can have an implicit subject ---
... evidence provides support [for scientists] to classify ...

I'm not sure I understand the rest of your question. The "noun form" of a verb that ends in -ing is called a gerund. That is a good word to know if you would like to understand this form. Here's a blog about gerunds.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... d-phrases/

We don't have to use a regular noun ("classification") instead of the gerund ("classifying"). I don't think that's even a preference. The GMAT has a preference for action, for direct, active language. The gerund is far more active and vital than is the -tion noun, and that is a definite preference on the GMAT.

Does this make sense?
Mike

I return to this question the third times. I hope I do not return to it the forth times.

though support to and support for do not appear in the macmillan dictionary, we have to agree that 'support to somebody" and "support for something" are good.

now , look at E.
to classify can not modify evidence because this modification is not logic. to classify can not modify support because it is not idiomatic. the pattern "noun to do" is an idiom . this means "noun to do" exist for a specific noun and verb. there is no "support to do", in which to do modify support.

in the pattern "noun to do" , noun has specific meaning relation with to do. this pattern is discussed in grammar books. we have to agree that we have to read this discussion before we fully understand whether " support to provide"is correct and this sc problem , though focus on meaning, also bear a hard grammar point the non native can not solve and the native solve without full understanding, solving with ears, not with grammar or logic.

willing to know more comment

Dear miaojunmaggie & thangvietnam,
I'm happy to respond.

First of all, I guarantee that the OA is (D). I don't have a full OE, but I will share with you my reasoning.

The singular subject, "New genetic evidence," requires a singular verb, "provides." This means that (A) and (B) are out because of a SVA problem.

Much of the problem hinges on "support for" vs. "support to." This is one of these distinctions that is so obvious to a native speaker and it's so incredibly difficult to explain the nuance to a non-native speaker. As someone who writes practice questions, I am simply astounded by the extraordinarily high quality of official questions, that manage to test such subtle aspects of English.

When we are just taking about "support" and the person or institution or idea to which we are directing our support, then the most natural construction is "support for":
support for Donald Trump
support for Armenian Orthodox Church
support for an existentialist interpretation of Hamlet
support for the urban poor
support for the spotted owl
support for communal housing in Berkeley
If we are discussing support in general, this would be the default structure.

The structure "support to" is not 100% wrong, but it would only be used in very specific circumstances.
1) If the word "support" is modified by a personal pronoun and is the object of the verb "to give," then a "to" after the word would indicate the recipient:
I am going to give my support to her cause.
2) The word "support" is followed by a infinitive of purpose.
I give the Sierra Society support to demonstrate my concern for the environment.

The English language is filled with foibles such as this. It is impossible to get to a mastery of GMAT SC by memorizing some ideal complete set of rules. The only way for a non-native speaker to get to mastery is to cultivate the habit of reading. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/how-to-im ... bal-score/

Does all this make sense?
Mike

1.Provide vs Provides

=>New genetic evidence — together with ... features —provides (In case of together with,along with,as well as, accompanied by,in addition to, we need to use verb based on the first subject)
=> New genetic evidence(singular)....provides (singular)
Eliminate options A and B

2. Support to vs Support for

=> Per the original meaning, there is no purpose related with the support of new genetic evidence. No need to use to+verb .
Eliminate options C and E

Option D is the answer.

Any other reason to decide between (D) and (E), instead of idiom?

"the classification" in choice C is wrong. we dont need "the", which refer to the known thing. we refer to general classification

"support to do" is not idiomatic in choice e/

Hello lakshya14,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, the idiom issue is the only error in Option E, as they are otherwise identical.

We hope this helps.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team