A professor at the university has taken a sabbatical to research on

Dear daagh, as you and thecriticalreader1 wrote that research cannot take a preposition when it acts as a verb, but what I need to understand is how come research acts as a verb in the above sentence? IMO, it is in the form of an infinitive and is a verb looking word (to + research), but not verb.

Subject - A professor , Main verb - has taken.
Can any expert resolve my doubt? It would be much appreciated. TIA.

Hey aalekhoza

I will try to explain in simple terms as to why "to research on, to research about, to research into" is incorrect.

But first for the main doubts- "To research" is not a verb. Yes agreed. "To + action word" is not a verb.

Now only focus on the word "research".
Ask yourself this whenever u see it in a sentence.
Does it have a VERB before it? NO. We CANNOT use a preposition after it.
Does it have a VERB before it? YES. We use a preposition after it.

Simple Example:
1. The professor at the university has taken a leave to do a research on James Baldwin's books. -------- CORRECT.
Why is the above example correct? Because we have a verb before research.

2. The professor at the university has taken a leave to research on James Baldwin's books. --------- INCORRECT
Why is it incorrect? Because we DO NOT have a verb before research.
So how do i correct it? Just remove the preposition "on".

Hope it helps.
Please correct me if I am wrong. GMATNinja VeritasKarishma

Dear blitzkriegxX,
Your explanation is similar to what I researched later regarding the usage of the word "research".

I made a note of its usage that goes like -
When "research" alone is used as a verb, no preposition should be used. The verb research requires a direct object, not a preposition followed by its object.
Correct: He researched the subject.

When a verb such as "do" or "conduct" is placed before the word "research" (which is then used as a noun), a preposition should be used. "On", "into," and "about" are all acceptable.

Correct: He did research on the subject.
Correct: He did research into the subject
Correct: He conducted research about the subject.



'Research' can be used both as a noun and as a verb. However when the term is used as a verb, it doesn't normally take a preposition such as on, into, or about etc.

Thanks for your response, mate!

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, to figure out which option is the correct choice! Here is the original question, with the major differences between each option highlighted in orange:

A professor at the university has taken a sabbatical to research on James Baldwin's books that Baldwin wrote in France while he was living there.

(A) on James Baldwin's books that Baldwin wrote in France while he was living there
(B) about the books James Baldwin wrote in France
(C) into James Baldwin's books written while in France
(D) on the books of James Baldwin, written while he lived in France
(E) the books James Baldwin wrote while he lived in France

After a quick glance over the options, two major differences become clear:

1. How they begin
2. How they end

If we start with how each option begins, we need to focus on the idiomatic structure with the phrase "to research."

Whenever we research something, we have to ask the question: WHAT are we going to research? In English, we follow the structure "to research X," with X being the topic at hand. Let's see which options use the idiomatic structure correctly, and rule out those that don't:

(A) to research on James Baldwin's books that Baldwin wrote in France while he was living there --> "to research on X" is INCORRECT
(B) to research about the books James Baldwin wrote in France --> "to research about X" is INCORRECT
(C) to research into James Baldwin's books written while in France --> "to research into X" is INCORRECT
(D) to research on the books of James Baldwin, written while he lived in France --> "to research on X" is INCORRECT
(E) to research the books James Baldwin wrote while he lived in France --> "to research X" is CORRECT

There you go - option E is the only one that uses the proper idiom structure "to research X."


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

In Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, The first usage on Research - as a verb - is research (into/in/on something), of course, you can say research something , but can you really just eliminate the answers simply because of the prep after it? cuz wrong choices have other different splits. Can anyone plz help me out?

daagh What about the possibility that the professor wants to research books, which James Baldwin wrote while the professor lived in France? Unlikely of course, but I think it does prove that there is some ambiguity in choice (E). It just so happens that the ambiguity is not that bad.


I'm convinced that all of the options suffer from ambiguity. Thus it makes the most sense to go with (E) because it is the only one that doesn't suffer from using the wrong idiom.

Ambiguities found in each option:

(A) "while he was living there" could be subordinate to the "A professor..." clause or the "that Baldwin wrote..." clause. Even if we assume that it binds the "that Baldwin wrote..." clause, then the "he" could refer to "A professor" or "Baldwin".

(B) "in France" could refer to where James Baldwin wrote his books or it could refer to where the professor has taken his sabbatical.

(C) This one has grammar problems, but if we assume the author meant "into James Baldwins' books [that were] written while in France", then we run into ambiguity problems. They were written while who was in France?

(D) "he" could refer to James Baldwin or the professor

(E) "he" could refer to James Baldwin or the professor

GmatMan



For most of us, perhaps the use of the correct idiom has come to a great help to get over the vexing dilemma of ambiguity. We can simply brush aside the first four choices on wrong idiomatic expression alone.

Yet, what will happen if there were no help from idioms? Will we drop this official question calling it controversial?


Let us go deeper. Baldwin lived in the last century. The clause says that the professor has taken a sabbatical (present tense). This it is clear that all of the past tense events such as 'wrote and was living' in A, wrote in B, Baldwin wrote while he lived in France" in E, all pertain to Baldwin and not to the Professor. Therefore, I see no clash of entity as far as the pronoun 'he' is concerned.
the
The introduction of the ambiguity of the pronoun 'he' is a clever pitfall by GMAT to test how many fall into it. Those who trip into the trap may not complete this question on the d-day

IMHO, this is the crux of this amazing OG question.

daagh

I don't think this question is controversial. I agree the correct answer is (E), but for different reasons than those stated in your analysis. (E) suffers from ambiguity with the use of "he", but it is still the best answer because all the other answers suffer from ambiguity as well. (A), (B), (C), and (D) all suffer from ambiguity and they use the wrong idiomatic expression. (E) suffers from ambiguity, but uses the correct idiomatic expression. Therefore we choose (E).

