Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were

hi
Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were reatively simple and static, Barbara McClintock adhered to her own more complicated ideas about how genes might operate, and in 1983, at the age of 81, was awarded a Nobel Prize for her discovery that the genes in corn are capable of moving from one chromosomal site to another.

(A) Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were

(B) Although many of her colleagues were of the conviction of genes being

(C) Contrary to many of her colleagues being convinced that genes were

(D) Even though many of her colleagues were convinced that genes were

(E) Even with many of her colleagues convinced of genes being

that is true B and C is wrong because of the use of BEING in those options.
see being here is in VERB+ING form...which in many cases used to represesnt the continuous tense.

there is difference in meaning context if you use being:
genes were simple and static vs genes being simple and static
now if you read sentence:
colleagues thought genes were simple and static vs colleagues thought genes being simple and static.
clearly the intended meaning can be shown by "colleagues thought genes were simple and static ".
thats the reason being is wrong here.
if we have the sense of continuity we can use being....lets take an official example:
Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.
in this case author is telling about the executives who are heavily commited always to a course of action===>you can sense the continuity of heavily commited here.so use of being here is correct here.

kudos if it helped.
SKM

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Comparison + Tenses + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.
• A comparison must always be made between similar elements.

A: This answer choice incorrectly compares "the conviction held by many of her colleagues" to "Barbara McClintock"; please remember, a comparison must always be made between similar elements.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the word "being", leading to awkwardness and redundancy; please remember, “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context. Further, Option B uses the needlessly indirect phrase "were of the conviction", leading to further redundancy.

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the passive continuous tense verb "being convinced" to refer to an event that concluded in the past; please remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.

D: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the simple past tense verb "were convinced" to refer to an event that concluded in the past. Further, Option D avoids the comparison error seen in Option A, as it draws no comparisons. Additionally, Option D is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses the word "being", leading to awkwardness and redundancy; please remember, “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the use of "Being" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

(A) Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were --- Comparison error....

(B) Although many of her colleagues were of the conviction of genes being --- passive

(C) Contrary to many of her colleagues being convinced that genes were --- passive

(D) Even though many of her colleagues were convinced that genes were --- Correct Ans IMO....

(E) Even with many of her colleagues convinced of genes being --- Wrong idiom "Even with"

A is not proper...if it were something like:
Unlike the conviction held by some people......, the conviction of Barbara...

we may have kept it on hold. Also B, C and E are wrong for their reasons.

Even though all of my friends have gone to Delhi, I have planned to go to Bombay.

Similarly
Even with many of her.................................., Barbara adhered to.....


So E is correct.

I picked D for this question:

A. This answer choice has a comparison error. Currently, it is comparing "the conviction" to "Barbara" which is definitely wrong.

B. The only problem I could find with this answer choice was that it was too wordy. "Were of the conviction" could have been reduced to "were convinced" and "of the genes being" is not concise.

C. Again, I couldn't find any grammatical errors with this one. The words "being convinced" seemed too wordy and I felt there was a better way to phrase this clause.

D. This answer choice clearly and concisely states the meaning of the sentence.

E. Again, "convinced" of genes being" seemed too wordy.

I feel E is not constructed properly... Especially 'convinced of genes being' v/s 'convinced that genes were'

Idiomatically I reckon we should use 'convinced that'

The meaning of D is perfect, the meaning of A is flawed:

Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were reatively simple and static, Barbara McClintock adhered to her own more complicated ideas about how genes might operate, and in 1983, at the age of 81, was awarded a Nobel Prize for her discovery that the genes in corn are capable of moving from one chromosomal site to another.

(A) Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were

A compares the conviction to Barbara McClintock: not a logic comparison.

(B) Although many of her colleagues were of the conviction of genes being

The main reason to eliminate B is the presence of being: be suspicious whenever you see it, and keep in mind that NEVER an official question starts a modifier with "being".

