12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition - Day 10: The daily routine of

The intended meaning of the sentence is
The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations. The leisure was a rarity in peasant's daily routine

(A) and leisure rarely Incorrect use of 'and' as it means The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was leisure rarely. This is nonsensical.

(B) and leisure was rare Incorrect clause one talks about daily routine of peasant and clause two says leisure was rare. However, these two things should be joined in a single sentence.

(C) with leisure as rare Incorrect as leisure is noun and rare is verb

(D) with leisure as a rarity Correct

(E) leisure a rarity Incorrect

There are 3 lists in this sentence.

We need and to show parallelism.

Hence C, D, E can be eliminated.


Between A vs B, B can be eliminated.
(A) and leisure rarely
(B) and leisure was rare
(C) with leisure as rare
(D) with leisure as a rarity
(E) leisure a rarity

IMO A

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Sentence structure -
The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by
sustenance activities and social obligations –
work, child care, household repairs, and prayer,
and leisure rarely.

(A) and leisure rarely
Incorrect. All the activities and social obligations were mentioned and the list is complete

(B) and leisure was rare
Incorrect. All the activities and social obligations were mentioned and the list is complete

(C) with leisure as rare
Incorrect. Noun is needed here but rare is an adjective

(D) with leisure as a rarity
Correct

(E) leisure a rarity
Incorrect. No connection to previous clause

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You can't use "and" twice unless the second to last item in the list is a compound.

(A) and leisure rarely--wrong for the above reason
(B) and leisure was rare--same as a
(C) with leisure as rare----Leisure as rare is wrong, out
(D) with leisure as a rarity--correct
(E) leisure a rarity--we need some connecting words,out

OA:D

The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations – work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, and leisure rarely.

(A) and leisure rarely

contrasting effect not depicted through 'and'

(B) and leisure was rare

not parallel..also, contrasting effect not depicted through 'and'

(C) with leisure as rare

not parallel..also, contrasting effect not depicted through 'with'

(D) with leisure as a rarity

contrasting effect not depicted through 'with'

(E) leisure a rarity

comma + modifier is able to bring in a contrast effect. right option

IMO, (E) will be correct

The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations – work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, and leisure rarely.

(A) and leisure rarely - Adverb modifies a noun
(B) and leisure was rare - Correct with parallelism maintained
(C) with leisure as rare - Comparison error
(D) with leisure as a rarity - Comparison error
(E) leisure a rarity - sentence structure issue

In the given task, the question is about the correct form of the list. Normally, we either repeat the conjunction before every element, or only give it once:

• A, and B, and C, and D, and E.
• A, B, C, D and E.

As we see in the task, there's already the final 'and' given - and prayer - so we cannot add any more 'and' conjunctions, because it will create a mix-up of parallelism.
Therefore, we eliminate A and B.

The last option E doesn't give us a necessary grammatical connection between 'leisure' and the rest of the sentence, so we eliminate E as well.

Finally, we have two 'with' options - C and D - and there we need to pay attention to correctness of the comparison: you cannot really say 'as rare', you should say 'as a rarity',
using the noun and the article to introduce an extra list item. Therefore, we eliminate C.

Thus, the correct answer is D.

The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations – work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, and leisure rarely.

(A)and leisure rarely

The adverb “rarely” cannot modify the noun “leisure” Hence, this choice is INCORRECT.

(B) and leisure was rare

This choice combines 2 independent clauses by “, and”, which is Correct. This choice is likely the answer.


(C) with leisure as rare

The adjective “rare” is not correctly used in this choice. The adjective, in general, should be followed by the non that the adjective is modifying. Hence, this choice is INCORRECT.

(D) with leisure as a rarity

“with leisure as a rarity” is in passive construction which makes this choice wordy and awkward. Such answers are GENERALLY NOT CORRECT on GMAT.

(E) leisure a rarity

This choice lacks a verb and hence it is grammatically NOT CORRECT.

Answer: Option B

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(A) and leisure rarely - Correct
(B) and leisure was rare - Incorrect, the two lists which needs to work with each are
The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was :
a) largely dominated
b) leisure rarely
leisure was rare doesn't with element that introduces the list
(C) with leisure as rare - Incorrect - meaning issue, we need and not with
(D) with leisure as a rarity - Incorrect - Same issue as C
(E) leisure a rarity - Incorrect -meaning issue

Experts' Global Official Explanation

Grammatical Construction + Meaning + Redundancy/Awkwardness

Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations, such as work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, with leisure being a rarity in this routine.

• The “noun + as + noun” construction” is a correct, idiomatic construction used to describe the role played by a noun.

A. Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the phrase “and leisure rarely” to modify the clause “The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely…”, incorrectly implying that the daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was rarely dominated by leisure; the intended meaning is that leisure was rarely present at all in the daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies. Besides, the usage “and” twice in the same phrase in unidiomatic and awkward.

B. Trap. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the clause “and leisure was rare”; the construction of this clause incorrectly implies that the daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies being largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations and leisure being rare are two separate actions; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations, such as work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, with leisure being a rarity in this routine. Besides, the usage “and” twice in the same phrase in unidiomatic and awkward.

C. This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic “noun + as + adjective” (“leisure as rare”) construction rather than the “noun + as + noun” (“leisure as a rarity”) construction to describe the role played by “leisure” in the daily routine of peasants in pre-industrial societies, leading to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations, such as work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, with leisure being a rarity in this routine; please remember, the “noun + as + noun” construction” is a correct, idiomatic construction used to describe the role played by a noun.

D. Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the modifying phrase “with leisure as a rarity” to modify the independent clause “The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations”, conveying the intended meaning of the sentence- that the daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations, such as work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, with leisure being a rarity in this routine.

E. This answer choice incorrectly uses the noun phrase “leisure a rarity” to modify the clause “The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely…”, as this phrase does not have an appropriate helping word (such as “with” in the correct answer choice) to join it to the clause, this modification leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations, such as work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, with leisure being a rarity in this routine.

D is the best answer choice.

OA)D
The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations – work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, and leisure rarely.

(A) and leisure rarely
-->use of and put "leisure.." as a fragment in the sentence

(B) and leisure was rare
--> implies that " the daily routine was .." and "leisure was.." both independent clause which is not logical in meaning

(C) with leisure as rare
--> rare is an adjective, while leisure is a noun so after as need noun to compare

(D) with leisure as a rarity

(E) leisure a rarity
-->put "leisure a .." as a fragment or as a modifier of the prayer both are not logical in meaning

The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations – work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, and leisure rarely.

(A) and leisure rarely Incorrect modifier rarely
(B) and leisure was rare Correct
(C) with leisure as rare Incorrect as rare is not used for comparision
(D) with leisure as a rarity incorrect parallelism
(E) leisure a rarity incorrect parallelism

IMO Choice B.

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The daily routine of a peasant in pre-industrial societies was largely dominated by sustenance activities and social obligations – work, child care, household repairs, and prayer, and leisure rarely.

'and' is used to include same kind of items ; comma followed by phrase is used to qualify the preceding sentence

(A) and leisure rarely
'and' is used to include same kind of items..Contrast effect not evident through 'and'

(B) and leisure was rare
'and' is used to include same kind of items..Contrast effect not evident through 'and'

(C) with leisure as rare
'with' is also used to include same kind of items..Contrast effect not evident through 'and'

(D) with leisure as a rarity
'with' is also used to include same kind of items..'with' is also used to include same kind of items.

(E) leisure a rarity
correctly brings out the contrast effect through this usage

(E) is the correct choice