{"id":31795,"date":"2016-01-12T18:06:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T01:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/the-word-however-on-the-gmat\/"},"modified":"2016-01-12T18:06:20","modified_gmt":"2016-01-13T01:06:20","slug":"the-word-however-on-the-gmat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/the-word-however-on-the-gmat\/","title":{"rendered":"The Word \u201cHowever\u201d on the GMAT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The word &ldquo;however&rdquo; is a tricky word with an interesting history.&nbsp; First, a couple practice questions in which this word appears.<\/p>\n<p>1) After the merger of Fastco and Celeriton, the CFO of Fastco has been charged with reporting the earnings of the employees of both companies, and <u>however he choose to do so<\/u>, he will have to abide by relevant state tax laws.<\/p>\n<p>(A) however he choose to do so<\/p>\n<p>(B) in order to choose to do so<\/p>\n<p>(C) in whatever ways he is choosing to do this<\/p>\n<p>(D) by choosing to do this<\/p>\n<p>(E) when he chooses to do so<\/p>\n<p>2) <u>Of all the things that Washington could have done in conducting the American Revolution<\/u>, the war against the British would not have succeeded without French intervention.<\/p>\n<p>(A) Of all the things that Washington could have done in conducting the American Revolution<\/p>\n<p>(B) Washington might have conducted the American Revolution in a number of ways<\/p>\n<p>(C) Besides what Washington did in conducting the American Revolution<\/p>\n<p>(D) However Washington may have conducted the American Revolution<\/p>\n<p>(E) Washington conducted the American Revolution, however<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The word &ldquo;however&rdquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Because of an unusual history that I will try to convey, this word has two distinct meanings and can be used in two different ways on the GMAT.&nbsp; I will call these uses &ldquo;Use #1&rdquo; and &ldquo;Use #2.&rdquo;&nbsp; Use #1 is the original and logical consistent use of the word, and because this use as fallen out of fashion, many students are unfamiliar with this use.&nbsp; Use #2 is a more modern use of the word, originally colloquial, that has gained wide acceptance: this is the meaning that most students recognize.&nbsp;&nbsp; Because Use #2 is much more familiar, I will start with that.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Use #2: synonym for &ldquo;nevertheless&rdquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Use #2 expresses contrast.&nbsp; The technical term for this use is a &ldquo;conjunctive adverb.&rdquo; Essentially, it is synonym for &ldquo;nevertheless.&rdquo; BTW, &ldquo;however&rdquo; in Use #2 and the word &ldquo;nevertheless&rdquo; are conjunctive adverbs, that is, adverbs that tell us something about the logical relationship of two clauses. Consider these sentences:<\/p>\n<p>3) Climate change causes a gradual warming of the world&rsquo;s oceans; however, this may result in greater extremes of either hot or cold weather in specific regions.<\/p>\n<p>4) The profits in the American regions of Hampshire Industries rose by 3% in the past year, but the staggering losses in the European and Southeast Asian sectors, however, has put the company at risk.<\/p>\n<p>In each sentence, the word &ldquo;however,&rdquo; used in Use #2, as a conjunctive adverb, makes even clearer the contrast between the two clauses: their logical relationship is one of contrast. Even though the term &ldquo;conjunctive adverb&rdquo; may be new, this is the very widespread and common use of the word &ldquo;however,&rdquo; and I believe this use, Use #2, is what you already understand well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Use #1: indefinite adverb<\/h2>\n<p>This was the original meaning of the word and, as we will see, is the most logical meaning of the word.&nbsp; Nevertheless, this use is unfamiliar to modern readers, especially those unaccustomed to sophisticated writing.<\/p>\n<p>This is a longer discussion. We need to understand the nature of indefinites.