Although the researchers agreed unanimously on their

Dear GMATNinja,

From above explanation I am confused which one is the correct answer. eagerly waiting for correct answer with explanation. kindly help on the regard.

generis

Can you please break this down? I was stuck between B and D and went with D because I presumed 'as' points to a continuous time period and 'started coming in' is not a specific point in time.

I see that our experts here also had views contradicting with the OA.

Please explain!

Posted from my mobile device

Hi JDF ,
I don't understand what you mean.

Please explain?

I can't find any mistake with A. What am I missing here.

Took me a bit of thinking to see why the use of “their surprise was evident” is incorrect.


Using the passive voice to eliminate answers could become problematic. We might end up eliminating Answer choices that use the passive voice correctly. There is no hard rule saying do not use the passive voice.

The issue I see now is in the meaning. A is wrong because saying “their surprise was evident” is implying the THING of “surprise” was “plain to see” or “evident”.

I do not think it makes sense to say that an intangible thing such as an emotion (“surprise”) can be “evident” ALL BY ITSELF.

Rather, it is the person who is “clearly surprised”. Using “evidently” before surprised, as was done in Answer Choice B, puts the emphasis on the researchers/people.

These people were “plainly/clearly surprised”.

The intangible thing = “surprise” is NOT evident by itself.

Does that seem to make sense? Anyone agree or disagree?

Posted from my mobile device

Yes, that's a key point that most folks are missing here.

If something is evident, then it's plain or obvious.

On other hand, evidently has two possible meanings: 1) obviously; 2) apparently. The second meaning is much weaker. When you say, "Evidently, he had breakfast this morning," what you mean is: "It appears that he had breakfast this morning." It's not a very strong statement.

So, in choice B), "they were evidently surprised" is ambiguous. The more typical meaning would be: "they seemed to be surprised." The meaning could also be: "they were plainly surprised," but in the U.S. at least, most people would not express this meaning like that.

Anyway, there's nothing wrong with "their surprise was evident when . . ." In fact, I think that wording makes the intended meaning much clearer. Also, was is a linking verb here, so this not a passive construction.

Still confused!!! Anyone who can better explain the logic behind choosing B over D.

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