Hello Everyone!
Let's take a closer look at this question, and figure out the best way to tackle it to find the right answer! Here is the original question:
Air traffic routes over the North Pole are currently used by only two or three planes a day, but it was found by a joint Canadian–Russian study to be both feasible as well as desirable if those routes are opened to thousands more commercial planes a year.
A. Air traffic routes over the North Pole are currently used by only two or three planes a day, but it was found by a joint Canadian–Russian study to be both feasible as well as desirable if those routes are opened to thousands more commercial planes a year.
B. Currently used by only two or three planes a day, a joint Canadian–Russian study has found that if air traffic routes over the North Pole are opened to thousands more commercial planes a year, it would be both feasible and desirable.
C. A joint Canadian–Russian study, finding it to be both feasible as well as desirable to open air traffic routes over the North Pole, which are currently used by only two or three planes a day, to thousands more commercial planes a year.
D. Although air traffic routes over the North Pole are currently used by only two or three planes a day, a joint Canadian–Russian study has found that opening those routes to thousands more commercial planes a year is both feasible and desirable.
E. With air traffic routes over the North Pole currently used by only two or three planes a day, opening those routes to thousands more commercial planes a year has been found by a joint Canadian—Russian study as both feasible and desirable.
Whenever we see the entire sentence underlined, we know right away that we can start by looking at large grammatical issues first. Here are two main problems that you can look for when tackling whole-sentence GMAT questions:
1. Modifiers
2. Conciseness / Wordiness
Let's start by looking for any problems we can find with modifiers. Make sure to look carefully for dangling modifiers, misplaced modifiers, modifier-antecedent disagreement, or modifiers with no clear antecedent. Here is how each answer stacks up:
A. Air traffic routes over the North Pole are currently used by only two or three planes a day, but it was found by a joint Canadian–Russian study to be both feasible as well as desirable if those routes are opened to thousands more commercial planes a year. -->
OK (no modifiers to deal with)B.
Currently used by only two or three planes a day, a joint Canadian–Russian study has found that if air traffic routes over the North Pole are opened to thousands more commercial planes a year, it would be both feasible and desirable. -->
MISPLACED MODIFIER / CHANGED INTENDED MEANING (
The phrase "Currently used by only two or three planes a day" is a modifier that SHOULD come before "air traffic routes." Instead, this sentence suggests that the Canadian-Russian study is only used by only two or three planes a day, which doesn't make logical sense.)
C. A joint Canadian–Russian study, finding it to be both feasible as well as desirable to open air traffic routes over the North Pole, which are currently used by only two or three planes a day, to thousands more commercial planes a year. -->
SENTENCE FRAGMENT / MODIFIERS WITH NO CLEAR ANTECEDENT (
The subject "A joint Canadian-Russian study" has no verb to go with it - it's just a subject with 3 modifier phrases stacked up after it. Since this lacks a clear verb, it is a sentence fragment and cannot be the right option.)
D. Although air traffic routes over the North Pole are currently used by only two or three planes a day, a joint Canadian–Russian study has found that opening those routes to thousands more commercial planes a year is both feasible and desirable. -->
OK (No modifiers to deal with)E. With air traffic routes over the North Pole currently used by only two or three planes a day, opening those routes to thousands more commercial planes a year
has been found by a joint Canadian—Russian study as both feasible and desirable -->
PASSIVE VOICE (
Okay, so this isn't a modifier problem, but after reading this over quickly, it's clear that this sentence is using passive voice, which is a major no-no on the GMAT Sentence Correction section!)
We can eliminate options B, C, and E because they have issues with modifiers or passive voice.Now that we have our options narrowed down to A & D, let's look at what's different about each option so we can find the best answer. For this part, let's focus on #2 on our list: conciseness.
A. Air traffic routes over the North Pole are currently used by only two or three planes a day, but
it was found by a joint Canadian–Russian study
to be both feasible
as well as desirable if those routes are opened to thousands more commercial planes a year.
Option A is
INCORRECT because it's overly wordy! There is no need to use the passive voice to say "it was found by X," when you could just say, "X found it." The GMAT also prefers that students use "is" instead of "to be," and they also prefer to use "and" instead of "as well as."
D. Although air traffic routes over the North Pole are currently used by only two or three planes a day, a joint Canadian–Russian study
has found that opening those routes to thousands more commercial planes a year
is both feasible
and desirable.
Option D is
CORRECT because it is concise, conveys the correct meaning, and doesn't have any problems with unclear or misplaced modifiers!
There you have it - option D is the best answer!Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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