<\/p>\n<p>Let&rsquo;s start with pronouns. There are four kinds of pronouns:<\/p>\n<p>=&nbsp;<strong>personal<\/strong>&nbsp;= {I, you, he, she, it, they} = e.g. &ldquo;I&nbsp;like&nbsp;her&nbsp;but don&rsquo;t like&nbsp;them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>=&nbsp;<strong>demonstrative<\/strong>&nbsp;= {this, that, these, those} = These &ldquo;demonstrate&rdquo; something by indicating it. e.g. &ldquo;This&nbsp;is faster than any of [color=#0000ff]those[\/color].&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>=&nbsp;<strong>relative<\/strong>&nbsp;= {who, which, that} = These introduce clause, that is, they &ldquo;relate&rdquo; two clauses, e.g. &ldquo;Here is the book&nbsp;that&nbsp;I recommended.&rdquo; &ldquo;Theodore Roosevelt is the President&nbsp;whom&nbsp;I admire the most.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>=&nbsp;<strong>interrogative<\/strong>&nbsp;= {who, what, which} = These are question words = &ldquo;Who&nbsp;wrote that book?&nbsp;What&nbsp;is the book&rsquo;s argument?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Notice that there is a certain overlap between the relative pronouns and the interrogative pronouns. This is a pattern that will continue below.<\/p>\n<p>Clauses can also begin with&nbsp;relative adverbs&nbsp;{how, where, when, why}<\/p>\n<p>5) The back of the box tell us how to construct the device.<\/p>\n<p>6) I know why the caged bird sings.<\/p>\n<p>All of these words also can be used as&nbsp;interrogative adverbs, words that begin questions.<\/p>\n<p>7) Where can we find a subway station?<\/p>\n<p>8) When was the period of the Crusades in Europe?<\/p>\n<p>OK, the relative and interrogative forms of all these words are spelled the same&mdash;they just have different uses. All of these words also have an &ldquo;indefinite&rdquo; form, which involves sticking the suffix &ldquo;-ever&rdquo; on the back of the word.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Indefinite pronouns<\/strong>:&nbsp;whoever, whatever<\/p>\n<p><strong>Indefinite adjective<\/strong>:&nbsp;whichever<\/p>\n<p><strong>Indefinite adverb<\/strong>:&nbsp;whenever, wherever, however<\/p>\n<p>Here are two blog articles about the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/2013\/gmat-sentence-correction-indefinite-pronouns-and-agreement\/\">agreement<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/2013\/gmat-sentence-correction-indefinite-pronouns-and-logic\/\">logic<\/a>&nbsp;of indefinite pronouns.<\/p>\n<p>Think about the difference between &ldquo;who&rdquo; and &ldquo;whoever.&rdquo; With either the relative or interrogative use of &ldquo;who,&rdquo; I have the identity of a particular person in mind.<\/p>\n<p>9) <u>relative<\/u> = &ldquo;I know who broke the window.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>10) <u>interrogative<\/u> = &ldquo;Who broke the window?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In the first, I know the identity of the specific person. In the second, I want to know the identity of the particular person. Either way, the focus is on one individual in particular.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, when I use the indefinite, I am saying that I don&rsquo;t know and don&rsquo;t care, at least at that moment, about the identity of a specific individual, and even with that identification left uncertain, I am going to make my statement.<\/p>\n<p><u>indefinite<\/u> = &ldquo;Whoever broke the window will have to pay for its repair.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>You see, this sentence is conveying information that remains true irrespective of the identity of the particular individual who broke the window.<\/p>\n<p>In general, we use the indefinite form of a word when we want to make a more general statement that doesn&rsquo;t depend on the particulars.<\/p>\n<p>The relative or interrogative use of the adverb &ldquo;where&rdquo; refers to a specific location.<\/p>\n<p>11) <u>relative<\/u> =&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Henry_Morton_Stanley\" target=\"_blank\">Henry Morton Stanley<\/a> confirmed where the Nile has its source.<\/p>\n<p>12) <u>interrogative<\/u> =&nbsp;Where is the tallest mountain in South America?<\/p>\n<p>If knowledge of a specific location doesn&rsquo;t matter to make our statement, we use the indefinite adverb &ldquo;wherever.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>13) Wherever you live, you will have to pay taxes.<\/p>\n<p>14) Wherever the Moon is in the sky, we see only the half facing Earth.