Yesterday, we posted a slightly disturbing GMAT Sentence Correction practice question on Facebook. It was mostly disturbing due to the content (creeeepy!), but there was also a lot going on in this particular sentence and the answer choices. Check it out.
As is often the case in GMAT Sentence Correction, this question tests several issues, which you can identify by verbally scanning the answer choices:
- "If Professor...is right" versus "Should Professor...(be) right"
- Verb tense: "is" versus "had been"
- "connection of X and Y" versus "connection between X and Y"
Let's address these issues one at a time.
- "If Professor...is right" versus "Should Professor...(be) right"
The GMAT prefers "If Professor...is right" to "Should Professor...(be) right". The former is simpler and uses the simple present tense to match the later verb "is (not merely coincidental)". These two verbs must match tense since they describe events that happen simultaneously. Thus you can eliminate answer choices (D) and (E) on your scratch paper.
- Verb tense: "is" versus "had been"
As mentioned previously, the proper verb tense for the underlined portion of the sentence is the simple present tense "is (right)", since the later verb "is (not merely coincidental)" describes an event that happens at the same time. Therefore, you can also eliminate answer choice (C), which uses the past perfect "had been (right)". That leaves (A) and (B).
- "connection of X and Y" versus "connection between X and Y"
The difference between (A) and (B) is "connection between X and Y" versus "connection of X and Y". The proper idiomatic construction is "connection between X and Y". Therefore, (B) is the correct answer.
Also note that in "connection between X and Y", X and Y must be parallel. This condition is met in (B) with "connection between the creaking of...and the wriggling of". This parallelism is NOT met in (C), which gives you "connection between a creaking house...and the wriggling of". Parallelism is also NOT met in (E), which gives you "connection between creaking of...and the wriggling of".
The post GMAT Sentence Correction Practice appeared first on Kaplan GMAT Blog.
