Should we turn our brains off when doing SC and just follow grammar?

Actually this example in fact proves the point why it is so important to not turn the brains off, when doing SC.

As you have rightly pointed out, A is incorrect because it refers to the term “psychopath”. So, A is saying:

......the term “psychopath” is someone who is apparently...

Now things start becoming clearer. Can the term psychopath be equated to a person (someone). Clearly this is an illogical comparison (term cannot be a person). Notice that no grammar rule tells you this; only logical thinking can give you this duh moment. In fact, from a pure grammar perspective, I don't believe there is anything wrong with A.

By the way, C is incorrect because the pronoun they does not have any referent. So, I am not sure which explanation you are referring to. If it is in OG, the explanations for some of the sentences are not great. That's where forums come in quite handy.


Yes, but colloquial conversations don't set the bar high enough for GMAT to follow it .

Hi, thank you for the reply,

The explanation for C is my own lol.

Hummm, so what would you consider to be the first criteria to select the correct answer in SC then, the meaning or grammar? What comes on the top of the list, in your opinion?

How do you define grammar?

Well, to me, grammar is a tool that equips us to convey our thoughts in the most articulate manner, so that we communicate the meaning in a clear & unambiguous manner.

Hence, it's not about sequence of meaning and grammar. Solving Sentence Correction a two-step procedure:

i) Understand the intended meaning of the sentence
ii) Use your grammar knowledge & logical thinking skills, to pick an answer choice that conveys that intended meaning in the best possible manner.

The fist chapter of our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Sentence Correction philosophy in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id, I can mail the corresponding section.

Here's the deal.

On SC, there's grammar, and then there's 'grammar'. Sometimes, a choice is wrong because it simply uses a word or phrase that isn't grammatically correct. For instance:

He are going to the store.

That's wrong, plain and simple. There's no context in which it could possibly be correct, because 'he' and 'are' just don't go together in English grammar.

But there are also cases in which a grammar rule isn't technically being violated, but the sentence is still clearly and unambiguously wrong. That's because grammar also implies meaning. The grammar of a sentence tells you how to understand what it means. So, this sentence is wrong:

He went to the grocery store and will buy a gallon of milk.

But this sentence, which has basically the same grammar, is okay:

He went to college and will go to graduate school.

That's because the grammar says 'the thing in the past tense happened in the past, and the thing in the future tense will happen in the future.' If that fits with what the sentence means, the sentence is OK. If it doesn't, then it isn't.

On the GMAT, both of those things are exactly equal in importance. The words in the sentence have to be correct: you can't use 'he' with 'are'. But the grammar of the sentence also has to imply a plausible meaning: you can't use a modifier next to something you don't want it to modify, because that's how the grammar of modifiers works. Use both of those ideas equally on SC, and use them before you use anything else.

What isn't as important on the GMAT is 'pure' meaning. By that, I'm referring to situations where there isn't a logical problem, but where the meaning doesn't technically match the meaning of answer (A), or where it seems ambiguous or otherwise questionable. For example, this sentence could be either right or wrong on the GMAT:

The people who own these antique cars say that they still run very well.

If every other sentence had a grammatical/logical error, then this one would be the right answer. But at the same time, you could argue that 'they' is technically ambiguous, since there are two plural nouns earlier in the sentence ('people' and 'cars'). So if there was another option that looked like this:

The people who own these antique cars say that the cars still run very well.

Then that would be more correct than the option above.

In short, not all meaning problems are the same. Sometimes, grammar 'locks you in' to a specific meaning, and if that meaning doesn't make sense, the sentence is definitely wrong. For example, the grammar of modifiers 'locks you in' to the meaning that the modifier modifies something close to it. Even if you choose to read it differently, or if you can still work out what it means, the sentence is wrong, since that just isn't how modifiers work. But other times, meaning is a little fuzzy, or a little questionable, but not technically wrong. In those cases, look at the other options - if they're all grammatically wrong, the sentence is still fine. If there's another option that clears up the potential problem, pick it instead.