<\/p>\n<p>The relative or interrogative use of the adverb &ldquo;when&rdquo; refers to a specific time.<\/p>\n<p>15) <u>relative<\/u> =&nbsp;When&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Moby-Dick\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Moby Dick<\/em><\/a>&nbsp;was published, only a few intellectuals recognized its tremendous significance.<\/p>\n<p>16) <u>interrogative<\/u> =&nbsp;When is <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Venus\" target=\"_blank\">Venus<\/a> visible as the Evening Star?<\/p>\n<p>If knowledge of a specific time doesn&rsquo;t matter to make our statement, we use the indefinite adverb &ldquo;whenever.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>17) Whenever you travel to San Francisco, it would be a good idea to bring a coat.<\/p>\n<p>18) Whenever it rains, the basement leaks.<\/p>\n<p>The relative or interrogative use of the adverb &ldquo;how&rdquo; refers to a specific way of doing something.<\/p>\n<p>19) <u>relative<\/u> =&nbsp;The diagram demonstrates how ancient Near Eastern people understood their world.<\/p>\n<p>20) <u>interrogative<\/u> =&nbsp;How do you get to Scarborough Fair?<\/p>\n<p>If knowledge of a specific way of doing something doesn&rsquo;t matter to make our statement, we use the indefinite adverb &ldquo;however.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>21) However you travel into NY City during the morning rush hour, it will not be an easy experience.<\/p>\n<p>22) However this chair is assembled, we have to assemble over a hundred copies of it in the next two hours.<\/p>\n<p>You can understand an indefinite by temporarily removing the &ldquo;-ever&rdquo; suffix.<\/p>\n<p>When we talk about &ldquo;wherever something happens,&rdquo; we are talking about a place &ldquo;where something happens,&rdquo; but we don&rsquo;t care about the specific place.<\/p>\n<p>When we talk about &ldquo;whenever something happens,&rdquo; we are talking about a time &ldquo;when something happens,&rdquo; but we don&rsquo;t care about the specific time.<\/p>\n<p>When we talk about &ldquo;however something happens,&rdquo; we are talking about &ldquo;how something happens,&rdquo; but we don&rsquo;t care about the specific means by which it happens.<\/p>\n<p>This is Use #1 of the word &ldquo;however,&rdquo; which fewer than 25% of GMAT takers truly understand.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The relationship between the two uses<\/h2>\n<p>If Use #1 was what the word originally meant, how did Use #2 come about?&nbsp; One common clause, used to express qualification or doubt or contrast, was &ldquo;however that may be.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>23a) Spiro Agnew ascended to the office of Vice President, the highest office every held by a Greek-American; however that may be, he resigned shamefully, amid charges of corruption and tax evasion.<\/p>\n<p>In that sentence, the word &ldquo;however&rdquo; is used in Use #1.&nbsp; In colloquial speech, this entire common clause, &ldquo;however that may be,&rdquo; was abbreviated to &ldquo;however.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>23b) <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spiro_Agnew\" target=\"_blank\">Spiro Agnew<\/a> ascended to the office of Vice President, the highest office every held by a Greek-American; however, he resigned shamefully, amid charges of corruption and tax evasion.<\/p>\n<p>In this version, &ldquo;however&rdquo; is used in Use #2.&nbsp; In general, Use #2 derived from a kind of abbreviation of the clause &ldquo;however that may be&rdquo; and similar clauses; in those original clauses, &ldquo;however&rdquo; was used in Use #1.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What&rsquo;s legitimate?<\/h2>\n<p>Every authority on English grammar agrees that Use #1 is correct.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is unfamiliar to many modern readers, but it is perfectly correct, and appears on the GMAT SC.<\/p>\n<p>Use #2 originally evolved as a colloquial mistake, an illogical mistake, but this usage has become so widespread that this is also accepted almost everywhere.&nbsp; In particular, you will see Used #2 on the GMAT SC as well.&nbsp; Both uses of &ldquo;however&rdquo; appear on the GMAT SC and can be used correctly by GMAT standards.<\/p>\n<p>I will share a minority point of view.