As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips' circuits have become more complex, the power of the chips and the power of the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Subject-verb Agreement + Pronouns + Redundancy/Awkwardness

• The present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.
• The simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.
• Any elements joined by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

A: Trap. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the “power of the chips” and “the electronic devices they drive” have increased; the intended meaning is that both the power of the chips and the power of the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.

B: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase “the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive”, conveying the intended meaning - that both the power of the chips and the power of the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased. Further, Option B correctly uses the singular verb “has” to refer to the singular noun “power”. Additionally, Option C correctly uses the present perfect tense verb “have become” to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present.

C: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun phrase "the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive" with the singular verb "has...increased". Further, Option C alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the “power of the chips” and “the electronic devices they drive” have increased; the intended meaning is that both the power of the chips and the power of the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased. Additionally, Option C incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb “are” to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and the simple present tense is used only to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

D: This answer choice incorrectly uses the plural verb “have” to refer to the singular noun “power. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb “are” to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and the simple present tense is used only to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

E: Trap. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the “power of the chips” and “the electronic devices they drive” have increased; the intended meaning is that both the power of the chips and the power of the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased. Further, Option E fails to maintain parallelism between “the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner” and “their circuits more complex”; please remember, any elements joined by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Present Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

the chips' circuits more complex is the same in A and B. that's not the issue.

B is correct because "____ vastly increased" at the end of the sentence refers back to "the power" which is singular. even though it's talking about the power of two different things, it has to be "has vastly increased" instead of "have vastly increased"

It's B.

As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips’ circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has vastly increased.

As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.(GMAT Prep)



1) the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have
2) the chips’ circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has
3) the chips’ circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has
4) their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive have
5) their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have


intended meaning-as the etched line on the comp memory chips have become thinner and the chip's circuits more complex,both the power of chips and the power of the electronic devices the chips drive have vastly increased.

1) the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have.
incorrect- it says that the power of chips and electronic devices they drive has increased.(if this would have been the intended meaning then there was no need for using "both") can i reject the anser choice on this basis ?
DOUBT- dont know whether the entities are parallel?? i think they are."the power of the chips"- noun +noun modifier." the electronic devices they drive"- noun + noun modifier.

2) the chips’ circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has-
correct: both x and y.where, x and y are parallel. the chips- noun. electonic devices they drive. noun+modifier.(if one entity has a modifier and the other doesn't they still can be parallel)


In the above sentences it seems that "As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips’ circuits more complex" is parallel. and in the 2nd part of the sentence "have become"is implied. how can we assume that.And if that is not the case then 1st part is a clause and 2nd part is a phrase(no verb). please help .


3)the chips’ circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has-
incorrect- repeats the error in A(intended meaning) uses singluar has for plural subject(x and y )

4)their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive have
incorrect- the power is singular while have is plural. their is ambiguous.

Doubt-As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and their circuits are more complex. is this parallel ?? both are clauses, but have different tenses.
i think its parallel but incorrect because "their circuits are more complex" is incomplete. more complex than what ?? if we say that their circuits have become more complex it makes sense because its implied that we are comparing the present chip's circuits with the past chip's circuits.

5)their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have-
incorrect- their is ambiguous. repeats the error in A(intended meaning)

doubt- we come to know about the intended meaning of the sentence from the first option, in this case i think that the 2nd optio9n is more logical but isnt there a possibility that the sentence is correct as it is.

1)As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.

meaning- because of the changes on the computer memory chips, the power of the chips and the number of electronic devices the chips drive have increased. (so beacuse of the changes more electronic devices can be driven using the chips.

please help.
thank you.

I'm sorry, but I'm still very confused here.

I think that answer B sounds incomplete. Should it be the chips’ circuits have become more complex?

Thanx!

As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips’ circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has

Need to use idiom Both X and Y.

Both the power of the chips and the electronic devices... incorrect usage, should be both the power of X and the power of Y.

Elmin ACE.

I was actually stuck btwn B and D b/c I couldn't figure out whether to use have or has.

however, "the power" requires has. So I choose B.

As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.
(A) the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have - subject-verb agreement and idiom (both)
(B) the chips’ circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has
(C) the chips’ circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has - idiom (both)
(D) their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive have - not clear lines or chips
(E) their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have - not clear lines or chips

B for me

Let us sort out a few things first.

What is the subject of the main clause “both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has vastly increased? Is it ‘both the power’ or ‘the power of both”? This is essential to fix the SV number agreement, the one that is being tested here.

It is wrong to say ‘both the power of the chips and the electronic devices’, because if we are meaning to use power in the plural sense, then it should be ‘both the powers’. On the contrary, the power is meant to be used in singular here, byusibg the term ‘the power of both chips and the devices’ .
The clue therefore is that the right choice will use as subject ‘the power of both’ and as verb ‘has’
Going by this norm, B alone is the winner all the way.

B

(A) the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have - we talk about power of both chips and el devices
(B) the chips’ circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has - CORRECT, subj/verb agreement
(C) the chips’ circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has - the sentence already has a verb, no sense to "are". + the same as in A
(D) their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive have - subj/verb agreement, "their" refers to the etched lines or chips?
(E) their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have - "their" refers to the etched lines or chips?

As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.

This is a simple matter of correlative parallelism and SV agreement. Let us keep in mind those in cases of the correlative conjunctions such as both …. and, what appears on the right side of 'both' should also appear on the right of 'and'. The number of the subject in the context will, therefore, decide the number of the verb.


(A) the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have --- both the power of and the electronic devices is unparallel as per the above observation. It should be both the power of and the power of the electronic devices.

(B) the chips’ circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has -- perfectly parallel; since the subject is the singular 'the power', the verb is also the singular 'has'

(C) the chips’ circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has-- same correlative parallelism error as in A.

(D) their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive have -- the power is the singular subject but 'have' is a wrong plural verb.

(E) their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have -- Same error as in A and C.

GMATNinja egmat generis

I am a bit confused regarding ellipsis

When do I know that the missing verb implies an ellipsis here or when does not? I read the articlefrom egmat but couldn't figure out this concept.

Request your help to understand this

The sentence the correct option gives us is:

As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips’ circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has vastly increased.

The lines | have become | thinner
and
the chips' circuits | (have become) | more complex.

In the type of ellipsis that you are asking about, you will typically see the following pattern: Subject | Finite verb | [Noun, adjective, prepositional phrase] x 2 (the "x 2" means that they are joined to each other). In the second one, the middle element can be "dropped" if it appears in the first, leaving only the other two (or more) elements in place. That's what is happening in this question.

The lines have become thinner and the circuits have become more complex.

More examples:
He likes pizza and she likes Shawarma.
He will travel by plane and she will travel by train.

Note that it is better to refer to the part being "dropped" as "the middle element" rather than "the verb", as there is no guarantee that only the verb will be dropped. For example:
He is good with words and she is good with numbers.
He is good with words and she is good with numbers.

If one considers the part " the power of both the chips and the electronics deviced ......" it becomes clear that non of the options except B makes sense. Meaning makes it easier to identify the right fit in most of the cases.

As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.

can someone explain what "they drive" doing in the sentence...is it modifying electronic devices? ...don't we need relative clause while modifying a noun?

Hi mahi816,

You're absolutely right. It's just that the that is "understood". That is,

the electronic devices they drive...
is just a shorter way of saying
the electronic devices that they drive...

Another example:
The book you recommended...
is a shorter way to say
The book that you recommended...

GMATNinja - request an explanation on this one.