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brs1cob
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Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different 18 Mar 2017, 06:30
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marshpa
Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different strains of influenza; in contrast, antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza.
(A) influenza; in contrast, antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
(B) influenza, different than the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(C) influenza, in contrast to the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(D) influenza, different than antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
(E) influenza; in contrast to antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza

Please post answers with reason.

Moderator Note: This is an MGMAT question, from one of their CATs --Mike McGarry
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.

A is the correct answer.

different than is wrong. different from is correct
';' is required for two independent clauses.

narrow down to A and C

In A parallelism is maintained
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brs1cob
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Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different 18 Mar 2017, 06:34
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I think E doesnt voilates any IIism
X in contrast to Y
Moreover A lacks the to with Contrast

I am responding to a pm from Archit143. First of all, Archit143 --- are you aware how many spelling mistakes you make in your post? This is not counting your own idiosyncratic abbreviations like "IIism." If you want to reach GMAT SC standards, I would highly recommend: make it your ongoing habit, in everything you say, and in everything your write, to conform at all times to the very highest principles of the English language. It believe it is a grave mistake to think of the GMAT as a hoop consisting of arbitrary standards, and once you jump through it you will never need to concern yourself with those standards again. Rather, the standards of the GMAT are the standard of business school and they are the standards of success in the corporate world. Do you want to succeed in that world? Then make excellence in all things a habit. ----- A fellow GC user right now might, in 15 years, be the person who is a position to make a lucrative deal with your future company --- suppose that person remembers your spelling mistakes here and thereby has a lowered opinion of you, and suppose that affects the deal. Would the 10 seconds it takes now to correct your spelling seem worth it? In life, we only get one chance to make a first impression on anyone; moreover, in our modern hyper-connected world, we never know when something we put out into cyberspace might be making that first impression in our name. All psychological studies show that first impressions are massively influential --- if someone forms a bad first impression of you, you practically have to walk on water to change that. You can't afford ever to put less than your very best out into the world. Does that make sense?

OK, in this sentence --- I think your discussion is missing the main points.
Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different strains of influenza; in contrast, antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza.
(A) influenza; in contrast, antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
(B) influenza, different than the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(C) influenza, in contrast to the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(D) influenza, different than antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
(E) influenza; in contrast to antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza

You are concerned about the idioms involving the world "contrast" --- there's no problem there. In (A), the adverbial phrase "in contrast" is perfectly fine. The phrase "in contrast to" is also correct in and of itself, although something is funny about the way it's used in (C) & (E). Typically, the "in contrast to" prepositional phrases would be juxtaposed with the subject of the independent clause in that same part of the sentence. For example:
Obama believes in X, in contrast to Romney, who believes in Y.
That's a direct and clear use of the "in contrast to" construction.

One definite idiom --- "different from" is correct, and "different than" is 100% wrong. (B) and (D) are wrong because of that.

Big grammar idea --- when we divide a sentence with a semicolon, each side of the semicolon must be a full independent clause, capable of standing on its own as a completely sentence. Look at what follows the semicolon in (E) ---"in contrast to antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza." That is not a complete sentence on its own. That is not an independent clause. That's why (E) is wrong. It can't stand on its own following the semicolon.

Now, we are down to (A) and (C). In the overall flow of the sentence, we want to compare "antigenic shift" to "antigenic drift" --- the clearest and most effective way to demonstrate this is to make them both subjects in their respective independent clauses, which is exactly what (A) does. (C), on the other hand, is very indirect, and makes it harder to see --- what's the contrast? what's the comparison? Clear, powerful, direct --- that's exactly what the GMAT SC likes, and that's what (A) gives here. (A) is by far the best answer.

Does all this make sense?

Mike :-)

If B and D had Different from instead of Different than would that be correct?
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B and D would look better and gramatically correct. but A is still the winner due to parallelism. Correct me if i am wrong.
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Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different 21 Mar 2017, 04:30
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brs1cob

B and D would look better and gramatically correct. but A is still the winner due to parallelism. Correct me if i am wrong.
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No, B and D would never look better because both use incorrect idiom "Different than".

So, the moment you see this idiom, cancel out the options.
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Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different 01 Jul 2017, 15:31
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marshpa
Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different strains of influenza; in contrast, antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza.
(A) influenza; in contrast, antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
(B) influenza, different than the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(C) influenza, in contrast to the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(D) influenza, different than antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
(E) influenza; in contrast to antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza

Please post answers with reason.

Moderator Note: This is an MGMAT question, from one of their CATs --Mike McGarry
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Was confused between A and E

Realized E has to have two independent clauses and the second part of E is not an independent clause.

Hence, A is the Answer
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Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different 03 Jan 2018, 08:57
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Antigenic Shift and Antigenic Drift are in contrast here, and in parallel form. In addition to that, semi-colon is correctly used to connect two complete sentences related to each other .
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Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different 06 Dec 2018, 13:33
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marshpa
Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different strains of influenza; in contrast, antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza.
(A) influenza; in contrast, antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
(B) influenza, different than the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(C) influenza, in contrast to the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(D) influenza, different than antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
(E) influenza; in contrast to antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza

Please post answers with reason.

Moderator Note: This is an MGMAT question, from one of their CATs --Mike McGarry
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1st part of the sentence starts with "antigenic shift", it means that the 2nd part must start with "antigenic drift" in order to maintain parallelism -----> B,C,D are out.
E is bad because ";" means that we have to have an independent sentence after this, but really we have "in contrast to" - it continues the first part.
So A. 2 independent sentences separated by semicolon.
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Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different 16 Sep 2021, 04:51
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Question seen in MGMAT - Manhattan GMAT Prep Exam
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Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different 16 Sep 2021, 06:59
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Correct Option : A

Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different strains of influenza; in contrast,
antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza.

Elimination Process :
1. In contrast vs Different than
In contrast to - prefer to Noun
Eg. the castle is quite a contrast to other places where the singer has performed
In contrast with - prefer to verb
Eg. his friend's success contrasted with his own failure
Different than - Different is a adjective & with "Than" is rarely used as Comparison degree between two Noun, the most commonly used compared to "different than" is "different from"
* With this all "different than" sentence is eliminated (B, and D)

Among A, C, and E
C - Comparison indicates - strains of influenza in contrast antigenic drift - demeans the intended meaning of the sentence.C eliminated

With E, Usage of (,which) indicates as the remaining information in sentence is non essential, and sentence meaning is lost - E eliminated

With A - use of semicolon seperate two Independent clause, correct use of "In contrast to" and placement of Antigenic shift and Antigenic drift makes it a correct choice

(A) influenza; in contrast, antigenic drift refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza

(B) influenza, different than the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(C) influenza, in contrast to the natural mutation of a single strain, known as antigenic drift
(D) influenza, different than antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
(E) influenza; in contrast to antigenic drift, which refers to the natural mutation of a single strain of influenza
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Antigenic shift refers to the combination of two different 22 Nov 2023, 01:30
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