&nbsp; In my own opinion, I think Use #1 is the only logical and acceptable use of &ldquo;however&rdquo; and that Use #2 is an abhorrent illogical colloquialism that the well-spoken should scrupulously avoid.&nbsp; Admittedly, I am being far more conservative that the GMAT in this position, because the GMAT is fine with both uses.&nbsp; I may be one of the only people on the planet to have this opinion, though if <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/T._S._Eliot\" target=\"_blank\">T.S Eliot<\/a> were alive, I could imagine that he would agree with me.&nbsp; Consider my position for you own writing, but know that GMAT accepts both uses as perfectly correct.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>If the above article gave you any insights, you may want to look at the two practice questions again before reading the solutions below.&nbsp; Pay attention to how sophisticated writers use the word &ldquo;however,&rdquo; and notice any patterns.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/magoosh-company-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/gmat\/files\/2016\/01\/07091441\/twhotg_img1-600x283.png\" alt=\"twhotg_img1\" width=\"600\" height=\"283\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&nbsp;Practice Problem Explanations<\/h2>\n<p>1) The correct response is <strong>(A)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Choice (A) uses the word &ldquo;however&rdquo; in its original Use #1 sense, as an indefinite adverb.&nbsp; The clause it contains is in the <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/2012\/gmat-grammar-the-subjunctive-tense\/\">subjunctive<\/a>, which accounts for what may appear to be an irregularity in SVA.<\/p>\n<p>Notice the meaning.&nbsp; The CFO most report the earnings.&nbsp; <u>How<\/u> he reports these earnings is what he gets to choose, but he doesn&rsquo;t get to choose whether to report the earnings.<\/p>\n<p>(B) changes the meaning.&nbsp; The CFO doesn&rsquo;t have a choice about whether he reports the earnings.<\/p>\n<p>(C) is very wordy, and it contains a pronoun mistake: the pronoun &ldquo;this&rdquo; cannot have an action as its antecedent.<\/p>\n<p>(D) changes the meaning and repeats the pronoun mistake.<\/p>\n<p>(E) also changes the meaning.&nbsp; Reporting the earnings is not his choice.&nbsp; How to report the earnings is his choice.<\/p>\n<p>The only acceptable answer is <strong>(A)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>2) Version (A) is clumsy and wordy.&nbsp; We get the idea of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/George_Washington\" target=\"_blank\">Washington<\/a>&lsquo;s choices, but this is a poor colloquial construction that has, at best, a tenuous connection to the rest of the sentence.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is incorrect.<\/p>\n<p>Version (B) is correct on its own, but when inserted into the sentence, it creates a <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/2012\/run-on-sentences-in-gmat-sentence-correction-questions\/\">run-on<\/a> with a comma splice.&nbsp; This is incorrect.<\/p>\n<p>Version (C) changes the meaning: in the whole sentence, it almost makes Washington&rsquo;s actions sound detrimental to the American cause!<\/p>\n<p>Version (D) conveys the meaning in a grammatical correct form, using Use #1 of the word &ldquo;however.&rdquo;&nbsp; This one is promising.<\/p>\n<p>Version (E) changes the meaning, insofar as it ignores the issue of Washington&rsquo;s choices in conducting the war.<\/p>\n<p>The only possible answer is <strong>(D)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/2016\/the-word-however-on-the-gmat\/\">The Word &#8220;However&#8221; on the GMAT<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\">Magoosh GMAT Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The word &ldquo;however&rdquo; is a tricky word with an interesting history.&nbsp; First, a couple practice questions in which this word appears. 1) After the merger of Fastco and Celeriton, the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,783,243,940],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-magoosh-blog","category-blog","category-gmat-prep-gmat","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31795","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=31795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}