Hope it helps

No, that's the intended meaning of the sentence. If it's still not clear, try to tell me what's the meaning the sentence should express in your opinion...

You want to say that, option A is not logical hence is out (as explained above); the meaning of all the remaining answer choices is the same, some of them are not correct for other reasons

Hi lucasITA,

A very simple thing to remember about "although" and "even though" is that they present contrast.

This what "even though" in the correct answer choice is doing. It's presenting the contrast. Now, what is the contradiction? The contradiction is that Barbara McClintock's colleagues thought that genre were simple and static. But Barbara McClintock did not think this way. She thought that genes worked in a very complicated way.

"Even though" in the correct answer choice presents the contrasting ideas that McClintock and her colleagues held.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

(A) Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were
Conviction compared to Barbara, you can compare only similar things =>WRONG
(B) Although many of her colleagues were of the conviction of genes being
Convinced would be preferable over Conviction as per (Verb>Adject(Adverb)>Noun Rule)
(C) Contrary to many of her colleagues being convinced that genes were
Being as a participle phrase is wordy when colleagues WERE definitely convinced
(D) Eventhough many of her colleagues were convinced that genes were
No Issues
(E) Even with many of her colleagues convinced of genes being
With many of her colleagues convinced V/S Barbara adhered to
Wrong

Let's focus on the splits first, Ill start with the ending splits:

Even though the correct answer has this word, "were" in my opinion incorrectly implies that genes had a trait before that they do not have anymore. Because the other options had other, more serious flaws, I picked D anyway but initial assessment of end splits creates uncertainty.. Can we REALLY use "were"?

Beginning splits are all over the place here, we seem to have a 2-1-1-1 split. "Unlike" as an introductionary word sounds weird but AFAIK, is not by default wrong. What makes A wrong is that "conviction held by many of her collegues" implies her collegues are holding conviction.. Wrong.

"Although" is incorrect because it sort of tells us that "even though her collegues believed X, she adhered to her own idea". This is not the intended meaning, the intent is not to tell us what she believes IN SPITE OF the beliefs of her collegues, the intent is to specifically show us that Barbara did not agree with consensus. Therefore B is wrong. Furthermore, "were of the conviction" creates a question mark for us, it isn't necessarily wrong but it sure does sound weird. Since we've already eliminated B for other reasons, we don't need to focus on "were of the conviction".

"Contrary" implies that Barbara does something that her collegues do not do. This is the correct intent of the sentence, however "being" and "were" do not follow logically; "being" should be "were" since "adhered" modifies Barbara.. Notice the tense.

"Even with" implies that "Barbara believes this, even in the cases when her collegues are convinced of".. This is not what the author intends, he or she is not trying to tell us that Barbara adhered to her own ideas in case X, Y and Z. The author is trying to tell us that CONTRARY to her collegues, she believes X.

D uses "were" in a correct way to parallel collegues and genes, and it uses "even THOUGH" correctly which says that "she believed X though her collegues believed Y", this is basically another way of saying "CONTRARY to her collegues, Barbara believes X".

So even though I was unsure of whether "were" is tense-wise correct, there are almost ALWAYS more than one fault with the other options and therefor you should not impulsively eliminate options just because you are not sure if they are correct. Only when you are 100% certain of a split being wrong should you eliminate it.

Hi e-gmat team,

I have read your article on the usage of being, and still this question (OG 13 Q31) has baffled me.
I have read your explanation for this answer. But use of being is not clear in it.
Please explain me why the usage of being is wrong in choice C?

Is not this usage the same as first usage explained in the article, Being used as noun??

OG Question 31

Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues
that genes were relatively simple and static, Barbara
McClintock adhered to her own more complicated
ideas about how genes might operate, and in 1983,
at the age of 81, was awarded a Nobel Prize for her
discovery that the genes in corn are capable of
moving from one chromosomal site to another.

