{"id":16910,"date":"2013-02-18T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T16:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=16910"},"modified":"2013-02-10T09:27:11","modified_gmt":"2013-02-10T16:27:11","slug":"gmat-prepositions-and-idioms-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/gmat-prepositions-and-idioms-on\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Prepositions and Idioms: On"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Prepositions in English display a powerful diversity of uses. Your preposition knowledge will most certainly be tested in the GMAT. In\u00a0previous preposition article<\/a>, we talked about the proposition \"against\".\u00a0 Here, we will look, at the preposition \"on\".<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prepositions on the GMAT<\/h2>\n

A preposition must be followed by a noun --- or by something playing the role of a noun.\u00a0\u00a0 This latter category includes\u00a0gerunds<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0substantive clauses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0The CEO refused to expend any more capital\u00a0on\u00a0saving the failing divisions<\/em>.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0<\/em>Washington<\/em><\/a>\u00a0well understood that his long-term success in the\u00a0<\/em>War of American Independence<\/em><\/a>\u00a0might well depend\u00a0on\u00a0whether\u00a0<\/em>Franklin<\/em><\/a>\u00a0would be able to persuade the French to join as\u00a0<\/em>allies<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In sentence #1, the object of the preposition \u201con\u201d is a gerund phrase, and in sentence #2, the object is a substantive clause.\u00a0\u00a0 Incidentally, both of these are exemplary of idioms involving these prepositions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Preposition \"On\"<\/h2>\n

The preposition \"on\" literally denotes the surface supporting something (\"the book is on the table\"), and metaphorically, it can refer to a circumstance or the topic of a talk.<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0On formal occasions, the general wore his ceremonial saber<\/em>.<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0An acknowledged authority on eighteenth century literature, the professor was asked to lead a seminar on\u00a0<\/em>post-modern<\/em><\/a>\u00a0poetry<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The three most important idioms involving \"on\" are<\/p>\n

based on<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

expend<\/strong>\u00a0(time<\/em>\/money<\/em>\/energy<\/em>)\u00a0on<\/strong><\/p>\n

depends on (whether)<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Idiom: \"Based on\"<\/h2>\n

First of all, the idiom\u00a0P is based on Q\u00a0<\/strong>means would literally mean that Q is the physical foundation on which P sits.\u00a0 This idiom is rarely used in its strictly literal sense.\u00a0 More often, Q is the evidence or philosophical underpinning that supports P.<\/p>\n

5)\u00a0The schema of punishments described in\u00a0<\/em>Dante<\/em><\/a>'s<\/em>\u00a0Inferno<\/a>\u00a0is based on the theology of\u00a0<\/em>Thomas Aquinas<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the idiom\u00a0based on Q, P<\/strong>\u00a0is a perfectly valid participial modifier construction.\u00a0\u00a0 Again, Q is the thing doing the supporting, and P is the thing supported.<\/p>\n

6)\u00a0Based on 25 years of research in the field, the doctor had a hunch that the new medicine would be successful<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here, the participial phrase \"based on 25 years of research in the field\" modifies the noun it touches, the noun \"doctor\" --- the doctor, in his capacity as a medical problem-solver, is supported by his years of research.\u00a0\u00a0 This is perfectly correct.<\/p>\n

This idiom, though, is wantonly abused in colloquial speech.<\/p>\n

\"pp7_img1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both of these might be said colloquially, both are 100% WRONG.\u00a0 In #7, the team is not\u00a0supported<\/em>\u00a0by its losing record last year --- it would be far more accurate to say something like \"Because<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0the team had a losing record last year, we suspect that \u2026.<\/em>\"\u00a0\u00a0 The authoritarian speaker of #8 is certain not\u00a0supported<\/em>\u00a0by his interlocutor's bad behavior.\u00a0 Again, a \"because\" clause would be far more accurate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Idiom: \"Expend \u2026 on\"<\/h2>\n

The verb \"to expend\" means, in essence, the same thing as the verb \"to spend.\"\u00a0 When we spend or expend, we are giving away a resource (money, time, energy, etc.) and thereby acquiring some good.\u00a0 In the idiom\u00a0to expend P on Q<\/strong>, P is the \"price\", the resource spent in this interaction, and Q is the good \"purchased\" with this expenditure.\u00a0 The noun form of this same idiom is\u00a0the expenditure of P on Q<\/strong>.\u00a0 (For more on verb-forms vs. noun-forms, see\u00a0this post<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

9)\u00a0The United States has expended\u00a0<\/em>over eight-hundred billion dollars<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on the post-9\/11\u00a0<\/em>War in Iraq<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

10)\u00a0Having already won a Nobel Prize and garnered international fame,\u00a0<\/em>Einstein<\/em><\/a>\u00a0expended the last three decades of his life on an apparently fruitless search for a\u00a0<\/em>Unified Field Theory<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

11)\u00a0In the late rounds of a match, a skilled\u00a0<\/em>boxer<\/em><\/a>\u00a0will be parsimonious with powerful punches, preferring not to expend valuable energy on blows that don't substantially damage his opponent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Idiom: \"Depends on\"<\/h2>\n

If\u00a0P depends on Q<\/strong>, then Q is the condition or circumstance that either will allow P to happen or will affect the quality of P.\u00a0\u00a0 In other words, knowing Q will answer some vitally important question about P.<\/p>\n

12)\u00a0The location of their wedding reception will depend on the weather<\/em>.<\/p>\n

13)\u00a0A baseball player's\u00a0<\/em>hitting prowess<\/em><\/a>\u00a0depends more on his\u00a0<\/em>visual abilities<\/em><\/a>\u00a0than on anything else<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In more complex sentences, either P or Q --- or both! --- from this structure could be a\u00a0substantive clause<\/a>, most typically beginning with the word \"whether.\"<\/p>\n

14)\u00a0<\/em>Lincoln<\/em><\/a>\u00a0felt that issuing the\u00a0<\/em>Emancipation Proclamation<\/em><\/a>\u00a0should depend on whether the Army of the Potomac would be able\u00a0<\/em>to drive the Confederate forces out of Maryland<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

15)\u00a0Whether any individual particle\u00a0<\/em>decay sequence<\/em><\/a>\u00a0occurs depends on whether all relevant\u00a0<\/em>conversation laws<\/em><\/a>\u00a0permit it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

16)\u00a0How easily a name is remembered does not depend on the qualities of that person<\/em>.<\/p>\n

17)\u00a0What a person fundamentally believes depends surprisingly little on how much that person has in her bank account<\/em>.<\/p>\n

18)\u00a0How soundly a person sleeps on any given night depends on what that person eats in the hours immediately before retiring<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Substantive clauses galore!\u00a0 This idiom lends itself well to them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

Know the idioms given in bold in this post.\u00a0 As always with idioms, read, read,\u00a0read<\/a>!\u00a0\u00a0 Search for the idioms in this post in context.\u00a0 You understand English best when you understand it in context.<\/p>\n

This post was written by Mike McGarry, GMAT expert at Magoosh<\/a>, and originally posted here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prepositions in English display a powerful diversity of uses. Your preposition knowledge will most certainly be tested in the GMAT. In\u00a0previous preposition article, we talked about the proposition “against”.\u00a0 Here,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,783,243,719,735],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-magoosh-blog","category-blog","category-sentence-correction-gmat","category-verbal-gmat-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16912,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16910\/revisions\/16912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}