For (E) I agree with you that "while he lived in France" is clearly a subordinate of the clause "(that) James Baldwin wrote" rather than the main clause "A professor at the university...". However, there is still ambiguity around the use of "he" (even with it bound to the correct clause). "He" could still refer to the professor.

For example, it is a possibility that (E) could be read like this:
A professor at the university has taken a sabbatical to research the books. The books that James Baldwin wrote while the professor lived in France.

isn't the word *he* in A D and E ambiguous?

Hi gmatman1031, option E cannot be interpreted this way. If this were the intention, then the sentence would have been:

A professor at the university has taken a sabbatical to research the books James Baldwin wrote while he lives in France.

The usage of simple past tense books James Baldwin wrote while he lived in France indicates that sentence is talking about the time when James Baldwin lived in France.

Hi Aditi, indeed technically the pronoun he is ambiguous.

In case of ambiguity, the pronoun subject in one clause (he in this case) can be presumed to refer to the noun-subject of the previous clause (in this case James Baldwin).

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Pronoun Ambiguity, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

See this usage of research on.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries. ... research_2

A professor at the university has taken a sabbatical to research on James Baldwin’s books that Baldwin wrote in France while he was living there.
A. on James Baldwin’s books that Baldwin wrote in France while he was living there
B. about the books James Baldwin wrote in France
C. into James Baldwin’s books written while in France
D. on the books of James Baldwin, written while he lived in France
E. the books James Baldwin wrote while he lived in France


Hi there CrcakVerbal team,
I have some unresolved doubts regarding this question.
I was able to eliminate options B and C for the following reason.
B. about (wrong preposition that follows the infinitive “to research”) the books James Baldwin wrote in France
C. into (wrong preposition that follows the infinitive “to research”) James Baldwin’s books written while in France (requires a pronoun "he")
However, I couldn’t see any right reason to eliminate option A and D. Although, the official guide says, “research requires a direct object” isn’t “on” the right preposition that should follow the infinitive “to research”?
A. on (isn’t this the right preposition for the infinitive “to research” ?) James Baldwin’s books that Baldwin wrote in France while he was living (shouldn’t this be in past tense?) there
D. on (isn’t this the right preposition for the infinitive “to research” ?) the books of James Baldwin, written while he lived in France

Any help would be appreciated!
Dablu

Hi Dablu,

The sentence says that a professor has taken a sabbatical to do something i.e. to research books written by James Baldwin. He wrote these books while he lived in France.

The sentence has the following errors:

1. Redundancy - Do we need to say that James Baldwin’s books were written by Baldwin?! Or do we need to say that he wrote the books in France while he lived in France? If he didn’t live there, how would he write the books there?

2. When ‘research’ is used as a verb, the object of the research should immediately follow the verb without any preposition. Therefore, “to research on the books” is incorrect. We need to have “to research the books”. (If ‘research’ is used as a noun, then ‘research on’ is fine e.g. He conducted research on fatty acids.)

Option E is the correct pick here. The option is idiomatic and concise. Please note: ‘that’ has been skipped after ‘books’. The option, with ‘that’, will read “the books that JB wrote…”. ‘that’ can be skipped when ‘that’ is acting as an object in its clause.

Hope this helps!

A professor at the university has taken a sabbatical to research on James Baldwin's books that Baldwin wrote in France while he was living there.

(A) on James Baldwin's books that Baldwin wrote in France while he was living there
(B) about the books James Baldwin wrote in France
(C) into James Baldwin's books written while in France
(D) on the books of James Baldwin, written while he lived in France
(E) the books James Baldwin wrote while he lived in France

In the option E, he can refer to James Baldwin or the professor, right?
Since this is ambiguous, why do we say this is the right in this sentence?

Hi theodosiusadi , belated welcome to GMAT Club. I wonder whether you have read the thread? (Sometimes new members don't know that their questions have been addressed.) Many posts address this issue.

Here's one more answer:

No, he cannot refer to James Baldwin or the professor. He can refer only to James Baldwin.
The two verbs used will not allow he to refer to the professor.

The sentence says, A professor at the university has taken a sabbatical [to research the books James Baldwin wrote] while he lived in France.
Ignore the phrase of purpose "to research" and substitute the noun for the pronoun.

In English, we do not say, "The professor has taken a sabbatical [to do something] while the professor lived in France."

That sentence is babble. No relationship exists between the verbs—none.
It is ungrammatical to pair has taken* and lived.

To indicate action by a person who lived somewhere in the past, we do not use present perfect.
Simple past would be the best tense to use. That is,
IF the sentence were supposed to indicate that the professor lived in France, it would be written this way:
While the professor lived in France, he took a sabbatical to research the books James Baldwin wrote.
(I must move lived away from the end of the sentence. If I do not do so, I suggest that the books at issue were (1) written by Baldwin while (2) the professor lived in France.)

For non-natives: Other languages may have a verb tense with a form similar to present perfect in English, but the meanings are not the same.

I hope that answer helps.

*Has taken is present perfect and indicates an action with some relationship to the present unless
• this action is habitual or repeated (He has taken several sabbaticals.)
• this action is one in which time is not important (He has visited Greece. She has read Crime and Punishment.)
Even these examples in which time does not matter do not fit with past tense verb lived.
She has read Crime and Punishment while she lived in England? No. English forbids the use of has in this context. It does not fit with past tense.

(E) the books James Baldwin wrote while he lived in France

The answer choice which has "he" is ambgious? as he is referring to the professor or James Baldwin? please clarify the usage of the pronoun