(A) Unlike the conviction held by many of her
colleagues that genes were

(B) Although many of her colleagues were of the
conviction of genes being

(C) Contrary to many of her colleagues being
convinced that genes were

(D) Even though many of her colleagues were
convinced that genes were

(E) Even with many of her colleagues convinced of
genes being

Thanks
Smriti Kumar

Hi Smriti,

In choice C, "being" acts as a modifier and not a noun. "Being" should be used as a Subject with a Verb to be correct. Just being a noun will not make the use of "being" correct.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
SJ

Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were reatively simple and static, Barbara McClintock adhered to her own more complicated ideas about how genes might operate, and in 1983, at the age of 81, was awarded a Nobel Prize for her discovery that the genes in corn are capable of moving from one chromosomal site to another.

(A) Unlike the conviction held by many of her colleagues that genes were

(B) Although many of her colleagues were of the conviction of genes being

(C) Contrary to many of her colleagues being convinced that genes were

(D) Even though many of her colleagues were convinced that genes were

(E) Even with many of her colleagues convinced of genes being

CHOICE A:
Incorrect:
The sentence has the comparison error as pointed out in error analysis.

CHOICE B:
Incorrect:
This choice incorrectly uses “being”. To learn about the correct usage of “being”, please read this article.

CHOICE C
Incorrect:
This choice again repeats the error of “being” and fails to communicate the intended meaning clearly.

CHOICE D
Correct:
This choice corrects the idiom error and presents the intended logical contrast.

CHOICE E
Incorrect:
Use of “being” is incorrect.
The phrase “even with many…” fails to convey the intended contrast precisely.

Hi! You ask a very good question, something that is quite frequently tested on GMAT, and comes under stylistic preference/meaning clarity.

Am assuming you are talking about option E. With E, the sentence would be:

Even with many of her colleagues convinced of genes being relatively simple and static, Barbara McClintock adhered to her own more complicated ideas about how genes might operate, and in 1983, at the age of 81, was awarded a Nobel Prize for her discovery that the genes in corn are capable of moving from one chromosomal site to another.

From a meaning perspective, the question we should be asking is:

(i) Were many of her colleagues convinced of genes (this is what option E states) or
(ii) Were many of her colleagues convinced about some property of genes.

Clearly, many of her colleagues were convinced about some property of genes (that genes were relatively simple and static).

Hence, the usage of that becomes important from a meaning clarity perspective. So, the correct sentence would be:

Even though many of her colleagues were convinced that genes were relatively simple and static, Barbara McClintock adhered to her own more complicated ideas about how genes might operate, and in 1983, at the age of 81, was awarded a Nobel Prize for her discovery that the genes in corn are capable of moving from one chromosomal site to another.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses this particular usage of that, its application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id, I can mail the corresponding section.

There are two theories circulating around regarding the usage of Even Though and Although.


1) 'Even though' when the condition given is negative but the outcome/result is positive (Even though Ram hadn't studied, he passed the exam).
'Although' when the condition given is positive but the outcome/result is negative (Although Ram had studied very hard, he did not score well).

But, it's not always possible to identify whether which between the condition and the outcome is more positive/negative (just like 'convinced that genes were simple' vs 'complicated ideas' in this question).

2) Even though is more emphatic than though and although.

This is even more vague, since the degree of emphasis that candidates perceive might not be the same as what GMAT perceives. On what ground can we conclude that either 'even though' is underused or "although' is overused in a sentence?

In GMAT, it is generally observed that using a clause with a noun and a verb is preferred to using a phrase with noun and a present participle / past participle modifier .

I am convinced that you are the murderer.... better - clause: noun (you) + verb (are )
I am convinced of you being the murderer..... awkward - phrase: noun (you) + present participle (being)

In option E 2 such awkward usages are there:

colleagues convinced (noun + past participle)
genes being (noun + present participle)

Better would be: colleagues were convinced that genes were.... (clause1 : colleagues were convinced, clause 2: genes were....) This is how option D is constructed and is the correct option.